Hammurabi
For the microcomputer game, see Hamurabi. |
This diorite head is believed to represent king Hammurabi |
Hammurabi (
Akkadian, from
Amorite ˤAmmurāpi, "The Kinsman is a Healer" (
ˤAmmu "paternal kinsman" +
Rāpi "healer"); also transliterated
Ammurapi,
Hammurapi or
Khammurabi) was the sixth king of
Babylon. Achieving the conquest of
Sumer and
Akkad, and ending the last
Sumerian dynasty of
Isin, he was the first king of the
Babylonian Empire.
Hammurabi reigned over the
Babylonian Empire from
1792 BC until his death in
1750 BC (
middle chronology;
1728-
1686 BC short chronology; dates highly uncertain). He was born in
1810 BC. It was he who first gave the city of Babylon
hegemony over
Mesopotamia.
The first few decades of his reign were relatively peaceful. In the 30th year of his reign, Hammurabi crushed an invading army consisting of
Elamite and other forces in a decisive battle, and drove them out of Babylonia. The next two years were occupied in adding
Larsa and Yamutbal to his dominion, and he formed Babylonia into a single monarchy centred on Babylon. A great literary revival followed the recovery of Babylonian independence, and the rule of Babylon was obeyed as far as the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Vast numbers of contract tablets, dated in the reigns of Hammurabi and his successors, have been discovered, as well as their autographed letters. Among them is one ordering the dispatch of 240 soldiers from
Assyria and Situllum, a proof that Assyria was at the time a Babylonian dependency.
Hammurabi expanded the rule of Babylon by first conquering cities towards the south, before his conquest expanded to cover most parts of Mesopotamia. His military conquests came late in his reign, perhaps brought on by the fall of
Shamshi-Adad's empire.
 |
The upper part of the stela of Hammurabi's code of laws |
He is perhaps best known for
promulgating his code of
laws, known as the
Code of Hammurabi. This was written on a
stela and placed in a public place, so that all could see it, even though very few could read. This stela was removed as plunder to the Elamite capital
Susa, where it was rediscovered in
1901, and it now stands in the
Louvre museum. While the penalties of his laws may seem cruel to modern readers, the fact that he not only put into writing the laws of his kingdom, but attempted to make them a systematic whole, is considered an important step forward in the evolution of
civilization. The "innocent until proven guilty" idea comes from his laws.
One fairly new theory is that the modern designation of it as a law code is wrong: it is thus seen merely as a monument "presenting Hammurabi as an exemplary king of justice." While dealing with many areas of life, the entries do not, by far, cover all possible crimes, and the stele may actually contain contradictions. While the code was applied and studied extensively in later Babylonian law (as seen in the library of
Ashurbanipal), there as of yet have been no contemporary records discovered that record its use as an actual functioning law code during Hammurabi's own time.:
Hammurabi also did other things in order to make Babylon a better place, such as helping to improve the
irrigation process.
Following Hammurabi's successors, the Babylonian Empire collapsed due to military pressure from the
Hittites, led by their king
Mursilis I. However it was the
Kassites, led by their king
Agumkakrine, who eventually ruled Babylon. Although there were many rebellious cities, the Kassites ruled for 400 years, and respected the
Code of Hammurabi.
* Van De Mieroop, Marc.
A History of the Ancient Near East. Blackwell Publishing: Malden, 2005. ISBN 0-631-22552-8
*
Babylonian Law. Britannica, 1911.
According to Charles N. Pope, the Biblical Patriarch Eber was The Babylonian King Hammurabi who reigned over the Babylonian Empire from 1792 BC until his death in 1750 BC
*
Ur-Nammu*
First Babylonian Dynasty*
Free ebook of Hammurabi at
Project Gutenberg
