Hammurabi -- the second well known king in history - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14694604
About 500 years after Sargon The Great, in approximately the same location in Mesopotamia, there reigned a king named Hammurabi, to circa 1750 BCE. We know of him both from various king lists discovered by archaeologists and also from the famous stele which at the top of it shows a carved image of him standing next to a seated god, and containing below this a list of 282 laws.

The laws list crimes and punishments, there is no allowance made for mitigation and extenuation, but there is a presumption of innocence and a provision for providing evidence by both parties to the trial. It is written in Akkadian, the language of Sargon. The punishments are harsh and could result in death, mutilation or disfigurement, or requiring some other fine or recompense.

The copy of the stele that we have today (there would have been several made anciently) in the Louvre in Paris was originally found by the ancient Persians in Babylonia and then removed to Susa. There it stayed preserved until rediscovered in the early 1900's and then moved to Paris.

The portrait of Hammurabi on the stele shows a muscular man with a long beard and clothed in a draped linen robe wearing a rigid helmet or crown of some kind. The seated god before whom he stands is also muscular and bearded and is wearing a pleated robe and felt cap. The god gesticulates as though instructing Hammurabi. Beams of light radiate from the shoulders of the god.
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#14694610
By the time of Hammurabi the ancient empire of Akkad created and ruled by Sargon and his sons had long since dissipated and was followed by a long dark age. Ultimately two major smaller empires arouse from it, that of the Babylonians in the south of Mesopotamia and that of the Assyrians in the north of it. Hammurabi was a king of the Babylonians and the people there spoke Akkadian as in days of old during the times of Sargon.

Hammurabi spent his days fighting the Elamites to the east and also fighting his Assyrian cousins to the north. He made several alliances with other local Semitic groups who were non-Elamite and non-Assyrian. Upon his death his son ruled in his stead and managed to lose control of affairs. From that time forward the land of the Assyrians and the Babylonians became destabilized and a dark age sets in again.

During this thousand year dark age in Assyria and Babylonia, the ancient Egyptians, Hittites and Greeks evolve into local powers, and not until the 10th Century BCE do we hear about Assyria or Babylonia again.

Almost everyone has heard of Hammurabi, but few people can place him where he belongs in history. He belongs about 500 years after Sargon and 500 years before the Mycenaean Greeks.

For those of you who follow Biblical historiography, Hammurabi would also coincide with about 500 years before the times of Moses in Egypt. And by the time the Hebrews have become established in Canaan with cities and fortresses of their own, the Assyrians and the Babylonians would have also again risen to power and splendor in their own respective places in the northern and southern areas of Mesopotamia as before. These 3 civilizations would have then come into conflict in yet another 500 or so years, leading to first the Assyrian deportation and then next the Babylonian captivity, followed by the Persian exile, as far as Biblical historicity goes.
Last edited by yiostheoy on 23 Jun 2016 07:44, edited 7 times in total.
#14694614
the predecessors of the Persians who at that time were called by a different name, the Elamites

The Persians and the Elamites were two different groups of people. The Elamites were finally destroyed by the Assyrian Empire just before the Assyrian Empire was itself destroyed by an alliance of the Babylonians and the Medes (of whom the Persians were an allied but subordinate tribe). This is why the Elamites disappeared at about the same time as the Persians rose to prominence, which may have given rise to the confusion between the two.
#14694900
I am having a hard time deciding who the #3 most well known king in chronological order is.

Sargon is clearly the earliest, not counting Gilgamesh whom we do not know was real or fiction. From the ridiculousness of the stories I would have to go with fiction for Gilgamesh. The Epic Of Gilgamesh is more famous for its flood story, which predates Moses by about 15 centuries. Maybe Moses was taught the story while he himself was a young prince of Egypt living in the house of Pharaoh. Maybe he decided to incorporate it into his other stories for his introduction called Bereshet (Genesis) to his 5 volume multi scroll history of the world to 1450 BCE called "The Torah". That's really all that Gilgamesh is famous for.

Hammurabi is clearly the favorite for #2. And even he is just another ordinary vanilla king, nothing really great about him, other than he created a bunch of stele with laws on it -- "written in stone". Even so, his is the second name in history that we learn of from archaeology of an actual person who actually lived, Sargon having been the first. It is really nice that Hammurabi appears on the stele so this gives us a look at what their kings and what their gods looked like.

