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By Christopher Chen

The sophisticated and humble civilization of:Babylon

A piece of Babylonian Art. Many pieces of art like this one here were engraved into buildings for decoration.

This is a map of how big the empire of Babylon was like from 606-536 BC.

By Christopher Chen

This is a picture of old time Babylon cuneiform writing written on a clay tablet.

GeographyBabylon sits on a flat terrain with the Tigris and

Euphrates river flowing by it. The Tigris River extends 1,180 miles and the Euphrates River extends 1700 miles. The two rivers meet in southern Iraq at Al Qurnah. Babylon is in between these two rivers and southwest of Assur. It is also northwest of Ur.

History of Babylon1894 B.C.:

Amorite leader Sumu-abum

founded a new dynasty of

tribal Amorite kings that ruled Babylon for 300

years.

Hammurabi ruled from

1792 to 1750 B.C. and

conquered nearly every competing

kingdom during the 1760's B.C.

In 1595 B.C., a Hittite raid

destroyed the city.

Babylon reemerged about 1450 B.C. as an important

political and cultural center

under the Kassite dynasty,

which lasted until about 1155 B.C.

In 689 B.C., King

Sennacherib of Assyria

destroyed Babylon in

revenge for the murder of his son, who had

been serving as king of the city.

Another son, Esarhaddon,

rebuilt Babylon soon

after becoming king

in 680 B.C.

The Neo-Babylonian Empire began in 626

B.C., when the military leader Nabopolassar

became king of Babylon and attacked the Assyrians. He won

a great deal of territory from them.

In 539 B.C., Persian

invaders captured

Babylon and overthrew the

Neo-Babylonian

Empire.

In 331 B.C., the

Macedonian military leader Alexander the Great gained

control of Babylon.

When Alexander died in 323 B.C., one of his

generals, Seleucus, became king of

Babylonia and lands around it. Seleucus founded Seleucia, a new capital, on the

Tigris River. Gradually, Babylon became

deserted.

History of Babylon (cont.)

Government• First civilization to have a uniform code of 282 laws called

Hammurabi’s Code• Strong central government, fair to all citizens, and easily

controlled• All economy was controlled by the government led by

Hammurabi’s priests, no private businesses owned• Sumerians had a city-state government which were not in union

with each other and often at war

The Code of Hammurabi

Leaders• Many leaders of Babylon helped civilization become

more powerful:– Hammurabi installed a code of laws– Nabopolassar won Babylonian independence from Assyria in

626 BC– Nebuchadnezzar II, son of Nabopolassar who reined for 44 years

starting in 605 BC, used treasures which he took from other nations to build Babylon, capital city of Babylonia, and make the Babylonian Empire reach its greatest strength.

This is a picture of Nebuchadnezzar II, son of the great leader Nabopolassar.

The Babylonian War

At the end of the Second Diadoch War, Antigonus expelled Seleucus from

Babylon; he fled to Ptolemy, Egypt, and an alliance had formed against Antigonus.

Seleucus' arrived at Babylon between May 13th and June

1st, 311 B.C. and easily conquered it.

Almost immediately afterward, the satrap of Media, Antigonus' friend

Nicanor, and the satrap of Aria, Euagoras, marched on Babylon, but

Seleucus was waiting for them. Euagoras was killed during the battle, and his men went over to Seleucus.

Seleucus immediately took Nicanor's capital Ecbatana. He took Susa, Elam,

and Media, too.

Seleucus was still in Media when Demetrius, son of Antigonus, and his

army besieged the two citadels of Babylon. When the first one was

captured and looted, the main force left the city with Archelaus as satrap to take the second citadel. Seleucus organized a

guerilla war against Archelaus.

Finally, Seleucus and Antigonus met each other in a full-scale battle. Antigonus’ men were hungry and unarmed, and Antigonus was forced to go

back to Syria. The two parties probably concluded with a peace treaty.

(311-308 B.C.)

Babylon’s Commerce and Trade• Farming was the main industry of ancient Babylon.• Trade was also important and allowed the king to preserve his wealth

through taxes.• Trade routes had to be safe and protected from bandits.• Babylon became important in Middle Eastern trade network; merchants

carried goods from India, Europe, Persia, Anatolia, and Egypt up the rivers west and down the rivers east again.

