Hammurabi

Hammurabi (Akkadian Khammurabi, from Amorite Ammurapi, "The Kinsman is a Healer"; Ammu, paternal kinsman + Rapi, to heal; 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. 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.
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.