Hammurabi

Hammurabi (flourished 18th century bc), king who ruled Babylonia, an ancient country lying between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq. Under his rule the city of Babylon, which had been an unimportant city, became the capital of a large empire. Hammurabi defeated neighboring kings and unified an empire that extended northward from the Persian Gulf through the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates and westward to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Historians consider Babylonian history to have begun with Hammurabi.

Hammurabi was an active and capable administrator. After establishing a central government at Babylon, he devoted his energies to protecting the frontiers of his empire and improving its prosperity. The king and his ministers headed a well-organized administrative system. The government concerned itself with national defense, the administration of justice, the direction of agricultural production, and the collection of taxes. Throughout Hammurabi’s long reign he personally supervised many aspects of these activities, as historians know from clay tablets that carry his instructions. For example, he provided details on the cleaning of the irrigation canals. Hammurabi also supervised the building of many temples and other buildings.

Although he was a successful military leader and administrator, Hammurabi is primarily remembered for his codification of the laws governing Babylonian life, known as the Code of Hammurabi. Archaeologists discovered the text of this code engraved upon a stone monument in the city of Susa (now Shush) in Iran in 1902.

The several sections of the code contain laws relating to personal property, real estate, trade, business relations, the family, labor, and personal injuries. Today, many of the penalties imposed by the law seem harsh. The basic principle behind criminal law was equal retaliation: “If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.” In the Hebrew Bible (known to Christians as the Old Testament), this became “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” However, Hammurabi’s law code offered equal justice for all classes of society and is viewed as humane for its time.