In today’s world we have the law enforcement of all levels that protect and serve the people from and all acts of violence, theft and any other crime committed against one another.
When a dead beat father leaves his baby’s mothers because he doesn’t want to own up to the responsibility we have a legal court system that gives that women right to child support. In today’s world we have what’s called a due process that is provide and individual, company a state justice. Whenever there has been some wrong doing our country now has a system to reclaim justice to the victim. This system of justice originated from a Babylonian King. King
Hammurabi’s code would lay the foundation of justice for the people for generation to come after him.
Before the greatness of Babylon in early Mesopatamia there was the III dynasty of Ur.
The founder and king of the Ur dynasty Ur-Nammu ruled from 2113 - 2096 BC. “King Ur-
Nammau was very involved in the rebuilding of his dynasty in agriculture and re- establishing civil order and security. King Ur-nammu would be succeeded by his son Shugli that ruled from
2096 -2048 BC. King Shulgi was very skilled in hunting and was an expert in military tactics”
(Woolley 53). King Shugli would then have two sons to succeed him and take the crown unfortunately they had a very difficult maintaining the dynasty and as the legal and administration began to fall apart so did the dynasty and it would be reduced to a small city state. With the inevitable destruction of the Ur dynasty came the second phase of the
Mesopatamia. Babylon would go through five kings spanning over a hundred years Hammurabi would get his shot at the throne. “During his rise to power Sin-muballit father of Hammurabi would finish off the last of the Ur dynasty and the transfer of power would begin through
Hammurabi” (Oppenheim 157). “King Hammurabi of Babylon ruled from 1795 to 1750 BC. He was a great king known for many talents such as being a great warrior and statesman. King
Hammurabi had all the great qualities of great leader and even greater king” (Solden6). The first order of business for Hammurabi was to rebuild and improve the infrastructure of Babylon. For the first ten years of Hammurabi’s rule he formulated a plan the change the culture and in the process and making Babylon a great force during that time. “After being king for two years he established justice in the land focusing all his efforts in the economic struggles taking place”
(Saggs72). Hammurabi primary concern for the next two years was to rebuild the economy.
“During year four the wall of the temple-cloister was built that is directly linked to the protection of the right of a class of female temple personnel that lived there” (Saggs72). So after he started rebuilding the economy he started building within the city, Hammurabi built up his temple protection the personnel of his temple specifically the women. From the very beginning of Hammurabi’s rule he wanted to make Babylon a very powerful nation and to do that he would eventually have to expand his empire. “In the seventh year he made he took control of both Isin and Erech” (Saggs72). This additional not only made Babylon more powerful but also appears to a great military strategy for the coalition with Rim-Sin of Larsa which was only twenty miles away. “During year nine the canal “Hammurabi is abundance” was built”
(Saggs72). Hammurabi built this canal foreseeing all the benefits of an irrigation system for
Babylon that range from an economic and military.
Now that Hammurabi has established the kingdom Babylon as legitimate force and was recognized by other kings, Hammurabi began political ties with other kingdoms. “A coalition was formed between Hammurabi of Babylon, Rim-Sin of Larsa, and Zimril-Lim of Mari that would formed a combined military force of over ten thousand troops” (Saggs73). This diplomatic decision would ensure that the kingdoms would stay protected during the time of need. “In the 29th year Hammurabi’s rule his kingdom would be attacked by another coalition of states east of the Tigris and betrayed by Eshunna, it during this attack that Hammurabi used the adivice of the God Marduk to use his built canal as a tactic to destroy Eshunna” (Soden25).
With the defeat of Eshunna Hammurabi took the next two years to position the kingdom to overthrow King Rim-Sin of Larsa. “During the thirty-first year of his rule Hammurabi succeeded in the attack on King Rim-Sin Larsa, overthrown the king and was now the sole ruler of
Babylon”(Saggs74). Now the sole ruler of Babylon he continued in his military conquest and built the city up to a major kingdom. “In the thirty-third of his rule he attacked and occupied
Mari but that left Zimri-Lim in possession as a vassel” (Oppenhiem 85). Hammurabi impact on
Babylon was legendary unfortunately after his death his Samsu-Iluna to the throne (1749-
1712BC) everything started to fall apart. Hammurabi sin allowed a revolt that resulted in the middle Euphrates region breaking away and becoming an independent Kingdom called Hana”
(Saggs76). None of the many successors of Hammurabi proved to be formidable Kings as
Babylon and all the accomplishments Hammurabi achieved became less and less significant till the empire was no more. “In 1595BC Babylon was taken over by the southern Dynasty of
Sealands and then by Cassites” (Wolley 115). Even though the successor of Hammurabi could not live up his legendary status and ultimately caused the downfall his principles most specifically his code super succeeded Babylon influenced other civilizations. King Hammurabi had many accomplishments during his reign. If King Hammurabi never challenged for the throne then turmoil would have continued throughout Mesopotamia and most significantly Babylon. Since there were only three great rulers of Babylon, the absence of
Hammurabi that would leave a remaining two and big gap between 1795-1750BC. The accomplishments Hammurabi achieved directly resulted the success of Babylon. He pushed for change and demanded fairness among his people and the other kings followed him. First of during his reign he wanted become a greater king that treated his people fairly regardless of class or gender yet enforce discipline. The greatness of Babylon is because of the innovation of
