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Historical Period

Hammurabi's Babylon, the traders of Assur, and the archives of Mari.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Old Babylonian & Assyrian Age · 2000-1595 BC
Ancient Mesopotamia

The Old Babylonian & Assyrian Age

Amorite kings raised new dynasties across Mesopotamia — merchant Assur in the north, brilliant Mari on the Euphrates, and above all Babylon, where Hammurabi built an empire and carved his famous laws in stone. From the caravans of the Assyrian traders to the Hittite chariots that sacked Babylon, follow the age that made Babylon eternal.

1920 BC
Old Assyrian Period
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1920 BC

Old Assyrian Period
  • Cultural

    The traders of Assur

    Merchants from the northern city of Assur run a caravan network deep into Anatolia, leaving thousands of business letters in clay.

9 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1920 BC

Full Chronicle

The Old Babylonian & Assyrian Age

Amorite kings raised new dynasties across Mesopotamia — merchant Assur in the north, brilliant Mari on the Euphrates, and above all Babylon, where Hammurabi built an empire and carved his famous laws in stone. From the caravans of the Assyrian traders to the Hittite chariots that sacked Babylon, follow the age that made Babylon eternal.

  1. Old Assyrian Period

    • The traders of Assur

      Merchants from the northern city of Assur run a caravan network deep into Anatolia, leaving thousands of business letters in clay.

  2. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • The founding of Babylon's dynasty

      The Amorite chief Sumu-abum makes Babylon, until now a minor town, the seat of an independent kingdom.

  3. Old Assyrian Period

    • Shamshi-Adad's northern kingdom

      Shamshi-Adad I conquers Assur and much of upper Mesopotamia, forging the first Assyrian kingdom.

  4. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • Hammurabi takes the throne

      Hammurabi becomes king of a still-modest Babylon and begins a patient rise among the warring powers of the plain.

  5. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • The archives of Mari

      At the Euphrates city of Mari, King Zimri-Lim's palace keeps a vast diplomatic archive that lights up the whole age.

  6. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • Hammurabi conquers Mesopotamia

      In a few swift years Hammurabi crushes Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari, uniting the land under Babylon for the first time.

  7. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • The Code of Hammurabi

      Hammurabi has nearly three hundred laws carved on a great stone stele, crowned by an image of the king before the god of justice.

  8. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • Marduk and the decline of the dynasty

      Under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna the empire frays as the south revolts and the Sealand breaks away.

  9. First Dynasty of Babylon

    • The Hittites sack Babylon

      The Hittite king Mursili I raids down the Euphrates and sacks Babylon, ending Hammurabi's dynasty and opening the way for the Kassites.