Code of Hammurabi Recreation resin cast about 11.5 inches tall by 2.75 inches wide. At the top Hammurabi standing receives the royal insignia from the sun god Shamash. Hammurabi was king of Babylon from 1792 BC to 1750 BC. The Code of Hammurabi consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free, man or woman. Nearly half of the code deals with matters of contract, establishing the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon for example. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. A third of the code addresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity, and reproductive behavior. The Code was discovered in 1901. The code is inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiform script carved into the stele. This is a recreation and not an exact copy of the cuneiform.