Download Hammurabi of Babylon

Hammurabi of Babylon
Code of Hammurabi
The code of Hammurabi in the Louvre, Paris
About 1700 BC, a new king in the Mesopotamian city of Babylon managed to
pull all the scattered cities back together into one empire: the Babylonian
Empire. His name was Hammurabi; this is an Amorite name, so Hammurabi
was probably descended from Amorite ancestors. This is another episode in
what is becoming a regular West Asian cycle of empires forming under a
strong ruler, gradually weakening and finally collapsing into a bunch of
independent cities, and then new empires forming again under a new ruler a
little later.
Hammurabi (ham-oor-AH-bee) was very concerned to do things that would
bring everyone in his empire together, and make them all feel like they
were part of this new project together. One thing he did was to issue a law
code that would be the same for all the people in the Babylonian Empire.
This is called the Code of Hammurabi, and we still have copies of it: there
is a picture of it here, showing Hammurabi at the top (standing) and getting
the laws from the god (sitting down). Underneath them, in tiny cuneiform
writing, are all the laws.
Under Hammurabi, the Babylonian Empire was very strong, but under his
children and grandchildren the empire got weaker, until eventually it
collapsed like other West Asian empires.
To find out more about Hammurabi and the Babylonian Empire, check out
these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Find Out About Mesopotamia: What Life Was Like in Ancient Sumer,
Babylon and Assyria, by Lorna Oakes (2004).
Ancient Mesopotamians, by Elena Gambino (2000). For kids, retellings of
Mesopotamian stories and lots of context.
Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide, by Marian
Broida (1999). Not just Egypt! Includes activities for kids about the
Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Hittites, and the Nubians.
Babylonians, by Henry Saggs (2000). Also includes information about the
Sumerians and Akkadians.