⚖ HAMMURABI'S CODE: FIRST LAWS
PAGE 1 OF 5, BABYLON RISES
OLD BABYLONIAN EMPIRE
ONE KING, MANY CITIES
After the dawn of civilisation in Mesopotamia, rival city-states gave way to larger kingdoms. Hammurabi (r. c. 1792 to 1750 BCE) turned Babylon from a regional power into the heart of an Old Babylonian empire stretching across much of southern Mesopotamia. He inherited irrigation networks, temple estates, and scribal archives from centuries of Sumerian and Akkadian tradition, then added what every growing state needs: a public claim that his rule was just. Conquest brought taxes, labour drafts, and court cases by the thousands. Hammurabi's answer was not only armies but written law carved for all to see.
🏛 EMPIRE
The Babylonian empire under Hammurabi united cities such as Ur, Uruk, and Larsa under one royal administration, with governors, messengers, and temple bureaucracies reporting to the palace.
RULE!
THRONE
- Hammurabi led armies and expanded Babylon.
- He also acted as chief judge in legal cases.
- Kings supported temples to show divine approval.
CLAY
- Scribes wrote laws and records on clay tablets.
- Tablets covered taxes, loans, and court cases.
- The big stone stele was a public summary of royal law.