Everything about Babylonia totally explained
Babylonia was a
state in southern
Mesopotamia, in modern
Iraq, combining the territories of
Sumer and
Akkad. The earliest mention of the city of
Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of
Sargon of Akkad, dating back to the
23rd century BC.
History
The
Akkadians, a
Semitic people, had early on come to dominate the region around
Kish — including Babylon and the parts of Mesopotamia just north of
Sumer, whose civilization deeply influenced that of Akkad. An area intensely irrigated, and strategically located for trade routes and commerce, it was often under threat from outsiders throughout its history.
By the "neo-Sumerian" or
Ur-III period, Babylon had become a centre for
Amorite migrants from west of the
Euphrates who had settled north of Sumer. The Amorites were another Semitic-speaking people, who were at first regarded as uncivilized and nomadic shepherds by the more settled, crop-growing, Akkadians.
Old Babylonian period
At around 2000 BC, following the collapse of the "
Ur-III" dynasty at the hands of the
Elamites, Semitic
Amorites from west of the Euphrates River gained control over most of Mesopotamia, where they formed a series of small kingdoms. During the first centuries of what is called the "Amorite period", the most powerful city state was
Isin, although
Shamshi-Adad I came close to uniting the more northern regions. One of these Amorite dynasties was established in the
city-state of Babylon, which would ultimately take over the others and form the first Babylonian empire, during what is also called the
Old Babylonian Period.
The city of Babylon obtained hegemony over Mesopotamia under their sixth ruler,
Hammurabi (c.
1780– c.
1750 BC; dates highly uncertain). He was a very efficient ruler, writing an influential law code,
Hammurabi's Code and giving the region stability after turbulent times, thereby transforming it into the central power of Mesopotamia.
Babylonian beliefs held the king as an agent of
Marduk, and the city of Babylon as a "holy city" where any legitimate ruler of Mesopotamia had to be crowned. A natural development was the establishment of a bureaucracy, with taxation and centralized government, to allow the king to exert his control.
A great literary revival followed the recovery of Babylonian independence. One of the most important works of this "
First Dynasty of Babylon", as it was called by the native historians, was the compilation of
a code of laws. This was made by order of Hammurabi after the expulsion of the
Elamites and the settlement of his kingdom. In
1901, a copy of the
Code of Hammurabi was discovered by
J. De Morgan and
V. Scheil at
Susa, where it had been taken as plunder. That copy is now in the Louvre.
The Babylonians engaged in regular trade with city-states to the west; with Babylonian officials or troops sometimes passing to Syria and Canaan, and Amorite merchants operating throughout Mesopotamia. The Babylonian monarchy's western connections remained strong for quite some time. An Amorite named Abi-ramu or Abram was the father of a witness to a deed dated to the reign of Hammurabi's grandfather;
Ammi-Ditana, great-grandson of Hammurabi, still titled himself "king of the land of the Amorites". Ammi-Ditana's father and son also bore Canaanite names:
Abi-Eshuh and
Ammisaduqa.
The armies of Babylonia were well-disciplined, and they conquered the city-states of
Isin,
Eshnunna,
Uruk, and the kingdom of
Mari. But Mesopotamia had no natural, defensible boundaries, making it vulnerable to attack. Trade and culture thrived for around 150 years until Babylon was sacked by the Hittites in the reign of
Samsu-Ditana, ushering in the age of the Kassites who filled in the power vacuum.
The date of the sack of Babylon by the Hittite king
Mursilis I is considered crucial to the various calculations of the early
Chronology of the ancient Near East, since both a solar and a lunar eclipse are said to have occurred in the month of
Sivan that year, according to ancient records. The event has been variously calculated to dates ranging from 1499 BC to 1659 BC; the "Middle Chronology" most widely used today places it in 1595 BC.
Kassite period
The 15th king of the dynasty was
Samsu-Ditana, son of Ammisaduqa. He was overthrown following the
sack of Babylon by the
Hittite king
Mursili I, and Babylonia was turned over to the
Kassites (Kossaeans) from the mountains of Iran, with whom
Samsu-Iluna had already come into conflict in his 6th year.
The fall of Babylon is taken as a fixed point in the discussion of the
chronology of the Ancient Near East. Suggestions for its precise date vary by as much as 150 years, corresponding to the uncertainty regarding the length of the "Dark Age" of the ensuing
Bronze Age collapse, resulting in the shift of the entire Bronze Age chronology of Mesopotamia with regard to the
chronology of Ancient Egypt. Possible dates for the sack of Babylon are:
The Kassite dynasty was founded by Kandis or Gandash of Mari. The Kassites renamed Babylon "
Kar-Duniash", and their rule lasted for 576 years. With this foreign dominion — that offers a striking analogy to the contemporary rule of the
Hyksos in
ancient Egypt — Babylonia lost its empire over western Asia. The high-priests of
Ashur made themselves kings of
Assyria. Most divine attributes ascribed to the Semitic kings of Babylonia disappeared at this time; the title of God was never given to a Kassite sovereign. However, Babylon continued to be the capital of the kingdom and the 'holy' city of western Asia, where the priests were all-powerful, and the only place where the right to inheritance of the old Babylonian empire could be conferred.