For #3 we do NOT have any archeology unfortunately. But we do have a name. I'll start a different thread for him, just in case anybody else wants to add anymore about Hammurabi here in this thread that they may have heard or read which I did not know and left out. I have pretty much typed-in everything that I know about Hammurabi. There is not that much to know. Other than the stele he did not do anything that was particularly great, like Sargon did.
Last edited by yiostheoy on 23 Jun 2016 21:09, edited 1 time in total.
#14694901
Hammurabi is clearly the favorite for #2. And even he is just another vanilla flavored king, nothing really great about him, other than he created a bunch of stele with laws on it -- "written in stone".

I would just like to add that it was Hammurabi (and the other kings of his dynasty) who first made Babylon into the cultural powerhouse which it later became. So much so that when Alexander conquered the known world, he intended to make Babylon the capital of his empire. He died before this could happen, however.

Even so, his is the second name in history that we learn of from archaeology of an actual person who actually lived, Sargon having been the first.

Actually, we know lots of names from that period. But that's all they are - just names. Hammurabi achieved much, both in legal and in cultural terms, which is why he is remembered as more than just a name.
#14694903
Potemkin wrote:I would just like to add that it was Hammurabi (and the other kings of his dynasty) who first made Babylon into the cultural powerhouse which it later became. So much so that when Alexander conquered the known world, he intended to make Babylon the capital of his empire. He died before this could happen, however.


Actually, we know lots of names from that period. But that's all they are - just names. Hammurabi achieved much, both in legal and in cultural terms, which is why he is remembered as more than just a name.

P, isn't that an anachronism though? Didn't the grandeur of Babylon develop AFTER the dark ages following Hammurabi and his son?

Isn't that why they call it the New Babylonian Empire starting from about 900 BCE to its peak in 500 BCE?
#14694905
P, isn't that an anachronism though? Didn't the grandeur of Babylon develop AFTER the dark ages following Hammurabi and his son?

Isn't that why they call it the New Babylonian Empire starting from about 900 BCE to its peak in 500 BCE?

That's largely true - Babylon's real greatness lay ahead of it. Nevertheless, Babylon under Hammurabi was beginning to exert a cultural influence on its neighbours, which later grew enormously. But the groundwork for that cultural flourishing was laid by Hammurabi and his dynasty.
#14694908
Potemkin wrote:That's largely true - Babylon's real greatness lay ahead of it. Nevertheless, Babylon under Hammurabi was beginning to exert a cultural influence on its neighbours, which later grew enormously. But the groundwork for that cultural flourishing was laid by Hammurabi and his dynasty.

After the long dark age that followed Hammurabi's son, I am having a hard time feeling like Hammurabi left anything behind besides his stele.
#14694911
After the long dark age that followed Hammurabi's son, I am having a hard time feeling like Hammurabi left anything behind besides his stele.

People remembered Rome's greatness, even after it fell, and continually sought to recreate it. Likewise, during the turmoil which would follow the collapse of every Chinese dynasty, people would remember the previous dynasty's cultural greatness and try to recreate it, often very successfully. Dark ages do not destroy everything, yiostheoy.
#14694932
Potemkin wrote:People remembered Rome's greatness, even after it fell, and continually sought to recreate it. Likewise, during the turmoil which would follow the collapse of every Chinese dynasty, people would remember the previous dynasty's cultural greatness and try to recreate it, often very successfully. Dark ages do not destroy everything, yiostheoy.


P, you can feel free to call me Y. I can't pronounce your moniker and mine is not that easy either.

When Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon, he left it in tact because it was so beautiful. From that point on its legacy survived in all of subsequent Jewish, Greek, and Roman lore. Alexander The Great did the same, and even lived there as well to his dying day.

But for Hammurabi's stele we would never have heard of Hammurabi. The credit for Babylon's greatness would then have all gone to someone like Napopolassar or Nebuchadnezzar (whose name meant "Oh God Nabu Protect My Son"). Nebuchadnezzar with his many temple and beautification projects probably deserves it most, as well as being a conquering king himself much like Sargon before him.

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