Amorite ruler of
Babylon (r. 1792–1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern
Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a
black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.
Toward the end of a long reign, Hammurabi initiated a series of aggressive military campaigns, and Babylon became the capital of what historians have named the "Old
Babylonian" state, which eventually stretched beyond
Sumer and
Akkad into the north and northwest, from 1900 to 1600 B.C.E.
