Bronze and Iron AgesGovernment & Law Code of Hammurabi c. 1,754 BCETurning point Babylon's king publishes 282 laws on a stone monument, including the famous "eye for an eye." ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Irrigation → Uruk and the first cities → Cylinder seals → Writing (cuneiform) → Code of Ur-Nammu → Code of Hammurabi Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentavalon.law.yale.eduCode of Hammurabi (Avalon Project, Yale) ↗Editor's pickDocumentbritannica.comCode of Hammurabi (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookPaul KriwaczekBabylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeCode of Hammurabi explained ↗Editor's pick