Sargon

Sargon of Agade united Sumer and the northern region of Akkad from which Babylon would arise 400 years later. He built the city of Agade and established an enormous court there and he had a new temple erected in Nippur. Trade from across his his new empire and beyond swelled the city, making it the center of world culture for a brief time.

(r. 1792-1750) ruled all of Babylonia including Sumer, Akkad and Assyria. He is reorganized the administration of justice and established an orderly arrangement of written law called the Code of Hammurabi. Code of Hammurabi Carved on a diorite column found at Susa, the code consists of 282 provisions systematically arranged unch such headings as family, labor, personal property, real estate, trade and business. Legal actions were initiated under the code by written pleadings; testimony was taken under oath; witnesses, could be supoenaed. The code was guided by such principles as that the strong should not injure the weak and that punishment should fit the crime. The legitimacy of the code was maintained by invoking the authority of the gods and the state.

"According to Hammurabi, the Code was given to him personally by Marduk." (239)

Chief god of Babylon, he was the son of Ea and Damkina. He is described as of immense stature, with two heads and fiery breath. He was sent by the other gods to do battle with Tiamat, the primordial dragon. After killing her, he created earth, sea and the heavens from her body. From Tiamat's consort, Kingu, he fashioned humankind. Marduk then became king of the gods. "In many Creation myths, to name a thing is to create it. He (Enki) is referred to, in various myths, as 'expect who instituted incantions,' 'word-rich,' 'Enki, master of all the right commands.' "He devotes a great deal of effort to imparting his knowledge to his son, the god Marduk, chief deity of the Babylonians." (239)