Hammurabi

Hello! My name is Hammurabi, and I was a king a very, very long time ago. I lived in a magnificent city called Babylon, which was part of a land known as Mesopotamia. You might know this area today as the country of Iraq. I was born around the year 1810 BCE. Our city was built right beside the mighty Euphrates River, which gave us water for our crops and was a busy highway for boats and trade. When I was a young man, in 1792 BCE, I became the sixth king of Babylon. At that time, Babylon was just one of many powerful city-states in the region. But I had a big dream: I wanted to unite all the people of Mesopotamia into one great kingdom, a peaceful and prosperous empire with Babylon at its heart.

My first years as king were spent making Babylon stronger and safer. I ordered my workers to build up the city walls, making them so high and thick that no enemy could break through. I also built beautiful temples to honor our gods, especially Marduk, the special god of our city. To help my people, I had workers dig new canals, which were like small rivers, to carry water from the Euphrates to our farms. This meant we could grow more food for everyone. But building a great empire wasn't just about construction. Many other kings ruled nearby cities, and I had to be very clever. Sometimes, I would make alliances, which are like promises of friendship, with other rulers. Other times, I had to lead my army into battle to protect my people and expand our lands. It took many years, but slowly, our kingdom grew. One of our biggest victories was in 1763 BCE when we conquered the powerful southern city of Larsa. After nearly thirty years of work, my dream came true, and I ruled over a large, united Babylonian Empire.

Ruling a large empire was a big responsibility. I wanted to make sure that everyone, from the richest noble to the poorest farmer, was treated fairly. I believed that a kingdom needed clear rules that everyone understood and followed. So, I decided to gather all the best laws from across my land and write them down for everyone to see. This became my greatest achievement: the Code of Hammurabi. Around the year 1754 BCE, I had my scribes carve 282 laws onto a huge, dark stone pillar called a stele. The laws covered almost everything you can imagine: rules about business, farming, family, and what should happen if someone hurt another person or damaged their property. One famous idea from my code was 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.' This meant that the punishment should match the crime. However, the laws weren't the same for everyone; the punishment could be different depending on whether you were a wealthy person, a commoner, or an enslaved person. We placed the stele in the center of the city so that anyone who had a problem could come and see the law for themselves. It was my way of bringing order and justice to my people.

I ruled as king for 42 years, and I lived a full life dedicated to my people and my empire. My life came to an end around 1750 BCE, and my kingdom continued for a time, but what people remember most about me isn't my battles or buildings—it's my laws. My code was one of the first complete sets of written laws in all of history. It showed the world that a government had a duty to protect its citizens and provide justice. Thousands of years later, in the year 1901 CE, archaeologists discovered the stone stele with my laws carved on it. Today, you can see it in a museum in Paris, France. I am proud to be remembered as a king who brought justice to the land.