Hammurabi's Non-Invasive Power

King Hammurabi’s long reign allowed for personal relationships with other city-states to occur, and this was well complemented by some of his enemies and allies, where personal relationships ran high with familial authority (e.g. The Northern Territory under Shamshi-Adad). Hammurabi seemed to favor such close relationships with his cities as well, as he would support each resident temple and deity individually. Hammurabi spread his power in a more collaborative way by being personally familiar to his people, and does not seem harshly invasive with his power.

Hammurabi’s Amorite ancestors had been powerful enough to take over Babylon cities, yet did not impose a different social system. They adopted the social system of Babylon at the time, which mirrors Hammurabi’s non-invasive power technique. Although Hammurabi defeated Elam and took over Larsa, he did not go about it in an overly selfish way. He collaborated well for his success. Although Mari was a loyal ally (for the defeat of Elam), Mari’s reinforcements kept their loyalty to Mari, not Hammurabi. Hammurabi does not seem to meddle with this, and his lack of complete control over his allies aid in their success for him. His lack of resistance to the reinforcements’ lack of loyalty, allowed for more control over the ally situation. This non-invasive power strategy is also apparent in the annexation of Larsa, when Hammurabi simply succeeds the King’s throne without destruction to their previous system. He did not impose his foreign ways upon Larsa and had even called upon an old enemy (Elam) to aid in taking the city. It appears that Hammurabi is both forgiving and understanding, which are the types of respect that he showed for the variety of Babylonian cities, deities, and allies. This may be reminiscent of his Amorite ancestry, where it appears that cultural grudges are not maintained.