Customer Reviews

King Hammurabi of Babylon: A Biography (Blackwell Ancient Lives)

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While the topic, for some, might seem a bit narrow the influence of Hammurabi on the history of the ancient Near East was significant enough to merit Van De Mieroop's book. He carefully works through the early environment and rise of Hammurabi as well as his powerful rule and widespread influence. The author gleans much of his material from the rich corpus of letters from Mari as well as other documents, especially the prolog and epilogue of his famous legal stela. Van De Mieroop handles the source material well and provides an effective history of this significant ancient Near Eastern ruler providing a different kind of glimpse into the beginnings of the Old Babylonian empire. His endorsement of later memories that this ruler was accomplished is well chronicled but his seeming endorsement of Hammurabi as "just" appears to be at odd with his treatment of the way he built his empire. Van De Mieroop's book is insightful, well written and I recommend it for the generalist as well as those interested in the history of the ancient Near East.

This is a great biography of an important king of ancient Mesopotamia. The book puts into a historical context the life and times of the King who created the famous "Law Code of Hammurabi". If you are interested in the ancient history of a region unfamiliar to most people, I would recomend this book.