Editing Babylonian law (section)

===Tribal influence===
The early history of Mesopotamia is the story of a struggle for supremacy between the cities. A [[Colonies in antiquity|metropolis]] demanded [[tribute]] and military support from its subject cities but left their local cults and customs unaffected. City rights and usages were respected by kings and conquerors alike. When the [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] settled in the cities of Mesopotamia, their tribal customs passed over into city law.

As late as the accession of [[Assur-bani-pal]] and [[Shamash-shum-ukin]], we find the Babylonians appending to their city laws that groups of aliens to the number of twenty at a time were free to enter the city; that foreign women, once married to Babylonian husbands, could not be enslaved; and that not even a dog that entered the city could be put to death untried.{{Citation needed|date=October 2013}}

The population of Babylonia was multi-ethnic from early times, and intercommunication between the cities was incessant. Every city had a large number of resident aliens. This freedom of intercourse must have tended to assimilate custom. It was, however, reserved for the genius of [[Hammurabi]] to make Babylon his metropolis and weld together his vast empire by a uniform system of law.