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Primary sourceArtifactc. 1800 BCE

Royal Palace of Mari

c. 1800 BCE

The royal residence of the kings of Mari, destroyed by Hammurabi's armies, whose ruins preserved thousands of clay tablets.

The palace Hammurabi's armies destroyed held the archive of letters that document his diplomacy and campaigns.

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Ruins of mud-brick walls of an ancient palace, sheltered under a golden tent-like canopy roof. Two doorways are visible in the walls, and a low rectangular brick-lined structure sits in the sandy courtyard in front.
Royal Palace of Mari, Syria, ruins of the palace of Zimri-Lim.

About this source

What it is

This is the royal palace of the ancient kingdom of Mari in eastern Syria, home to its last king Zimri-Lim. The palace was discovered and excavated in the 1930s by André Parrot, and nearly 25,000 clay tablets were found inside it, studied with help from André Bianquis.

Why it matters

The palace shows how important and wealthy Mari was before it fell. Its archive of letters recorded diplomacy and warfare of the region, including dealings with Hammurabi of Babylon, whose forces eventually destroyed the city. The ruins and tablets together let historians reconstruct daily life and politics of the time.

Look closer

  • Why would a king keep thousands of written records in his palace?
  • What does the size of the palace tell us about Mari's importance?
  • What might be missing from the archaeological record after the palace's destruction?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Hammurabi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Photo of the black basalt Code of Hammurabi stele on a dark background. The tall, tapering stone has a rounded top carved in relief with a standing figure facing a seated figure on a throne, and below are rows of carved cuneiform text.Document

Primary source

Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi · c. 1753 BCE

Photo of a tall black basalt stele with a rounded top. Carved relief at the top shows a standing figure at left facing a seated figure with a horned crown at right. Below, the stone is covered in rows of cuneiform script.Sculpture

Primary source

Stele with the Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi · c. 1792 BCE

Photograph of a clay cuneiform tablet, pale beige and roughly rectangular with a chipped upper-left corner, covered in wedge-shaped impressed signs in horizontal lines. It rests on a black stand against a dark background.Letter

Primary source

Letter from Hammurabi to Sîn-iddinam

Hammurabi · c. 1792-1750 BCE

Photograph of a cuneiform clay tablet on a display stand against a dark background. The tablet is pale beige, with a broken upper edge, and is covered in rows of wedge-shaped cuneiform signs. A museum label with a catalogue number is visible at the bottom.Document

Primary source

List of the year-names of Hammurabi's reign

Old Babylonian period, reign of Hammurabi (c. 1792-1750 BCE)

Five groups of black cuneiform wedge signs on a white background, rendered in a row. The signs are angular, made of wedge-shaped strokes arranged in clusters, and appear to be a short inscription.Document

Secondary source

Chronicle of Early Kings

Babylonian scribes · c. 6th century BCE copy

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