The second period of Sumerian domination in southern Mesopotamia came to an end with the rise to power of Hammurabi, king of Babylon, in the late eighteenth century BC. Indeed, Babylon, one of the great cities of the Ancient Near East, first emerged as a major political center at this time. Hammurabi’s achievements were considerable. Not only did he bring north and south Mesopotamia under his control, duplicating the accomplishment of Sargon of Akkad, but he also revamped the administrative system of the country. Noted particularly for codifying the traditional laws of Mesopotamia, he had his legal reforms inscribed on a near-cylindrical basalt stele 2.1m high, the so-called Stele of Hammurabi (Figure 3.9). On the top of the stele is a single scene, a relief sculpture that shows Hammurabi in audience with the seated god Shamash, god of justice. The encounter of king with god resembles that shown on the Stele of Ur-Nammu. The imagery on the latter stele stresses the deference of the king to the deities, however, as Ur-Nammu pours a ritual libation before both god and goddess. In contrast, Hammurabi seems to be consulting directly with the god, without other deities present. It is almost, but not quite, a relationship of equals.
The era in Mesopotamian history that centers on Hammurabi and the dynasty to which he belonged is called the Old Babylonian period. With the ascendancy of the Semitic Babylonians, Sumerian disappeared as a spoken language, replaced by Akkadian. Sumerian did continue as a written language, however, esteemed as the vehicle of religious and literary values — one reminder of the enduring strength of Sumerian culture.
World History
