Assyria, Eshnunna, Isin, Larsa, Yamhad, Mari, Elam and Babylon
Shamshi-Adad’s Assyrian Empire – the Upper Mesopotamian Kingdom – conquered cities of North Mesopotamia such as Assur, Terqa, and Mari. His empire also conquered portions of another Mesopotamian kingdom at the south, called Eshnunna. Below the Assyrian Empire was located by the four major powers in Mesopotamia: Larsa, Babylon, Elam, and remnants of Eshnunna. While cities of Uruk and Isin were also present during the period, both were conquered by the Larsa dynasty.
Babylon was originally a city built by Amorite tribe chieftain named Sumu-Abum. Sumu-Abum marks the start of the First Babylonian Empire, but it was by 1792 BCE when Hammurabi came to the throne of Babylon that Babylon really earned the title “empire”. Early years of Hammurabi was limited in their actions due to political situation and struggles among regional powers. Death of Shamshi-Adad of the Assyrian Empire divided the power into multiple city-states, and in similar years King Rim-Sin of Larsa dynasty conquered Isin and other cities, threatening Babylon.
Diplomatic Intricacy
Fall of Shamshi-Adad shrank the Assyrian Empire into the city of Assur, and major cities like Mari claimed Independence, forming another power in the northwestern area. The king of Mari was named Zimri-Lim, probably sponsored by Yahdun-Lim, the king of the Yamhad and father-in-law of Zimri-Lim.
The king of Eshnunna, Ibalpiel, subdued territories previously occupied by Shamshi-Adad and marched towards Mari, and this came as a threat to king Zimri-Lim who just recently gained Independence. Eshnunna also conquered a province located between Babylon and Mari named Rapiqum, posing threat both to Mari at north and Babylon at south at the same time. Hammurabi, the king of Babylon allied with Zimri-Lim of Mari to fight off Eshnunna influence, but Hammurabi later changed his stance and allied with Eshnunna. Hammurabi gained Rapiqum in return for allying with Eshnunna instead of Mari while Mari was sacked by Eshnunna forces.
Hammurabi then made alliance to Siwe-Palar-Khuppak of Sukkalmah Elam dynasty against Eshnunna. Hammurabi also proposed an alliance to Zimri-Lim, who he betrayed a year ago in the fight against Eshnunna. Zimri-Lim, however, had no choice, as Eshnunna influence was growing stronger in the region. Triple alliance leading to Babylon – Mari – Elam devasted Ibalpiel and Sukkalmah Elam subdued much of Eshnunna territory.
Now Mesopotamia was divided into four parts: Mari, Babylon, Larsa, and Elam. Historic archives from Babylon and Mari suggests that Elam’sf Sukkalmah dynasty held supreme position over other kingdoms, and even the Elam king regarded other Sumerian kings as their vessel lord.
Afraid of growing Elam influence around the region, Hammurabi once again forms coalition with Mari of Zimri-Lim against Elam. Elam fought back using their Eshnunna soldiers and hired Gutian mercenaries to fight off Babylon and Mari. After series of battle Hammurabi secured Sumer from Elam and expanded Babylon with Eshnunna territory under the power. Elam withdraw its forces. Grand regent of Elam lost control and withdraw to Anshan, while Yamhad at west remained silent with Mesopotamian troubles.
Babylonian Empire
Soon after victory over Elam, Hammurabi also conquered Larsa and Mari, uniting Sumer.
Hammurabi is often presented as the fair lawgiver to the general public. However, Hammurabi was also a sly diplomat and ambitious conqueror. Unlike Shamshi-Adad who sought only terror and power to build the empire, Hammurabi recognized his outpowered position in the beginning of his reign, and utilized his diplomatic agility to subdue enemies one by one. However, once Hammurabi conquered a new province, he allowed native rulers to hold their positions as long as they recognized Hammurabi as their overlord. This encouraged many local rulers to give up to Hammurabi rather than to fight against him.
After the conquest, Hammurabi gave his efforts on binding his empire under the belief of Marduk, the god of Babylon, also called as Bel or Baal in the bible. Under his reign Babylon grew as one of the holy cities in Mesopotamia. (Another holy city of Sumer is Nippur, where Enlil resides as the patron god). Then, Hammurabi “discovered” the stele of codes underground, which later named as the code of Hammurabi. Code of Hammurabi had hundreds of rules that helped the Babylonians to maintain order and peace within the territory.
Law-usurper
Then we delve into this question: Was Hammurabi a true lawgiver? Hammurabi is often called Hammurabi the Great; Hammurabi was a great conqueror and he absolutely deserves the title as the great conqueror. However, unlike what is generally known to the public, he was not a good leader when it comes to the legislature. Some other leaders of history appreciated for creating and regulating the legal system are Justinian, Draco, or Moses. All of those lawgivers wrote the law by themselves. Justinian the great of Byzantine repaired old imperial laws and bound new laws that he created into one Corpus Juris Civilis. Moses wrote Torah that bases the Jewish society, and Draco created the Draconian Code against corrupt aristocrats of Athens. However, Hammurabi did not take any part in the creation of law, rather forced scholars to create one for him. When the creation of code was over, Hammurabi murdered all men who took part in the project, buried the code deep under the soil, and excavated it back soon later, claiming that god has given him the law. Soon everyone in the city hailed Hammurabi as the divine lawgiver. Should Hammurabi be really called as the fair lawgiver? Probably not. In fact, Hammurabi’s code might not have been as iconic as it is now. Custom of one ruler stabilizing the country with the new law was already prevalent in Sumer. The law itself was lost into history during the sack of Babylon by Elamites, and there were other law codes that existed much earlier before Hammurabi.
Nevertheless, Hammurabi proclaimed new law over Sumer, and whether Hammurabi had any contribution to the creation of code or not, the law influenced legislature of Sumer and beyond. The code resembles the code of Ur-Nammu and it follows the Babylonian principle of retaliation: Lex Talionis, also known as an eye for an eye.