Hammurabi was the sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty of Old Babylon, in the 18th century B.C. The Code of Hammurabi is one of the most famous legal codes surviving from the ancient Middle East.
It would have been important for Hammurabi to emphasize his connection to divinity primarily for reasons of credibility. He needed credibility to establish the legitimacy of his seminal Code of Law to gain acceptance by the people of Babylon. This concept is referred to as divine election[1]:
While there is no doubt that these claims represent royal self-promotion in an attempt to increase legitimacy, the general population of a given country presumably gave some credence to this brand of political theology.
Divine election in the context of the reign of King Hammurabi has received relatively little attention. Better known ancient and modern instances of divine election are the Pharaonic dynasties of ancient Egypt, the Emperor of Japan, and Queen Elizabeth II of England as head of the Anglican Church.
The Code of Hammurabi consisted of laws that had evolved over generations[2].
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| Hammurabi receives his Code directly from the god of justice at the Louvre Photo: Christian Larrieu, Réunion des Musées Nationaux via Art Resource, New York. |
