Hammurabi became king of Babylon in around 1792 BC, when his father Sin-Muballit abdicated. Babylon was one of many small independent cities in ancient Mesopotamia. These cities often fought each other for control of land. Babylon was already one of the more powerful cities when Hammurabi became king. Earlier kings of Babylon had taken over the nearby city-states of Borsippa, Kish, and Sippar. 