The Kassite period lasted for several centuries, until
1125 BC, when Babylon was conquered by
Shutruk-Nahhunte of
Elam, and re-conquered a few years later by
Nebuchadrezzar I.
Early Iron Age
In the
Early Iron Age, from 1125 to 732 BC, Babylon was again ruled by native dynasties, beginning with
Nebuchadrezzar I of
Isin (Dynasty IV). Dynasty IX begins with
Nabonassar, whose rule (from
748 BC) heads Ptolemy's
Canon of Kings. In
729 BC, Babylon was conquered into the
Neo-Assyrian Empire by
Tiglath-Pileser III and remained under Assyrian rule for a century, until the
620s BC revolt of
Nabopolassar.
Neo-Babylonian Empire (Chaldean Era)
Through the centuries of Assyrian domination, Babylonia enjoyed a prominent status, or revolted at the slightest indication that it did not. The Assyrians always managed to restore Babylonian loyalty, however, whether through granting of increased privileges, or militarily. That finally changed in 627 BC with the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler,
Ashurbanipal, and Babylonia rebelled under
Nabopolassar the
Chaldean the following year. With help from the
Medes,
Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC, and the seat of empire was again transferred to Babylonia.
Nabopolassar was followed by his son
Nebuchadnezzar II, whose reign of 43 years made Babylon once more the mistress of the civilized world, including the conquering of
Phoenicia in 585 BC. Only a small fragment of his annals has been discovered, relating to his invasion of Egypt in
567 BC, and referring to "Phut of the Ionians".
Of the reign of the last Babylonian king,
Nabonidus (
Nabu-na'id), and the conquest of Babylonia by
Cyrus, there's a fair amount of information available. This is chiefly derived from a chronological tablet containing the annals of Nabonidus, supplemented by another inscription of Nabonidus where he recounts his restoration of the temple of the Moon-god at Harran; as well as by a proclamation of Cyrus issued shortly after his formal recognition as king of Babylonia. It was in the sixth year of Nabonidus (
549 BC) that Cyrus, the Achaemenid Persian "king of
Anshan" in Elam, revolted against his suzerain
Astyages, "king of the Manda" or Medes, at Ecbatana. Astyages' army betrayed him to his enemy, and Cyrus established himself at Ecbatana, thus putting an end to the empire of the Medes. Three years later Cyrus had become king of all Persia, and was engaged in a campaign in the north of
Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, Nabonidus had established a camp in the desert, near the southern frontier of his kingdom, leaving his son
Belshazzar (
Belsharutsur) in command of the army.
In
539 BC Cyrus invaded Babylonia. A battle was fought at Opis in the month of June, where the Babylonians were defeated; and immediately afterwards Sippara surrendered to the invader. Nabonidus fled to Babylon, where he was pursued by Gobryas, and on the 16th of
Tammuz, two days after the capture of Sippara, "the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting." Nabonidus was dragged from his hiding-place, where the services continued without interruption. Cyrus didn't arrive until the 3rd of
Marchesvan (October), Gobryas having acted for him in his absence. Gobryas was now made governor of the province of Babylon, and a few days afterwards the son of Nabonidus died. A public mourning followed, lasting six days, and Cambyses accompanied the corpse to the tomb.
Cyrus now claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of
Bel-Marduk, who was assumed to be wrathful at the impiety of Nabonidus in removing the images of the local gods from their ancestral shrines, to his capital Babylon. Nabonidus, in fact, had excited a strong feeling against himself by attempting to centralize the religion of Babylonia in the temple of Merodach (Marduk) at Babylon, and while he'd thus alienated the local priesthoods, the military party despised him on account of his antiquarian tastes. He seems to have left the defense of his kingdom to others, occupying himself with the more congenial work of excavating the foundation records of the temples and determining the dates of their builders.
The invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus was doubtless facilitated by the existence of a disaffected party in the state, as well as by the presence of foreign forced exiles like the
Jews, who had been planted in the midst of the country. One of the first acts of Cyrus accordingly was to allow these exiles to return to their own homes, carrying with them the images of their gods and their sacred vessels. The permission to do so was embodied in a proclamation, whereby the conqueror endeavored to justify his claim to the Babylonian throne. The feeling was still strong that none had a right to rule over western Asia until he'd been consecrated to the office by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon."
A year before Cyrus' death, in
529 BC, he elevated his son
Cambyses II in the government, making him king of Babylon, while he reserved for himself the fuller title of "king of the (other) provinces" of the empire. It was only when
Darius Hystaspis acquired the Persian throne and ruled it as a representative of the
Zoroastrian religion, that the old tradition was broken and the claim of Babylon to confer legitimacy on the rulers of western Asia ceased to be acknowledged.
