Hammurabi Unmasked: Diplomatic Tantrums, Larsa's Siege and a Bitumen War

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Hammurabi, carved today on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court, inherited Babylon from his father Sin-Muballit around 1792 BC, when it was a secondary Amorite kingdom among Larsa, Eshnunna, Mari and Shamshi-Adad's Upper Mesopotamia. For about 20 years he dug canals, built walls and kept quiet. Then Elam crushed Eshnunna and sent envoys offering both Hammurabi and Rim-Sin of Larsa the same secret alliance against the other. The two compared notes, and Hammurabi formed a coalition with Rim-Sin and Zimri-Lim of Mari, sworn before divine symbols, though he refused to finalize it on the 25th of the month because it was an unlucky day.

Mari and Larsa did most of the fighting while Hammurabi held his own army in reserve, and once Elam withdrew he accused Larsa of sending too few troops, besieged it and captured Rim-Sin alive. He then fell out with Zimri-Lim over Hit, the source of the bitumen that waterproofed river boats, conquered Mari and later burned its palace. His letters show him personally ordering investigations of land disputes and a bribery case in Bad-Tibira. He issued 282 laws on a diorite stela beneath a relief of the sun god Shamash, and occasionally canceled the debts of the poor. After a final illness he died around 1750 BC, and under his son Samsu-iluna the conquered south and north broke away.

• Mari soldiers attached to Hammurabi's army reported Larsa's starving citizens eating straw, bran and chaff.
• Envoys from Ekallatum saw him repeat the same angry question five or six times and cry out what a scandal.
• Diplomats whose kings displeased him had their food rations cut at royal banquets.
• He made his sister and daughter priestesses of Shamash at Sippar, tying the temple's wealth to his family.
• Surviving court records almost never cite his code, which served mainly as royal propaganda copied by scribes for a thousand years.