Hammurabi (died c. 1750 BC)
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King Hammurabi of Babylon. Hammurabi was king from 1792 BC.
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The Code of Hammurabi, on a Babylonian plaque dating from around the 18th century BC (Louvre Museum, Paris, France). This inscribed stone stele, discovered at Susa (an ancient city north of the Gulf) in 1901, is the principal (and only considerable) source of the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known codes of law. At the top of the stele, Hammurabi is shown worshipping Shamash, the god of justice, who handed down the laws to the king, who would then enforce them. The code was based on a body of Sumerian law, and consists of Hammurabi's legal decisions on 282 case laws.
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A clay tablet with cuneiform script in Old Babylonian dating from around 1780 BC, which was found at Tell Leylan, Syria. The laws that constituted the Code of Hammurabi were inscribed in Old Babylonian. Cuneiform script was first used nearly two thousand years earlier than this example, although the language in which it was used was Sumerian.
Sixth ruler of the first dynasty of Babylon, reigned 1792–1750 or 1728–1686 BC. He united his country and took it to the height of its power. He authorized a legal code, of which a copy was found in 1902.
Hammurabi established a temporary empire by conquering neighbouring city-states, including Mari, from the Gulf to the Middle Euphrates. His reign marked the final extinction of Sumer (Sumerian civilization) as a political power.
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