Religion; Gods the Babylonians Worshipped

The Babylonians were polytheists. They intertwined gods from other civilizations, such as Sumerian, Akkadian, and Assyrian. Here is a list of some of the most important gods that Babylonians worshipped: • Anu: the god of the highest heaven • Marduk: national god of the Babylonians • Tiamat: dragon goddess • Kingu: husband of Tiamat • Enlil: god of weather and storms • Nabu: god of the scribal arts • Ishtar: goddess of love • Ea: god of wisdom • Enurta: god of war • Anshar: father of heaven • Shamash: god of the sun and of justice • Ashur: national god of the Assyrians • Kishar: father of earth

This is a picture of the upper body of Marduk, the national god of Babylon.

Technology of BabylonBabylonians:• created a good system of irrigation• inherited the technical achievements of the Sumerians in

irrigation including a system of canals, dikes, weirs, and reservoirs

• prepared maps, surveys, and plans with the use of leveling instruments and measuring rods

Food the Babylonians Ate

• Cereals• Bulbs and roots• Truffles and mushrooms• Meat from large and small

livestock, pork, game• Sea and freshwater fish, turtles,

crustaceans, shellfish and locusts

• Milk, butter and other fats, honey

• Seasoning herbs and mineral products like salt to intensify flavor

This is what the smallmouth bass looked like when it was cooked in Babylon.

The Interesting Subject Of the Babylonian Language

• There were many types of languages that the Babylonians spoke over the years as different civilizations rules over Mesopotamia. Here is a list of some of the languages:

1. Sumerian2. Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew3. Akkadian

Fashions (What they wore)

• The Babylonians wore many unique and interesting types of clothing. For instance, they wore:

• leather and fur clothes.• sheep skin shirks, with the skin turned inside

and the wool combed into decorative tufts.• clothes made from woven fabric. • shoes, sandals and clothes made from leather.

Ethical Issues of Babylon

There are many ethical issues regarding Babylon. For instance, people argued over:1.Inequality (peasants compared to rulers) - Ruler gets most of the wealth. Peasants work very hard, but get no money, and almost always hungry.

2.Injustice. Had a bad court system. No fair trials.

3.Unattained rights - No freedom [of speech] among poor citizens - dictatorship led by ruler.

4. Wars: Fought for no reason at all? (Treaties; negotiations could have been made instead) For instance, the Babylonian War mentioned in the War section, was not necessary to be fought.

Q&A About BabylonThere are many questions revolving around the subject of Babylon.

Some are unanswered, and some have proof of an answer. Here are a list of some questions and answers that regard Babylon:1. Q: What was the average population of Babylon?

A: About 200,000 people

2. Q:What does the name "Babylon" mean? A: Babylon means “Gate of the Gods”

3. Q:Did Babylonians marry? A:Yes

4. Q: How were the children educated? A:They went to Tablet House, which is their school, mainly to

learn how to write cuneiform and become a scribe.

[Research Questions] Continued5. Q:How was the Babylonian civilization formed? A:It was formed after the fall of the Akkadian Empire. Babylonia was created at the beginning of the third millennium BC. It was a small town which later flourished and attained independence with the rise of the first Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC.

6. Q:Were the Babylonians the first ones to come up with a language? A:No. The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian.

7. Q:What did the kids do in their spare time? A: They did many things. They played games together, helped their parents do the farming, and practiced scribing.

Unanswered questions of Babylon

To this present day there are people still asking questions about Babylon that are yet to be unearthed soon. For instance, people ask questions such as:1. When was Babylon created, or when was it formed?2. When did Babylon become uninhabited (disappeared)?3. How many leaders ruled Babylon over time?

Bibliography (Websites Used)• http://library.thinkquest.org/12096/frames/dunes/babylon.htm• http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar040960&st=babylon• http://en.allexperts.com/q/Babylon-5-1098/B5-Unanswered-Questions.htm• http://www.livius.org/ba-bd/babylon/babylonia.html• http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaBabylonian_Gods00000027.htm• http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaHistory_of_Babylonia.htm• http://history-world.org/babylonia.htm• http://ask.yahoo.com/20030402.html• http://period8dolzall.tripod.com/babylon.html• http://www.discoveryeducation.com/• http://www.school.eb.com/• http://www.qwiki.com/• http://www.livius.org/ba-bd/babylon/babylonian_empire.html