How King Hammurabi turned Babylon into the most powerful state of the ancient world

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At the meeting place of the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the great ancient city of Babylon once stood. A small territorial community grew into an incredibly powerful Babylonian kingdom. Babylon was repeatedly raided and destroyed, it ceased to exist in the 2nd century, but the glory of this great state is still alive today. Babylon owes its greatness in almost everything to the most famous of its kings - Hammurabi. This man managed to turn Babylon into the most important economic and cultural center of the Middle East. What did this king do so special that his name was heard, almost four millennia after his death?

When Hammurabi was born, historians could not establish for certain. The only thing that experts confidently say is that he was very young when he ascended the throne. In addition, the name of the famous Babylonian king is a mystery to scientists. Some of the experts believe that it is "Hammu-rabi", which means "great ancestor". There are experts who are inclined to the version that in fact it is "Hammu-rapi", that is, "ancestor-healer".

At the dawn of Hammurabi's reign, Babylonia was a very modest state. Several relatively small towns within a radius of less than one hundred kilometers. The time of the beginning of the reign of this king would not have survived to this day, if it were not for the Babylonian tradition of naming the years according to some significant deeds of the kings. The beginning of the reign of Hammurabi was marked by the establishment of "justice". This was the forgiveness of all debts to all residents. The Babylonians called the second year of this king on the throne "the year of justice of Hammurabi." This was the period from 1793 to 1750 BC.

Babylon by this time was a very young state - it was less than a hundred years old. The first fifteen years of Hammurabi's reign are not reflected in any way in historical documents. Historians only know that the king was actively rebuilding his state and expanding it through the conquest of neighboring peoples. He did this very successfully and the kingdom increased significantly in size.

Most of all, of course, this ruler was remembered thanks to the Code of Hammurabi, which was inscribed on stone pillars. These pillars were equal to human height and were placed in all the cities of the Babylonian kingdom. But this set of 282 laws was just one of the tremendous achievements of the charismatic leader, who turned the unprecedented city-state of Babylon into the dominant power of ancient Mesopotamia.

Throughout his reign, Hammurabi served as an excellent example of how to combine military power, diplomatic skills and political prowess to create and control an empire that stretches from the Persian Gulf inland. In addition to carving laws on stone pillars, this great man was a wise ruler, a brave warrior, a skilled diplomat, and an excellent administrator.

Hammurabi became the greatest kings of his time because he was a shrewd statesman. He has worked his way to dominance in the region with incredible skill. The Babylonian king knew how to conclude a very necessary alliance and also famously break it off as soon as it became unprofitable. Hammurabi owned an espionage network that was extremely developed for those times. He was the most informed ruler in the region. Sophisticated diplomacy helped to advance the interests of the Babylonian kingdom. At the same time, the tsar was building up his military power. Hammurabi's reign was like a skillful chess game, where the king won unconditionally.

Hammurabi - builder and conqueror

Hammurabi became the first Babylonian king to erect protective walls around the city. At the same time, the ruler tried to ingratiate himself with his subjects by issuing a proclamation annulling all their debts. The king repeated this broad gesture four times during his reign. Like a modern governor or mayor who is increasing his popularity by repairing roads and building bridges in his hometown, Hammurabi has become even more politically entrenched with a number of large-scale infrastructure projects. He built temples, granaries, palaces, a bridge over the Euphrates River, which allowed the city to expand on both banks. Hammurabi dug a large irrigation canal, which began to protect the Babylonian land from floods.

The investment he made paid off handsomely as Babylon gradually developed into a wealthy and prosperous state. Hammurabi, in turn, made sure that everyone knew that only he was involved in everything that brings prosperity to the country. The king made sure that all the successes were reported to the people. For example, when he built the canal, he tried to inform everyone that he was only fulfilling his obligations to the gods who entrusted him with this land. Very competent PR.

“I turned the banks of the Euphrates on both sides into cultivated lands,” declared Hammurabi, according to the History of Civilization by historian Will Durant. “I poured heaps of grain, I provided the land with perfect water … I gathered scattered people and provided them with pastures and water. I gave them everything, I grazed them in abundance and settled them in peaceful dwellings."

After several decades of building Babylon, Hammurabi became strong enough to start wars of conquest. Which he was very successful in doing. Hammurabi quickly conquered Eshnunna in the east, Assyria in the north, Larsa in the south, and Mari in the west. The tsar knew how very cleverly, albeit duplicitously, to combine strength and diplomacy. Hammurabi made alliances with other rulers, and then broke them when it was convenient for him. He also waged war in extremely cunning ways. One of his famous tricks was to cut off the water supply to the besieged city. He then either used his thirst to force the rulers of the city to surrender, or suddenly released streams of water onto the city, causing a devastating flood. After that, the attack was always doomed to succeed.

The Hammurabi Code - an example of a legal model

The complex legal code of Hammurabi covered all issues of the life of the state: from security, construction, principles of inheritance, discipline, behavior of slaves, taxes and ending with the fees that ancient veterinarians had to pay for the right to treat bulls and donkeys. This, of course, was not the first legal system in history, Hammurabi actually incorporated laws created by previous kings into his code. But the main thing was that he actually realized the idea of a society built on the principle of law and order, applicable to everyone.

Experts in the field say there are many laws that we would classify as harsh or barbaric today. Along with this, there are others that involve caring for ordinary citizens and responsibility for crimes and violations of the rights of other people. Hammurabi's legal system included features familiar today, such as the principle of the presumption of innocence. According to this principle, in order to condemn a person, it was first necessary to collect evidence of his guilt. In addition, the code regulated and even provided for the payment of alimony.

Hammurabi is a benevolent ruler

In a sense, the Hammurabi Code was also a public relations tool, his way of subtly advertising himself as a wise and kind king. To this end, a preserved sample of Hammurabi's stone pillars depicts his meeting with Shamash, the Babylonian god of Justice. The king wanted his subjects to perceive him not only as a magnanimous ruler protecting his citizens. Hammurabi wanted to represent for his citizens a kind of symbiosis of gods on Earth, a military leader, a great builder and a strict but fair judge.

Hammurabi was a pioneer in the field of political self-promotion. However, the image he created was not a complete show. He was a truly benevolent ruler who wanted his subjects to live better. In the king's correspondence with his officials, he makes it clear that anyone who believes that the court has treated him unfairly can turn to their king for an appeal. As his biographer Van De Mierop writes, "Hammurabi ensured that all people will be judged fairly and should not be afraid of his power."

If you are interested in history, read our article on what secrets were discovered by the ancient Roman ghost town of Timgad, which was buried in the sands of Africa for over 1000 years.