2007 AM · ≈ 1754 BCE · world history
The Code of Hammurabi
The king of Babylon carves nearly three hundred laws onto a stone stele for all to see.
Hammurabi unites Babylonia and leaves behind a two-metre stele of black diorite: the king receiving authority from the sun god above, nearly three hundred clauses below. Prices, rents, inheritance, medical malpractice, a builder's liability for a collapsed house. The point is the gesture — law made public, written, citable.