King Hammurabi Code which is a set of laws that he set forth to govern his people with. These set of laws covered a wide range of potential problems that was in place mainly to bring justice to those who had be mistreated. The Hammurabi code would be the foundation of the ever evolving justice system that we have today. The Hammurabi code consisted of an international law based on “administration justice land and housing merchants and agents assault and personal injury professional fees and responsibility agriculture and rates of hires”(Virgina 34). With this code in place, people who opposed the code face extreme consequences. He is most famous for this code because it set discipline for his people and laid the foundation for many laws of justice today. Babylon would be nowhere near the size that it ultimately ended up being. The alliances between other city states and kings would have never come to past. King Hammurabi was a king of kings that lead other kings on his road to making Babylon a great Dynasty. Several diplomatic deals were made on behalf of the interest on the parties in involved. Because of the coalition of between King
Hammurabi, Kings of Mari, Yamhad, Eshnunna and Larsa they were able to house a strong hold of 10,000 troops; the bigger then army the less susceptible to attack from your enemies. This alliance between the kingdoms would still taken place however Eshnunna would have never been attacked by Hammurabi instead King Rim-Sin of Larsa would have attack Eshnunna in but would have lost because he would not have had the tactical advantage that Hammurabi due do his canal being built. The sole reason he won that battle because the advice given to him from the God Maduk. This battle would have lasted a couple years and would have resulted in
King Rim-Sin winning due to the sheer numbers. Rim-Sin would have overtaken Eshunna to become the sole kingdom of Babylon. Babylon would have be far from the greatness that
Hammurabi made the city. The economy would have worsened and in desperation move to bring order to the people and preserve his kingdom King Rim-Sun would have to make a diplomatic alliance with Yarim-Lim of Yamhad. Being the King of Babylon isn’t as big of an accomplishment as Hammurabi’s because the sheer size and prosperity within the kingdom was significantly less. With King Yarim-lim as an ally and the sharing of troops and others services would ensure the survival of the kingdom for a few years to come. King Rim-Sim still did not have a solution to bring order. Under his laws women was mistreated and treated unfairly. The crime rate would increase as there were no significant laws in place that the people had to follow. Justice would not be have been taken serious or enforce with Hammurabi. There were several cases in that time period that wither resolved multiple issue of mistreatment or prevented people from do the wrong thing by the severity of the punishment for breaking the code. Slaves would have no right and would get taken advantage of. Under the current lack of law the mistreatment of women children slave would continue to thrive. In a society dominated by men women would be even more at the mercy of a man because the stipulations that are imposed upon each marriage. Because of the code Hammurabi even with its flaws made society back then more secure and justice was served even though it was harsh at time. Crimes of all sorts would have been at an all-time high because there would have been nothing to enforce justice. King Rim-Sin wanted to expand the kingdom however without the innovation of
Hammurabi canal and no sign of an economic upside the people began to turn on the King. A revolt began with the kingdom. As King Rim-Sim fought within his kingdom to maintain order his alliances began to jump ship and Babylon became open for an attack. Zimri-lim was the first to attack Babylon as they began to self-destruct from within. King Rim-Sin had just enough power and influence to rally his remaining troops and fight off Zimri-lim. The battle last for two years and even though Babylon was victorious many of their resources and troops were depleted. With some much lose the middle Euphrates region breaks away to form the kingdom of Hana. The Southern dynasty of Sealands takes advantage of paralyzed city and easy overthrow King Rim-San and Babylon is no more. King Rim-Sin is remember as being the sole
King of Babylon but ultimately leading his people to demise for his lack of innovation, poor military skills and allowing the economy to remain in turmoil. As future dynasty come and go as time passes on the Hammurabi code in never implemented as a standard to build on future laws. Women continue to be mistreated and people unafraid to commit crimes due to the lack of discipline enforced. In conclusion King Hammurabi is what made Babylon what it is. As the most influential and famous leader with him Babylon would look totally different. Not on did he set an example of how a king should lead his people but he also set a high standard on the expectation of oh his people. By single handedly building up Babylon in almost every way from agriculture road military and of course a justice system he paved the for generations to come. Even after his reign the foundation was still laid forth and that his code evolved over the centuries and over the various kingdoms and dynasties all the up to present day. Without the great King
Hammurabi justice may have never been served.

Worked Cited

Saggs, H.W.F. The Greatness that was Babylon, Great Britain, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1988, print
Woolley,Leonard Sir,. Excavations of Ur, Great Britain, Ernest Benn,1963 Print
Oppenheim Leo, A. Ancient Mesopatimia, Chaicago Press, Erica Reiner, 1977 Print
Soden Wolf von. The Ancient Orient, Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans, 1994, Print
Virginia Alexandria, Mesopatamia: The Mighty Kings, Canada, Time-Life Books 1995, Print

At the time of Hammurabi accession Babylon was within a loose coalition of states headed by Assyria, under the powerful figure of Shamshi-adad. Assyria had been part if the Ur empire and after the fall of the Ur a native dynasty had taken over.