Hammurabi's Diverse State

Marc Van De Mieroop seemed to agree with and compliment King Hammurabi’s leadership skills and more importantly his ruling techniques in Chapter 7 of King Hammurabi of Babylon. Hammurabi many times called himself the Good Shepherd, and Van De Mieroop agrees that the name is appropriate. 33 years into his rule Hammurabi directly controlled the area of the Persian Gulf to 400 Km north up the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Though this was a very large territory, the people of each individual city felt more allegiance to their city than to Hammurabi’s state as a whole. Hammurabi seemed to not only accept this, but he understood it as well. He himself would often refer to his Amorite heritage.
Though Hammurabi’s influence and power were strong and unquestionable throughout the region, The culture of each region remained somewhat distinct. While the entire region believed in the same pantheon of gods, each city still had its own deity for which they believed was the most important. This deity would have been the same one for which temples in that particular city had believed was the most important. Also, Hammurabi’s state did not have a uniform language. Though Babylonian was the official language, and the language most people would write in, Sumerian and Akkadian were still spoken in large regions of the empire.
Hammurabi saw himself as a leader of a diverse group of people. He did not try to force Babylonian culture onto the territories he conquered and controlled. Rather he saw the role of King as a position to protect and care for the people he ruled. He believed it was his duty to ensure all the people in his state lived as plentiful lives as they could, regardless of which city or territory they were from.