Hammurabi

Hammurabi was born around 1810 BC into a minor Amorite dynasty ruling Babylon, then overshadowed by Elam, Larsa, Eshnunna, Mari, and Assyria. Succeeding his father in 1792 BC, he controlled only a stretch of the middle Euphrates. For nearly a decade he avoided open war, spending his energy on walls, temples, canals and calendar reform. Surviving letters show him deciding which canal to dredge and how to count royal livestock - governance's unglamorous infrastructure.

The death of Shamshi-Adad I around 1775 BC broke the regional balance. When Elam invaded, Hammurabi forged coalitions with Mari and Yamhad and beat them back, then turned on his neighbours one by one. In 1763 BC he besieged Larsa for six months and annexed it. Soon after he destroyed Eshnunna, captured his former ally Mari, and forced Assyria into tribute. By 1757 BC he held all Mesopotamia. The empire was a personal feat: his son Samsu-iluna watched it unravel within decades, and by 1595 BC the Hittites sacked Babylon.

What survived was the law. Late in his reign he had 282 clauses carved on a diorite stele set up in cities. The stele rediscovered at Susa in 1901 stands in the Louvre. Where the earlier Code of Ur-Nammu favoured monetary compensation, Hammurabi's code introduced systematic corporal punishment. The lex talionis line sits at its core and echoes through Exodus. The 1902 'Babel und Bibel' claim that Mosaic law copied Hammurabi was rejected; scholars now speak of a shared Near Eastern legal background.

The code is subtler than its retaliatory reputation. Article 1 prescribes death for a false accuser unable to prove the charge - an early burden of proof. Punishment moved from the wronged party to the state. Less flattering: penalties differ by class, and mutilation is common. The 'king of justice' self-styling lives alongside conquests where allies were discarded once used. Deified in life, he was claimed as model by Near Eastern kings for centuries. He died around 1750 BC.