Code of Hammurabi - After the fall of the Akkadian Empire by the Gutians, Mesopotamia was invaded from the West by the Amorites. They occupied Babylon, which at that time was little more than a town, and became known as Babylonians. The greatest of the Amorite kings was Hammurabi who ruled from about 1792 to 1750 B.C. Besides building Babylon into a major city-state, his enduring legacy is the written laws which bear his name. They survive on a 7.5 foot (2.25 m) tall diorite stele and are inscribed in Akkadian Cuneiform. At the top of the stele is a depiction of the Babylonian god, Marduk (or possibly Shamash), handing the Code to Hammurabi (shown in picture). There are a total of 282 laws (248 of which are still legible) written on the stele, and various punishments assigned for breaking them. The stele was discovered in the ruins of the city of Susa in 1901 by French archeologist Jacques de Morgan. Who moved it there is uncertain. The most likely candidate is Shutruk-Nahhunte, king of Elam (of which Susa was the capital) at the end of the second millennium, after he conquered the Kassites. It's possible (though unlikely) it was a prize of the Persians after Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.. Susa had become one of the Persian Empire's capitals and was a particular favorite of King Darius. Darius was known to have adopted his own code of laws based on Hammurabi's.