Meiroop and Hammurabi

Hammurabi has definitely shown the world his prowess and justice through his many accomplishments including the Code of Hammurabi, his unification of the ancient Near East, and his many contributions to his people. These contributions include canal excavations, building of walls, reinforcements of walls, exaltations of temples, and more. Van De Meiroop does a great job showcasing many of these achievements. However, after reading through his thoughts and analysis of Hammurabi, I have seen time and time again an almost biased viewpoint towards the ancient king. Van De Meiroop takes on such a positive tone and fails to delve into the possibility that Hammurabi may not be as great of a ruler as he believes. Much of the evidence that Meiroop pulls from consist of texts that Hammurabi himself wrote and the stela that he had inscribed. Most of the praises that I have seen for Hammurabi come about from Hammurabi's own writings. I believe that this type of evidence can not be used to find conclusions because it is shown that history is created by those who are in power. "Moreover, the scribes who actually wrote out the tablets could change the wording and paraphrase to a certain extent" (Meiroop 113). Although many of Hammurabi's contributions are undeniable, it is unfair to praise Hammurabi so much.
The king often portrays himself as the shepherd of the people, the king of justice, the one who pacified the ancient Near East. Yet, even Meiroop details several rebellions and does indeed talk about some of Hammurabi's cruelty. Hammurabi was extremely vengeful when it came to Zimri-Lim and taking over Mari. "Hammurabi's ruthless vengeance for disobedience is also attested in other situations" (Meiroop 118). When he wanted dealt with the rebellion at Mutiabal, Hammurabi deported the entire population to Babylon and also "destroyed their houses and burned them down" (Meiroop 119). This violence shows hypocrisy in Hammurabi's belief in himself as the "shepherd of justice." However, Meiroop does not identify this at all and tries to protect Hammurabi by saying that "military action is a justified means to bring peace and justice to the conquered lands" (Meiroop 122).