Hammurabi

About Hammurabi

Hammurabi, reigning as King of Babylon from approximately 1810 to 1750 BCE, is an ancient political figure whose influence secured him the #270 rank in MIT's Historical Popularity Index. His enduring legacy stems primarily from the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes from the ancient world, which established precedents for written law and justice across Mesopotamian territories.

In the digital age of 2025, Hammurabi receives approximately 327K annualized Wikipedia pageviews, resulting in an Attention Gap score of roughly 1x, suggesting his modern internet visibility is somewhat commensurate with his historical importance. However, a contrast emerges when comparing him to other politicians: Leon Trotsky (#316 importance) garners 1.6M views, while George Washington (#325 importance) commands a massive 4.8M views. This suggests that while Hammurabi is not entirely forgotten, the sheer scale of modern attention given to figures like Washington dwarfs that afforded to this ancient foundational lawgiver.

Interestingly, Hammurabi's online interest shows a slight contraction, with a -9.2% year-over-year decline in views and a -6% drop in momentum between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, indicating that even a baseline level of attention is subject to fluctuation.