During the early 18th Century BC, Ancient Mesopotamia’s city-states once again
became fragmented, after the Akkadian Empire disintegrated at the hands of the
nomadic Gutian people from the Zagros mountains. The small kingdom of Babylon
rose to great prominence under the leadership of a cunning Amorite king
named Hammurabi. A fearsome ruler and military commander, Hammurabi conquered
all of Mesopotamia, with Babylon serving as the heart of his powerful new empire.
From the time of its formation six centuries earlier, Babylon had no
official ruler, until Hammurabi’s father Sin-Muballit declared himself king in
1812 BC. During his reign, Sin-Muballit succeeded in a modest expansion of
Babylon’s territory by conquering the city-states of Kish, Sippar and Borsippa,
which laid the groundwork for his son and heir Hammurabi to effectively
birth an empire. When his father became ill and abdicated in 1792 BC, Hammurabi ascended
to the throne at the age of eighteen. During the first years of his reign
Hammurabi focused on vastly improving Babylon's infrastructure by overseeing
the completion of his father's public projects and initiating many of his own
he heightened the cities walls for greater protection from enemies and
added many new temples dedicated to Marduk, the Babylonian god of
thunderstorms. Hammurabi issued a proclamation forgiving all debt owed to
the kingdom, making him extremely popular among his subjects. The first decade of
his reign was relatively peaceful until the powerful Kingdom of Elam invaded the
Mesopotamian plain. Elam first conquered the city-state of Eshnunna and then set
its sights on Babylon. In an attempt to consolidate power
Elam tried to spark a war between the kingdom of Larsa and Babylon. Having
uncovered Elam's plot. Hammurabi and the king of Larsa, Rim-Sin, formed an alliance
to hold the foreign invaders at bay. Together they were
able to repel the Elamite forces, but the limited number of soldiers that Rim-Sin
committed to the effort enraged Hammurabi. In retaliation Hammurabi
persuaded several neighboring city-states and kingdoms to march on
Larsa. Their combined forces laid siege to the city for six months, ultimately
leading to its downfall. Rim-Sin managed to escape, but was captured and executed
shortly thereafter. Hammurabi, realizing that he was becoming much more powerful
than his southern allies, decided to betray them and seize their lands to
further expand his own empire. After laying waste to his former allies
Hammurabi had complete control of southern Mesopotamia. He was able to
accomplish this great feat in coordination with Mari's assistance.
Although Babylon had already expanded far beyond his father's wildest dreams
Hammurabi's lust for power only intensified with time
Mari's decision to send troops to aid Hammurabi in his conquest of southern
Mesopotamia caused major unrest within the kingdom. Hammurabi took advantage of
this situation by betraying Mari and marching north towards the weakened
kingdom. He succeeded in annihilating Mari's capital and proceeded to execute
its king. As a gesture of mercy, he allowed Mari and its northern cities
to persist as small villages under his rule. Hammurabi's next plan was to invade
the independent kingdom of Assyria. The legendary King Shamshi-Adad had
recently died of old age causing discontent throughout the kingdom and
enabling Hammurabi to swiftly conquer Assyria's cities. This final conquest
solidified his control over the entirety of Mesopotamia, but his rule over the
far-reaching Empire was short-lived as a severe illness led to his death at the
age of 60 in 1750 BC. Hammurabi's trademark military tactic was to build
temporary dams in an enemy cities rivers in order to starve its population or
drown them by releasing the water to create an unrelenting flood. This
merciless maneuver proved to be a key factor
behind the rapid expansion of his empire. Hammurabi's most celebrated
accomplishment was the implementation of a code of 282 laws, referred to as the
"Code of Hammurabi." The laws were a compilation of revised Sumerian and
Akkadian law codes. The Code of Hammurabi was inscribed in the Akkadian language
using cuneiform script carved into a 7-foot stele made of black diorite. The
top of the steel shows Hammurabi standing and receiving the laws from
Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice. The code attempted to achieve equality
through such laws as "If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall
destroy his eye." And "If a man breaks another man's bone, his bone shall be
broken. But fell far short of modern standards of equality due to its
categorization of people into three distinct classes: property owners, freemen
and slaves. Some examples of this injustice include: If anyone steals
cattle or sheep, or a donkey, or a pig or a goat, if it belonged to a god or to the
court, the thief shall pay 30 fold; if they belonged to a freed man of the king
he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be
put to death". And "If a male slave says to his master: "You are not my master" his
master shall prove him to be his slave and shall cut off his ear". Some laws were
particularly harsh towards women and required only accusations to be enforced
such as: "If a man's wife has the finger pointed at her on account of another, but
has not been caught lying with him, for her husband's sake, she shall plunge into
the sacred river". The Code of Hammurabi went on to influence several subsequent
codes of law, most notably those found in the Book of the Covenant from
the Hebrew Bible. The Babylonian Empire was short lived because of Hammurabi's
inability or perhaps disinterest in establishing a strong bureaucratic
system. His successors were unable to sustain the massive empire and it
progressively crumbled over the next century, until its complete collapse
during the sixteenth century BC. Through ruthless determination, Hammurabi built a
vast empire and successfully implemented one of the
world's first systems of laws. Consider liking subscribing and clicking the bell
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