A series of very old laws that have been better preserved to date is called the Code of Hammurabi. Its rules are based on the application of the Talión law, they are carved in stone and, as a whole, are considered as the prelude to some modern legal concepts. This set of statutes is of divine origin and immutable. They were considered as fundamental rules, which had been written with the aim of regulating the day-to-day life of the peoples belonging to the great Mesopotamia and were not subject to change even by the king. The code dates back to 1692 BC and is represented by a large basalt stele measuring 2.25 meters.
The area that causes the most interest in the stela, without a doubt is the text that it bears inscribed, which is engraved in correct and clear cuneiform characters in the Akkadian language. Composed of a total of 52 columns of text, which are divided into boxes to give a total of 3,600 lines, written from right to left and from top to bottom. Of the total columns that comprise it, 24 are located in front and the other 28 in the back. Because of a series of historical events, seven columns of its front part were lost, however, a part of them has been reconstructed thanks to other copies of such a stela that have been recovered by archaeologists. All this has allowed us to know a total of 282 articles, however, it is important to point out that in the original text there must have been more.
The Code of Hammurabi are written in ancient Babylonian and establish various rules of daily life. Among which the following can be highlighted:
- Hierarchical society: there are three groups, free men, the "muskenu" whose translation is speculated that it could mean servants and finally slaves.
- Prices: The costs of attending a doctor vary depending on whether you are treating a free man or a slave.
- Salaries: may vary depending on the nature of the jobs carried out.
