Hammurabi

Promulgated the most complete surviving early written law code and unified southern Mesopotamia.

Life

A small state's survival

Hammurabi came from the First Dynasty of Babylon, founded by the Amorites, and took the throne c. 1792 BCE. At the time Mesopotamia was crowded with small states; Babylon was only a mid-sized city-state on the middle Euphrates, with Assyria and Eshnunna to the north and the powerful neighbor Larsa to the south, and it long had to maneuver among these powers to survive.

Unified southern Mesopotamia

In the early part of his reign he dug canals, built city walls and built up the state's strength; later, through diplomacy and force, he defeated Larsa, Mari and Eshnunna in turn, bringing southern Mesopotamia under a single regime. Late in life he compiled the customary laws of the various states into more than 280 provisions, carved them on a stone stele and made them public; they covered property, tenancy, marriage, debt and bodily injury.

The code and his legacy

The code is famous for its principle of retributive justice, and it graded punishments according to free persons, commoners and slaves, reflecting the realities of a hierarchical society. It was not the earliest legal text, but it is the most completely preserved, and it provides core material for later understanding of the economy and justice of the ancient Near East. After his death the empire quickly declined.

Legacy

The Code of Hammurabi consists of a prologue, about 280 laws and an epilogue. It established the principles of retributive justice in the style of "an eye for an eye" and of punishments graded by social rank, and it is one of the most important documents for the study of ancient West Asian society. Many of his own letters also survive, revealing an administrator who attended personally to every matter. Scholars still debate whether courts of the time actually cited the code; one view holds that it was more a monumental proclamation of the king's justice.

Major works & achievements

• Promulgated the Code of Hammurabi
• Unified southern Mesopotamia
• Defeated Larsa, Mari and Eshnunna
• Built canals and city defenses

Did you know? The basalt stele inscribed with his law code was unearthed at Susa in Iran at the end of 1901; it had originally been carried off by the Elamites as spoils of war, and it is now in the Louvre.

Key dates

• 1792 BCESucceeds as King of Babylon
• 1787 BCETakes Isin and Uruk
• 1763 BCEDefeated Larsa and took control of southern Mesopotamia
• 1761 BCEConquers Eshnunna
• 1759 BCEDestroys the Kingdom of Mari
• 1754 BCEIssues the Code of Hammurabi
• 1750 BCEDied; succeeded by his son Samsu-iluna