But the brothers bickered with each other. They wrote each other nasty letters. They complained about each other. They didn’t keep Assyria united and strong. Soon, Hammurabi decided that he wanted to make Assyria part of the Babylonian Empire. He marched up into northern Mesopotamia with his army. He destroyed the city of Mari, and he took over the city of Assur. Now the Assyrians had to pay tribute to Hammurabi, and call Hammurabi “King of the Whole World.” But Hammurabi wasn’t as cruel as Shamshi-Adad had been. He let some of the Assyrian leaders stay in charge of their cities, as long as
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