Shamshi-Adad, King of the Whole World

Hammurabi was the most powerful king in southern Mesopotamia. But up to the north, another king was building another empire His name was Shamshi-Adad, and he didn’t want to be a fair ruler who made good laws.

Shamshi-Adad lived in a city called Assur. Babylon was in the south of Mesopotamia, next to the Euphrates River. But Assur was in the north part of Mesopotamia, beside the Tigris River.

When Shamshi-Adad became king of Assur, he decided that Assur should be the center of a new empire. He started out by building a huge temple to the god he worshipped, The God of Winds and Storms. The temple was made out of cedar logs, covered with silver and gold. Shamshi-Adad even rubbed the foundation with oil, honey, and butter to make his god happy. He wanted The God of Winds and Storms to be on his side and to give him more power, so that he could win battles more easily.

On the day that the temple was finished, Shamshi-Adad announced, “The God of Winds and Storms loves the city of Assur more than any other city in the world! And he wants me to be the king of the whole world.” The people of Assur all shouted, “Shamshi-Adad will be king of the whole world!”

Then Shamshi-Adad gathered his army together and set off to conquer the cities of Mesopotamia. His two sons went with him to fight beside him. Every time Shamshi-Adad conquered a new city, he made his sons the new rulers of that city. Soon the Assyrian army had conquered all the cities nearby!

Shamshi-Adad wanted the people of Mesopotamia to be afraid of him. He was a dictator—he didn’t allow any of the people in his new kingdom to ask questions about his laws and his commands. He just wanted them to obey him immediately.

How did he get them to obey? He killed anyone who wouldn’t do exactly what he said! When he conquered a city, he chopped off the heads of all the leaders and put them up on stakes around the city.

No wonder everyone in Mesopotamia was afraid of the Assyrians! Soon, Shamshi-Adad didn’t even have to fight battles to conquer cities. As soon as he got near a city’s walls, the leaders would come out and surrender. They would offer to pay him money and to call him their king, if he would just let them live. Shamshi-Adad would agree to spare their lives—but only if they would do exactly what he said and obey every single one of his decrees.

Now Shamshi-Adad’s empire spread all over the northern part of Mesopotamia. He named his empire Assyria, after the city of Assur. And he called himself the King of the Whole World.

But this wasn’t exactly true. Remember Babylon, down in the south of Mesopotamia? Babylon had an empire too. Shamshi-Adad never tried to conquer Babylon, or to take Babylon’s cities away. He knew that Babylon was too strong for him.

When Shamshi-Adad died, he left one of his sons the job of ruling over the whole Assyrian Empire. He left the other son in charge of one of biggest cities in Assyria, the city of Mari. He hoped that the two young men would work together to keep his empire strong.

But the brothers bickered with each other. They wrote each other nasty letters. They complained about each other. They didn’t keep Assyria united and strong.

Soon, Hammurabi decided that he wanted to make Assyria part of the Babylonian Empire. He marched up into northern Mesopotamia with his army. He destroyed the city of Mari, and he took over the city of Assur. Now the Assyrians had to pay tribute to Hammurabi, and call Hammurabi “King of the Whole World.”

But Hammurabi wasn’t as cruel as Shamshi-Adad had been. He let some of the Assyrian leaders stay in charge of their cities, as long as they followed his Code of Laws. And he didn’t chop off the heads of leaders, or burn their houses. The Assyrians agreed to obey Hammurabi—but all the time, they were thinking, “One day we will be free again—and we will try to conquer the world one more time.”