factbase-ancient-history/rulers/hammurabi.md

Hammurabi

Overview

Hammurabi (~1792–1750 BCE) was the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty who transformed Babylon from a minor city-state into the dominant power in Mesopotamia. He is best known for the Code of Hammurabi. @t[1792 BCE..1750 BCE]

Key Facts

• Reign: ~1792–1750 BCE @t[1792 BCE..1750 BCE]
• Title: King of Babylon; also styled "King of the Four Corners of the World" @t[1792 BCE..1750 BCE]
• Capital: Babylon
• Dynasty: First Dynasty of Babylon (Amorite)
• Father: Sin-Muballit (predecessor, abdicated due to failing health)
• Successor: Samsu-iluna (r. ~1750–1712 BCE) @t[~1750 BCE..~1712 BCE]

Achievements

• Inherited a small kingdom (Babylon, Kish, Sippar, Borsippa) and expanded it through military campaigns and diplomacy ¹
• Formed a temporary alliance with Larsa to repel an Elamite invasion, then turned against Larsa and absorbed its territories ¹
• Conquered city-states of Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari; ousted Ishme-Dagan I of Assyria, forcing his son Mut-Ashkur to pay tribute ¹
• Was the first ruler to successfully govern all of Mesopotamia without revolt following his initial conquests ¹
• Issued the Code of Hammurabi (~1754 BCE): 282 laws inscribed on a diorite stele @t[~1754 BCE] ²
• Improved irrigation systems and infrastructure; control of canal flow also served as a strategic tool against rival city-states ¹
• Established Marduk as the supreme deity of Babylon
• Over 200 surviving royal letters document his direct administrative oversight of conquered territories, including correspondence with officials in Larsa ¹

The Code of Hammurabi

• The longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East ¹
• Written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian cuneiform
• Structured as: poetic prologue, 282 case laws, and epilogue (~4,130 lines total) ¹
• The stele's relief depicts Hammurabi receiving the laws from Shamash, the sun god of justice, symbolizing divine authority ¹
• 282 laws covering property, trade, family, labor, and criminal matters
• Among the first legal codes to establish the presumption of innocence ³
• Principle of lex talionis ("an eye for an eye") with class-based distinctions
• Influenced later legal traditions, including Mosaic Law in the Hebrew Bible ¹
• Stele discovered at Susa in 1901, now in the Louvre ⁴
• Not the earliest code (preceded by Code of Ur-Nammu) but the most complete

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1. World History Encyclopedia. "Hammurabi." https://www.worldhistory.org/hammurabi/ (accessed 2026) ↩︎

2. Roth, M.T. Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (1997) ↩︎

3. Wikipedia. "Hammurabi." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi (accessed 2026) ↩︎

4. Harper, R.F. The Code of Hammurabi (1904) ↩︎