King Hammurabi: A Great Babylonian King
King Hammurabi was a very well known Babylonian King. He ruled from 1792- 1850 B.C.E. When he began ruling The Babylonian Empire, he made the list of rules, not to keep order in his kingdom, but to unify the multiple lands he had conquered. He realized that in order for this to work that he needed the laws to be versatile enough to be able to accommodate diverse groups of people. He sent legal experts throughout his kingdom to gather existing laws. These laws were reviewed and some were either revised or eliminated. After they were reviewed and revised, King Hammurabi publicized the set of 282 laws that would determine how his kingdom was ruled.
Timeline (BCE)
1810: Hammurabi is born
1795-1850: King Hammurabi's rule
1792: Hammurabi builds the walls of Babylon
1787: King Hammurabi conquers Uruk and Isin
1772: The Code of Hammurabi is published
1761: Hammurabi destroys the city of Mari
1755: Hammurabi rules all of Mesopotamia
1750: Hammurabi dies of natural causes
1749: Hammurabi's son, Samsu-lluna, takes control as the empire starts to fall apart
1795-1850: King Hammurabi's rule
1792: Hammurabi builds the walls of Babylon
1787: King Hammurabi conquers Uruk and Isin
1772: The Code of Hammurabi is published
1761: Hammurabi destroys the city of Mari
1755: Hammurabi rules all of Mesopotamia
1750: Hammurabi dies of natural causes
1749: Hammurabi's son, Samsu-lluna, takes control as the empire starts to fall apart
The Early Life of King Hammurabi
Not much is know about King Hammurabi's early life. He was born in 1810 BCE. His name, which was sometimes written as Khammurapikh, is West Semitic. He became the sixth Amorite ruler of Babylon. He inherited his land little by little.