Who was Hammurabi? |

Hammurabi was the sixth king of the Amorite First Dynasty of Babylon. He reigned from 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE. He inherited the throne from his father who was called Sin-Muballit. Under Hammurabi’s reign, Babylon expanded to include all of ancient Mesopotamia. When he took over power from his father, Babylon only consisted of Kish, Sippar, and Borsippa. He went on to conquer Assyria, Eshunna, Larsa, and Mari through carefully crafted military alliances and campaigns....

Hammurabi was the sixth king of the Amorite First Dynasty of Babylon. He reigned from 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE. He inherited the throne from his father who was called Sin-Muballit. Under Hammurabi’s reign, Babylon expanded to include all of ancient Mesopotamia. When he took over power from his father, Babylon only consisted of Kish, Sippar, and Borsippa. He went on to conquer Assyria, Eshunna, Larsa, and Mari through carefully crafted military alliances and campaigns. The main purpose of these conquests was to acquire control of the Tigris and Euphrates waters for the agricultural prosperity of his people. He also aimed to control trade routes and mining activities in areas of interest. Generally, he was a great leader who worked to better the lives of those he served through development projects such as irrigation of farmlands, the building of religious structures, fortification of city-states, and establishment of good laws that could be used to maintain order in the empire. It is this set of laws that he is chiefly known for today, especially after the discovery of the Code of Hammurabi that contained 282 laws written on stone slabs. These laws advocated for a system of justice where the crime is directly related to the punishment—an “eye for an eye” type of justice. Parallels can be drawn between the Code of Hammurabi and the Mosaic Laws in the Old Testament of the Bible.