Hammurabi (reigned 1792-1750 B.C.) was a Babylonian king. One of the outstanding rulers of early antiquity, he is especially known as a lawgiver, the author of the code which bears his name.

Nothing is known of the early life of Hammurabi. His name, sometimes written Khammurapikh, is West Semitic, and he was the sixth ruler of the Amorite dynasty founded by Shumu-Abum in 1894 B.C. On his accession Hammurabi inherited a kingdom of moderate size, one of a number of Mesopotamian city-states.

The first years of Hammurabi's reign were spent in consolidating his rule and in diplomatic maneuvers which strengthened his position; in alliance with Rim-Sin, king of neighboring Larsa, he repelled the Elamites from the eastern frontier, but in his thirtieth year he turned against his former ally; Rim-Sin capitulated, and Hammurabi became master of the south. He then conquered the kingdom of Mari, and in 1759 that city was razed by his orders. Eshnunna and Assyria soon fell to him as well.

These successes established Hammurabi as the leading power in western Asia. He controlled the trade routes to the west and may even have campaigned beyond the Euphrates, though the once popular identification of Hammurabi with "Amraphel, King of Shinar" (Genesis 14:9), does not nowadays find credence. His organization of the captured territories is known from letters he sent to his officials and the governors of provinces; these show him as an able administrator who supervised in person every aspect of his government.

The code of laws published by Hammurabi's order in every city of his realm has survived in several copies, the most complete being a stele of polished black diorite 8 feet high found at Susa, whither it had been carried by a later conqueror. The laws, originally 282 in number, do not form a complete code in the modern sense but are rather a series of enactments dealing with specific cases in which reform or clarification was needed