readx;? Hammurabi, reigned: 42 BC, 1792-1750 BC. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In 1792 BC, Hammurabi succeeded to the throne of Babylon by Sim Mupalit. Initial submission to the Assyrian king Shamsh Attad I.

During the reign of Shamsh Attad I, Assyrian power flourished, but after his death, the vast empire rapidly declined.

In 1789 BC, the Assyrian prince and governor Jasuma Atad was overthrown by the new king of Marai, Simri Liem, and was expelled back to Assyria.

It was fully supported by Yamhard, representing the West Semitic power of Syria, which Yamhad intended to replicate the glory of the Second Ebra Dynasty, occupying Mari and reaching into Mesopotamia.

Assyria's powerlessness over it hastened the collapse of the Assyrian Empire.

The Babylonian king Hammurabi had always been a vassal of Assyria, and it was initially inconvenient for him to come into contact with Mari, but after the death of Shamsh Atad I, Marre's independence became a reality, and he formed an alliance with Mari. This was the first step in Babylon's beginning to dominate Mesopotamia.

After that, Babylon recuperated without external troubles and actively governed its internal affairs.

The land held by the royal family during the time of Hammurabi was divided into three categories:

1. "Provision (maintenance) of the fields of the court" - land granted on the condition of service, and land granted on the condition of paying taxes (tribute). Those who received a share of the land on the condition of their service included soldiers, officials, tamukas (commercial agents, usurers), etc. The soldiers, Lidu and Baylu, received their royal lands for their military service. Their share of the land may be inherited by their adult sons, but it is still conditional on military service;

2. "Tribute" - refers to those who have a large part of the royal land on the condition of paying taxes (tribute), who are exploited and controlled by the crown and whose share may not be bought, sold, mortgaged or passed on to the heiress.

3. In addition to royal lands, ancient Babylonian societies also had temple lands, urban lands, and private lands. The Code of Hammurabi and archaeological findings of contractual instruments and other documentary materials prove that private land is a considerable amount, and land tenancy and employment relations have become widespread. Government rent is generally 1/2 or 1/3 of the harvest. The land rent for orchards and vegetable gardens is 2/3 of the harvest.

The value of land varies with the availability of irrigation water, with some gardens supplying irrigation water paying as much as 3/4 of the harvest. The usury industry was very active, and both the temple and the hotel operated the usury business. The vitality of the usury industry contributed to the development of debt slavery. Debt slaves were called kissatu. In the area of family and marital relations, the remnants of patriarchal and patriarchal authority are also preserved. Parents may sell their wives or children into slavery or into debt slavery, and the children must pay for the children of others killed by their parents.

Ancient Babylonian society was divided into three classes:

1. The "Averu" are plenipotentiary free people, with the ruling class at the top and homesteaders and soldiers at the bottom mostly paying taxes, performing military service, and conscription;

2. "Mushchinnu" were rightless freemen who were attached to the royal lands, and there were other dependent classes similar to Mushchinnu in ancient Babylonian times;

3. The "Valdu" (male slaves) and the "Amtu" (female slaves) were the slave class.

Hammurabi was a diligent politician who built water conservancy, and rewarded commerce.

In 1787, in order to strengthen his rule, Hammurabi formulated the second relatively complete written code in the world, the Code of Hammurabi.

The Code of Hammurabi is a relatively complete written code, probably first drafted in 1790.

This code was found in 1901 in the ancient city of Elamite Susa (formerly the capital of the Second Awan Dynasty, now part of Iran), and was engraved on a black basalt column with a height of 2.25 meters, a circumference of 1.65 meters, and a circumference of 1.90 meters at the bottom (existing in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France), a total of 3,500 lines. After years of weathering, it has become indistinct, and only a few can be faintly recognized.

At the top of the column are two figures, seated on a chair by Shamash, the god of justice (sun god), and the other by Hammurabi. The relief of the scepter from Shamash, the god of justice, is intended to illustrate that "I (i.e., Hammurabi) have been decreed by the will of God to rule over the land." The full text of the code is inscribed in cuneiform below, and there are 283 articles in addition to the preamble and conclusion.

The prologue proclaims that Hammurabi was ordained by God, and the concludes with a celebration of Hammurabi's exploits. The content of the Codex may have been published one after another, and the merits were gradually increased along with Hammurabi's exploits, and the Codex was not complete until Hammurabi's death after his victory over Assyria.

The Code of Hammurabi included litigation formalities, damages, tenancy relations, debts and debts, inheritance of property, punishment of slaves, etc. It is based on two of the most well-known principles, namely "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" and "let the buyer watch out". It also provides for the protection of widows and orphans. The code preached the "divine authority of kings", and it also stipulated that slaves could be bought and sold to pay debts, and if a slave dared to say to his master, "You are not my master," his ears would be cut ......off.

The code regulated in detail the class relations between kings and slave owners on the one hand, freemen and slaves, and also provided for the protection of widows and orphans, the reduction of the period of debt slavery to three years, and so on. This is not only of progressive historical significance, but also a pioneering work in the field of human social code.

Hammurabi used religion to consolidate his politics, claiming to be a "descendant of the moon god."

The main god worshipped by the Babylonians during the nomadic period of the West Semites was Martu, also known as Amurus, who became the main god after the Babylonian unification of the two river valleys. Martuk's son, Nabu (originally Tututu), was the god of scholarship and succeeded his father to the throne. It is said that both Martuk and Negar sometimes took the form of dragons and appeared together (similar to the relationship between Zeus and Hades in ancient Greek religion), and both had the ability to rise from the dead.

The famous epic poem "Enuma Erish" (also known as "The Creation of the World") mainly brings together the creation ideas of the Sumerian people, focusing on the deeds of the main god Martuk. This poem is about 1,000 lines, written in about the 15th and 14th centuries B.C., and later sorted out by scholars from the seven clay tablets, so it is also called "seven creation clay tablets", it is one of the earliest themes about the creation myth in history.