The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele
The Code epilogue curses any later ruler who erases or changes the stele. Hammurabi’s documented role is: The epilogue blesses keepers and curses erasers of the monument. In the causal graph this event strengthens Political Polarization, a driver that weakens Having a say in government — a worsening welfare path.
Read the full account
The Code epilogue curses any later ruler who erases or changes the stele. Hammurabi’s documented role is: The epilogue blesses keepers and curses erasers of the monument. Stonecutters cut; he is the royal speaker; later Louvre is access. Curses on later kings are not the case-law list. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear. Hammurabi's documented role is: The epilogue blesses keepers and curses erasers of the monument.
Context
A monument meant to stand in a public place, unnamed stonecutters, and later Elamite removal already sit in the file. A curse is not unique authorship of every later damnatio. Later Louvre is not -1755. Named others on the file: Unnamed stonecutters, later Elamite spoilers, and Louvre keepers as access share the object. The public setting is the file around -1755-08-01. The instrument stays The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele. The setting of The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele is the public file around -1755-08-01. Driver political-polarization is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.
Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele are separate paths.
Why it matters
Worsening polarisation path: public curse-language protecting a royal monument. Complex later carrier. Welfare reading worsening. The attached mechanism is A dated curse-formula put public threat-language onto the same stele, distinct from the penalty clauses as law. Lag to any modern indicator is not treated as zero. This path is attached because the mechanism is named from this act, not because a driver list needed coverage. The welfare reading on this path is worsening.
That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.
Who was responsible
Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.
Hammurabi
PersonDirect responsibility
responsibility level 0.32 · verified
The epilogue blesses keepers and curses erasers of the monument. Stonecutters cut; he is the royal speaker; later Louvre is access.
What changed
Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.
- FactThe Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele
- strengthensDriverPolitical Polarization
- weakensIndicators (2)Having a say in government
impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 August 1755 · verified
A dated curse-formula put public threat-language onto the same stele, distinct from the penalty clauses as law.
Weakens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)
Observed
29.8% of population aged 16-65 years · 8.13 below the normal line (2023)
Worse than normalTwo readings: 30.2% of population aged 16-65 years (2021) and 29.8% of population aged 16-65 years (2023).
20212023 Above normal = better
Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.14 (weight 0.3 × strength 0.45)
Observed
43.9 Score · 43.9 above the normal line (2024)
Worse than normal26 readings, 1996–2024: rose from 43 Score to 43.9 Score.
Normal is zero · any amount = worse
Evidence
The sources behind this fact and its verification state.
- 1.Louvre — Code of Hammurabi stele, prologue as later public objectMusée du Louvre · High credibility · verified
- 2.Britannica — HammurabiEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish
Louvre and Britannica independently identify an epilogue of blessings and curses as distinct from the case list. Official: Louvre — Code of Hammurabi, epilogue curses as later public object (https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010174436 (opens in a new tab); Musée du Louvre). Independent: Britannica — Hammurabi, epilogue of the Code (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hammurabi (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica). The two URLs are different pages. Where the carrier is a later edition or a received narrative, that limit is stated rather than upgraded to an autograph. Official carrier: Louvre — Code of Hammurabi, epilogue curses as later public object (https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010174436 (opens in a new tab); Musée du Louvre). Independent carrier: Britannica — Hammurabi, epilogue of the Code (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hammurabi (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Established: epilogue curses as a public heading. Not established: that every later erasure is uniquely caused by ignoring them. Established: a sourced public record of The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele under -1755-08-01.
Shared responsibility is part of The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele. Naming Hammurabi does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from -1755-08-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.
If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.
Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.
Causal path
How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.
- ActorHammurabi
- contributed toFactThe Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele
- strengthensDriverPolitical Polarization
- weakensIndicatorHaving a say in government
Cite this page
Factrail. (2026). The Code epilogue curses any later king who erases the stele. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/ham-epilogue-curses
https://factrail.ai/facts/ham-epilogue-curses
Accessed 16 October 2026.
By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed
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