by Royce Radcliffe

Created on: May 02, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

The legacy of Hammurabi exceeds that of any other king in Babylonian history. His is one of the most interesting chapters in Ancient Mesopotamian history and his legend lives on to this day.

This may have been the sixth king of Babylon but he was the first of the Babylonian Empire. This was the king who expanded the empire until it included all of Mesopotamia.

The wars to get this accomplished were long and waged against multiple kingdoms, often all at once. The military tact of Hammurabi was pure genius. He applied his encyclopedic knowledge of military tactics with pragmatic ease to the situations he found himself in.

Many considered him unbeatable. Thus when he set down the laws called by him Hammurabi's Code, the people were very receptive. This is the original and first code of law in recorded history and this is where he broke the mold.

It is a very specific document listed a detailed punishment for each specific offense. This was considered revolutionary at the time. By modern standards the punishments were harsh, usually of the eye for an eye variety or worse. Many offenses resulted in permanent disfigurement or even death.

Despite the cruelty of his system, the fact that he tried to implement this systems on such a wide ranging and unified level makes this one of the seminal events on the way toward the formation of civilization as we know it today.

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