King Hammurabi Compare And Contrast

Hammurabi of Babylon Versus Ashurnasirpal of Assyria

The Ancient Mesopotamia is the rise of first human civilization in the world history. King Hammurabi of Babylon and king Ashurnasirpal of Assyria are the greatest and powerful kings in Mesopotamian era, even though their way of ruling is way opposite than each other. Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the age ruled by the king who is appointed by gods and their devotion towards gods is high; also they believed that kings themselves are the gods. That is why, king Hammurabi was elected by gods to rule the people, however; Assyria’s lords selected Ashurnasirpal to be a king. These two kings had ruled their people in their own way. In my opinion, King Hammurabi is better and effective ruler than King Ashurnasirpal because of his fair leadership skills. King Hammurabi was a people king, who was focused on people’s rights to live and their prosperity. He was a peace spreader; he created the rational rules and laws for his people by setting up a strong example of humanity. However, king Ashurnasirpal killed people arbitrarily and threatened them and took their land violently.

King Hammurabi considered the most formidable king among all of Mesopotamian rulers.

He has developed the set of written law codes in his time called Hammurabi’s Code. Hammurabi’s codes are the first greatest single source that was created on the nature of human law and society in Mesopotamia; it is inscribed on a seven-foot stele and enshrined in the temple of murduk. The Hammurabi’s code of laws is about prices, wages, slavery, payments, loans, laws concerning in theft, land tenure and contracts, marriage laws and rights of married persons, concerning violent crime and injury and concerning the regulation of professions. This code was created to provide community with basic source of fairness, their duties and their individual rights as a human. His laws are great, although, punishments are little harsh comparing to today’s

world,
“ If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house that he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. If it kills the son of the owner, the son of that builder shall be put to death” (King 3).
His punishments are based on a principle Eye for an Eye, which means whatever had done wrong, in return that person would get the same back. His reasonable laws are easy to understand and conveniently followed by people. King Hammurabi itself was a better human being who thought of creating equality between people, which also greatly influenced an early western civilization. Code of Hammurabi’s law left great standard and fear to the people that any unfairness and harm caused by any person is unacceptable and that person needs to be punished in order to balance out the justice.
In other hand, brutal king Ashurnasirpal of Assyria was tyrant kind of ruler who was egoist and used his power immorally to terrify nations to conquered lands and wealth. Assyrians built a powerful empire by using a powerful military and brutal devastation to continue the empire. He wrote The Annals of Ashurnasirpal of Assyria to portray his success of his strategies military campaigns throughout the near east. In his Annals he explained how he took over the cities like “ Surra, Abuku, Arura, and Arube…I captured” (Luckenbill 4). He revealed his devastating acts saying,
“ Two hundred of their fighting men I cut down with the sword; their heavy booty I carried off like a flock of sheep; with their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool; with the rest of them I darkened (?) The gullies and precipices of the mountain; their cities I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire” (Luckenbill 4).
King Ashurnasirpal treatment towards poor men who escaped to the mountain to save their lives was harsh and unbearable. King cut off those men’s head, their skin was taken out to spread skin upon the wall to show how great and powerful he is. And also to give advance awareness and consequences to another nearby cities how dangerous it can be to go against him. King Assyria only focused and cared about his success and campaign over his people. Human life worth nothing when it comes to him, all he cared about was killing others, wealth, lands, power bullying and women. This clearly illustrated differentiation between two kings and shows which one is more efficient.
Finally, these two Mesopotamian kings carried similarity on lack of women agency. King Hammurabi’s code of laws doesn’t mention any rights for women. Hammurabi’s code was made but just for the men, few rules are made in favor of women, “ If a man violate the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father’s house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless” (King 2). This shows even though women power and rights are not considered, at least they have little justice in Hammurabi’s time. Moreover, when king Ashurnasirpal took over the place, he also took over the women of palaces and their daughters, he raped them, do whatever he wanted to do with them and left them behind like used objects like they value and worth nothing.
I considered King Hammurabi is the most effective ruler than King Ashurnasirpal because of his great, positive contribution towards early western civilization. Hammurabi’s code of laws is the first written source that provides justice and gives sense of human laws. His laws give an idea of a great mankind. King Ashurnasirpal was so brutal with people and cities around him. He was self-centered and no respect for women. He over ruled, over use of power to get success in his military campaign, like mentions in The Annals of Ashurnasirpal of Assyria. This shows King Hammurabi is more effectual ruler than cruel King Ashurnasirpal.