"Hammurabi's empire fell apart after his death, and Babylon was sacked repeatedly over the years. Around 1150 BCE, Shutruk Nakhunte, King of Elam, sacked the city of Sippar, near Babylon, and is thought to have taken the Code of Hammurabi along with the statue of the god Marduk back to Elam as spoils of war. It was discovered in 1901 in the ruins of the Elamite city of Susa and today is on display at the Louvre Museum, Paris, France."
The earliest surviving Mesopotamian legal code is the Code of Ur-Nammu, dated to about 2100–2050 BCE and associated with Ur. It reflects governance over a relatively uniform population with shared expectations for citizens. Hammurabi’s reign came later, when the population was more diverse, and his code uses detailed precision to clarify obligations. The laws cover business contracts, proper prices, family matters, and criminal offenses, with each listed crime paired with its punishment. The stele was erected publicly, making ignorance of the law implausible, and it presents the laws as divine, shown by Shamash handing them to Hammurabi. After Hammurabi’s death, Babylon was repeatedly sacked, and the code was taken as war spoils to Elam, later discovered in Susa in 1901 and displayed in Paris. Earlier codes such as the Code of Urukagina existed but survive only in fragments, while Ur-Nammu remains cohesive enough to show its legal scope and cuneiform tablet format.
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