Hammurabi destroys Mari
The fire that ended the kingdom preserved its palace archive
Around 1761 BC Hammurabi of Babylon conquered Mari, his former ally, and a couple of years later destroyed the city and the palace of King Zimri-Lim. Its ruins yielded some 25,000 cuneiform tablets, a diplomatic archive that is the key source for the Mesopotamia of Hammurabi's day.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century BC
Alive at the time
- Hammurabi (aged 49)