Download Reading History #8: Hammurabi`s Reign

Reading History #8: Hammurabi’s Reign
Hammurabi succeeded in establishing the Babylonian Empire through a series of wars against
neighboring kings. One of Hammurabi’s steeles upon which he is styled ‘King of the
Amorites’ has been discovered as far north as Diyarbakir, a Kurdish city on the Tigris in southeastern Turkey. After conquering all of Mesopotamia, however, he was left with the problem of
trying to control it. It helped that over the years the Babylonians had largely adopted Sumerian
culture and, therefore, were not attempting to change radically everyday life for most of their
new subject peoples. But the king did need to exert authority and order his empire from his
residence in Babylon. Of course like most kings he supported large public works construction
projects – kings should provide for their subjects. His most enduring creation, however, was the
single code of laws that he had written for all of his territorial possessions. Because of their
supposed close relationship with the gods, from which kings derived their authority, kings could
deliver messages from the heavens. Hammurabi claimed to have received his law code — known
not surprisingly as Hammurabi’s Code — from the greatest of the Sumerian gods: Anu called
me by name, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared god, to bring about the rule of
righteousness in the land. And in carvings depicting the origin of code, Hammurabi is shown
receiving the law from Shamash or Marduk. Earlier law codes exist, but Hammurabi’s Code is
the most complete of the early codes known to us today. Babylonian scribes composed twohundred and eighty-two individual laws for the effective governing of the empire, covering
various aspects of of life within a city. What is particularly noteworthy about Hammurabi’s Code
is how economic penalties, perhaps for the first time, were integrated into the system.
Compensation was given to the offended party or victim. Sometimes the compensation was
rather strict and attempted to equate the penalty exactly with the crime committed. ‘An eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ is the famous line most people remember even today.
King Hammurabi had achieved great success as a conqueror, builder, and governor. But while he
was pulling the entire Mesopotamian region into the orbit of the mighty city on the Euphrates,
the peoples on the fringe of his empire — particularly the Hittites and Kassites in the mountains
to the north — were developing their own civilization and has managed to make important
technological innovations that ultimately brought Babylon to its knees: iron weapons! By 1550
BC, the Babylonian Empire effectively ceased to exist because of incursions and in 1531 BC
Babylon itself was sacked.
The size and importance of Babylon and the many cities that it controlled is evidence of the
widespread prosperity of the empire, which was, as we know, backed by an impressive and
elaborate military and administrative system. The large populations of these cities could only
have been supported by equally elaborate irrigation systems.
Source: R.M. Shurmer, http://stacities.wordpress.com; edited SLS 2/2013.