Art. XXI,—On the Inscription of Khammurabi

Extract

The first portion of the volume of Cuneiform Inscriptions, recently published by the British Museum, contains an important series of legends of the early Babylonian kings. These are written in the Proto-Chaldæan language, which as yet is little understood. I therefore heard with great interest that the Paris Museum possesses an inscription of one of these kings, Khammurabi, written in the Babylonian language, and that Messrs. Oppert and Ménant had presented a copy of it, together with a translation, to the British Museum. The accession of so ingenious a scholar as M. Ménant to the small band of Assyrian interpreters, is a subject of much congratulation, and in this instance he has certainly presented the world of letters with a valuable gift. I am indebted to my friend, W. H. Coxe, Esq., of the British Museum, for an accurate copy of this important document, and from it I have made the translation which I now beg leave to offer to the Society. It will be seen, that though agreeing with M. Ménant in many things, I differ from him considerably in some parts of the second column.