From Warlord to Emperor: The Careers of Shamshi-Adad and Hammurabi

Abstract

With Shamshi-Adad of Assur and Hammurabi of Babylon, the author draws the attention to two ambitious and military-skilled rulers of 19th c. BCE Mesopotamia. Both of them established control over northern and southern Mesopotamia after periods of sustained campaigning. However, their accomplishments were short-lived since they were too much dependent on personal abilities and had insufficient time for altering political and economic structures.