monarchs-from-iraq

"I serve the great gods daily with prayers, and my fervent entreaties are sublime. O youthful Utu, for that reason look favourably upon your city Larsa! Say "Alas!" for your city! Say "Alas for the sanctuary!"! Extend sympathetic compassion to Larsa! [...] So that may escape the clutches of death. May its seed be great! May sing your praises! And as for me, for my reverence give me life! Bestow on me long life as a gift!"

"Say to Utu my lord, the exalted judge of heaven and earth, who cares for the Land, who renders verdicts; just god, who loves to keep man alive, who heeds entreaty, who extends mercy, who knows [...] compassion, who loves justice, who selects honesty. Repeat to the bearded one, the son of , [...] who opens the bolts of heaven and earth, who creates brightness in darkness; foremost lord who alone is resplendent, whose greatness is unequalled; warrior, son given birth by Ningal, who guards and gathers together the divine powers; just god, prince who determines all the fates, my lord, father of the black-headed: this is what Sîn-iddinam, king of Larsa, your servant, says: Distress has been caused in your city Larsa, which you have chosen in your heart. The broad squares where days have been passed in merriment have been reduced to silence. Your commendable troops who were assembled have been annihilated like reeds from a reed fence splitting apart. Your young men have been harvested like barley at the due time; they have been picked and have been plucked like ripened fruit. The people have been smashed like terracotta figurines; they have perished all together. An evil storm took away the little ones from the laps of their mothers."

"Atta-mannum, who pleases his lord, is a better servant to his lord than you! Why is it that you have not been avenging your lord, and not keeping me informed? [...] The enemy has camped down in Iri-gibil. Chase them away from those settlements; [...] Do not let these cities out of your grasp. Station your people -- it is urgent!"

"My splendour covers the Land (𒌦). And as for you, your heroism and strength."

"O, mistress of the mansion in Firk, And mistress of the Sultan and his kingdom For God's sake, spare to slay me For I am neither Daylam nor Turk."

"I endured afflictions and sowrrow When death took Haylanah to itself. I parted from my happiness when I lost her And care not now what it may be. She was my world: and when she sank Into her grave, I parted from my world. Verily people have multiplied, but I Behold no creature after her. By Allah, I shall not forget thee As long as the wind shaketh the boughs on the upland."

"Kings can tolerate everything but three practices– revealing a secret, an outrage on his harem, or a blow aimed at his power."

"When thy enemy stretches out his hand to thee, cut it off if thou art able, otherwise kiss it."

"Nobody seeks my help with a petition or offers an excuse that is more pressing than he, reminding me of a favor I did him so that it would be followed by its sister (i.e, one like it) and so good would be done to its asker because withholding of later things removes gratitude for earlier ones."

"In the year 159 (AD 776) Al Mahdî sent an army by sea under ‘Abdul Malik bin Shahãbu’l Musamma’î to India… They proceeded on their way and at length disembarked at Barada. When they reached the place they laid siege to it… The town was reduced to extremities, and God prevailed over it in the same year. The people were forbidden to worship the Budd, which the Muhammadans burned."

"O, ye people! verily I am the Lord's ruler upon His earth and I govern ye through His grace and guidance and I am His treasure over His tribute which I divide according to His pleasure and bestow with His permission. And verily the Lord hath made me as a lock upon it: when He willeth to open me, he openeth me that I may give unto ye, and when it pleaseth Him to fasten me, He fasteneth me. Wherefore turn ye to the Lord, O ye people! and ask of Him on this glorious day in which he hath given unto ye of His grace, as he hath made known to ye in His Book when he saith, "this day I have perfected your religion for ye and have completed my mercy upon ye, and I have chosen for ye Islam to be your religion", that He may vouchsafe unto me justness of conduct, and guide me to rectitude and inspire me with clemency unto ye and kindness towards ye, and open me to the bountiful unto ye, and the distribution of your allowances in equity, for he hearkeneth and granteth."

"As power becomes great, concupiscence grows less."

"It is rare that bounty is given unasked but a just claim is destroyed thereby."

"Verily they are the basest and meanest of men who account avarice prudence, and clemency ignoble."

"When forbearance is mischievous, to pardon is weakness."

"Patience is praiseworthy save in what prejudices the faith or renders sovereignty contemptible, and moderation is commendable except at the season of opportunity."

"Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land."

"Hammurabi's Code cannot by any means be regarded as a faltering attempt to frame laws among a young and inexperienced people. Such a masterpiece of legislation could befit only a thriving and well-organized nation, given to agriculture and commerce, long since grown familiar with the security afforded by written deeds drawn up with all the niceties and solemnities which clever jurists could devise, and accustomed to transact no business otherwise. It is inspired throughout by an appreciation of the right and humane sentiments that make it surpass by far the stern old Roman law."

"This (Code of Hammurabi) was a collection of laws and judicial decisions whose aim was to present Hammurabi as a role model of a just king, serve as a basis for a more uniform legal system across the Babylonian Empire, and teach future generations what justice is and how a just king acts."

"Laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established."

"If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out."

"If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year."