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Secondary sourceSculpture

Stele of Hammurabi, Pergamon Museum

A photograph of a stele of Hammurabi on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

A stele associated with Hammurabi's famous law code, displayed as a commemorative artifact.

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A tall, dark basalt stele with a rounded top, photographed against a white wall. Low relief carvings at the top show a standing figure facing a seated figure in front of a stepped structure. The lower shaft is blank. A small museum label sits at the base.
Stele of Hammurabi (replica or related piece), Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows a tall, dark basalt stele with a rounded top, displayed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. At the top, relief carvings show a standing figure facing a seated figure before a stepped structure. The lower part of the stele is inscribed with text, though it appears blank in this view.

Why it matters

The Pergamon Museum's stele relates to the famous original held in the Louvre, which records legal decisions from the reign of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Such monuments show how ancient rulers used stone inscriptions to project authority and present themselves as bringers of justice.

Look closer

  • Who do you think the standing and seated figures at the top of the stele represent, and why?
  • Why might a museum display a stele like this behind glass or against a plain wall?
  • What questions would you want answered about where this stele came from and how it got to Berlin?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hammurabi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Photo of the black basalt Code of Hammurabi stele on a dark background. The tall, tapering stone has a rounded top carved in relief with a standing figure facing a seated figure on a throne, and below are rows of carved cuneiform text.Document

Primary source

Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi · c. 1753 BCE

Photo of a tall black basalt stele with a rounded top. Carved relief at the top shows a standing figure at left facing a seated figure with a horned crown at right. Below, the stone is covered in rows of cuneiform script.Sculpture

Primary source

Stele with the Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi · c. 1792 BCE

Photograph of a clay cuneiform tablet, pale beige and roughly rectangular with a chipped upper-left corner, covered in wedge-shaped impressed signs in horizontal lines. It rests on a black stand against a dark background.Letter

Primary source

Letter from Hammurabi to Sîn-iddinam

Hammurabi · c. 1792-1750 BCE

Photograph of a cuneiform clay tablet on a display stand against a dark background. The tablet is pale beige, with a broken upper edge, and is covered in rows of wedge-shaped cuneiform signs. A museum label with a catalogue number is visible at the bottom.Document

Primary source

List of the year-names of Hammurabi's reign

Old Babylonian period, reign of Hammurabi (c. 1792-1750 BCE)

Five groups of black cuneiform wedge signs on a white background, rendered in a row. The signs are angular, made of wedge-shaped strokes arranged in clusters, and appear to be a short inscription.Document

Secondary source

Chronicle of Early Kings

Babylonian scribes · c. 6th century BCE copy

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