Hammurabi

The man who turned the erratic whims of kings into the permanence of stone, Hammurabi is the father of the "Lex Talionis"—an eye for an eye. By inscribing 282 laws onto a black diorite stele, he ensured that the weak would be protected from the strong and that justice would no longer be a secret kept by the elite. He represents the birth of the Social Contract, the ruler who realized that for an empire to survive, the law must be a cold, impartial witness that stands above the sword.