Birthdate unknown
Babylon
Died 1750 B.C.E.
Babylon

King of Babylonia

Hammurabi was the king of Babylonia, an empire in ancient Mesopotamia. (Mesopotamia was a region located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in southwest Asia; in the Greek language, Mesopotamia means "between the rivers.") He developed a set of 282 laws called the Code of Hammurabi, which controlled nearly every aspect of Babylonian society. Several of the laws related to the ownership of slaves, who were considered the property of their masters. Nevertheless the code gave certain rights to the children of male slaves who married free-born women. Although Hammurabi was a humane and just ruler, his laws involved strict punishments of offenders in all levels of society. He is best known today for the concept of "an eye for an eye," which means the punishment should be equal to the crime.