Apil-Sin

Who is Apil-Sin?

Apil-Sin was a King in the First Dynasty of Babylon. He reigned c. 1767 BC - 1749 BC.

Apil-Sin was the grandfather of Hammurabi, who significantly expanded the Babylonian kingdom. Little is known of the details of Apil-Sin or his reign as king of Babylon. The absence of records is often used by scholars to suggest his power and influence were much smaller than that of Hammurabi.

It is a noteworthy fact that in the large numbers of business documents that have come down to us out of this first dynasty of Babylon, none of the rulers down to Apil-Sin is called king and Sin-Muballit only in the form of a passing allusion in one single tablet. It is difficult to explain this fact unless we accept the view that the real kingdom of Babylon did not begin until Hammurabi had driven out the Elamites and so won for himself the title born by the old kings of Ur, Isin, and Larsa.

— A History of Babylonia and Assyria, Volume I