King of Babylonia Hammurabi

Best known as the sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon, Hammurabi ruled in the 18th century BCE and helped raise Babylon from a regional city-state to a dominant power in Mesopotamia. Ancient sources and modern reference works alike remember him for both military expansion and careful administration.

He is most famous today for the Code of Hammurabi, a large collection of laws inscribed on a stone stele. Although it was once described as the oldest law code, scholars now treat it more carefully as one of the best-preserved and most influential legal texts from the ancient Near East.

Hammurabi’s reputation has lasted far beyond his own reign because he came to symbolize the idea of a king who brings order through justice. That lasting image—part ruler, part lawgiver—has made him one of the best-known figures of the ancient world.