Immediately after Darius seized Persia, Babylonia briefly recovered its independence under Nidinta-Bel, who took the name of
Nebuchadnezzar III, and reigned from October
522 BC to August
520 BC, when Darius took the city by storm. A few years later, probably
514 BC, Babylon again revolted under
Arakha; on this occasion, after its capture by the Persians, the walls were partly destroyed. E-Saggila, the great temple of Bel, however, still continued to be kept in repair and to be a center of Babylonian patriotism, until at last the foundation of
Seleucia diverted the population to the new capital of Babylonia and the ruins of the old city became a quarry for the builders of the new seat of government.
Persian Babylonia
Chaldean Babylonia was absorbed into the
Achaemenid Empire in
539 BC.
The name of the
satrapy was changed to
Asuristan in the
Sassanid period. Excepting brief interludes of
Roman conquest (
Roman Assyria,
Roman Mesopotamia; AD 116 to 118), and a longer period of
Hellenistic rule (the
Seleucid Empire, 330 to 250 BC), Mesopotamia remained under Persian control until the
Islamic conquest in the
630s AD.
Achievements
Art and Architecture
In Babylonia, an abundance of
clay, and lack of
stone, led to greater use of
mudbrick; Babylonian temples are massive structures of crude brick, supported by
buttresses, the rain being carried off by drains. One such drain at
Ur was made of lead. The use of brick led to the early development of the
pilaster and column, and of
frescoes and enamelled tiles. The walls were brilliantly coloured, and sometimes plated with
zinc or gold, as well as with tiles. Painted
terra-cotta cones for torches were also embedded in the plaster.
In Babylonia, in place of the
bas-relief, there's greater use of three-dimensional figures in the round — the earliest examples being the statues from
Telloh, that are realistic if somewhat clumsy. The paucity of stone in Babylonia made every pebble precious, and led to a high perfection in the art of gem-cutting.
The legendary
Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the
Tower of Babel are seen as symbols of luxurious and arrogant power respectively.
Astronomy
Among the sciences,
astronomy and
astrology occupied a conspicuous place in Babylonian society. Astronomy was of old standing in Babylonia, and the standard work on the subject, written from an astrological point of view, later translated into
Greek by
Berossus, was believed to date from the age of
Sargon of Akkad. The
zodiac was a Babylonian invention of great antiquity; and
eclipses of the
sun and
moon could be foretold. There are dozens of cuneiform records of original Mesopotamian eclipse observations (see Wikipedia's "Chronology of Babylonia and Assyria").
Observatories were attached to the temples, and reports were regularly sent by astronomers to the king. The stars had been numbered and named at an early date, and we possess tables of lunar longitudes and observations of
Venus. Great attention was naturally paid to the
calendar, and we find a
week of seven days and another of five days in use.
Babylonian astrology was based on the belief that the entire
universe was created in relation to the
earth. Thus the ancients saw it as no accident that the
stars and
planets were set in a certain divine order at the time of
creation.
The first evidence of recognition that astronomical phenomena are periodic and of the application of mathematics to their prediction is Babylonian. Tablets dating back to the
Old Babylonian period document the application of mathematics to the variation in the length of daylight over a solar year. Centuries of Babylonian observations of celestial phenomena are recorded in the series of
cuneiform tablets known as the 'Enūma Anu Enlil'. The oldest significant astronomical text that we possess is Tablet 63 of 'Enūma Anu Enlil', the Venus tablet of
Ammi-saduqa, which lists the first and last visible risings of Venus over a period of about 21 years and is the earliest evidence that the phenomena of a planet were recognized as periodic. The oldest rectangular
astrolabe dates back to Babylonia
ca. 1100 BC. The
MUL.APIN, contains catalogues of stars and constellations as well as schemes for predicting
heliacal risings and the settings of the planets, lengths of daylight measured by a
water-clock,
gnomon, shadows, and
intercalations. The Babylonian GU text arranges stars in 'strings' that lie along declination circles and thus measure right-ascensions or time-intervals, and also employs the stars of the zenith, which are also separated by given right-ascensional differences.
During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Babylonian astronomers developed a new approach to astronomy. They began studying
philosophy dealing with the ideal nature of the early
universe and began empoying an
internal logic within their predictive planetary systems. This was an important contribution to astronomy and the
philosophy of science and some scholars have thus referred to this new approach as the first
scientific revolution. This new approach to astronomy was adopted and further developed in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy.
In
Seleucid and
Parthian times, the astronomical reports were of a thoroughly scientific character; how much earlier their advanced knowledge and methods were developed is uncertain. The Babylonian development of methods for predicting the motions of the planets is considered to be a major episode in the
history of astronomy.
The only Babylonian astronomer known to have supported a
heliocentric model of planetary motion was
Seleucus of Seleucia (b.
190 BC). Seleucus is known from the writings of
Plutarch. He supported the heliocentric theory where the
Earth rotated around its own axis which in turn revolved around the
Sun. According to
Plutarch, Seleucus even proved the heliocentric system, but it isn't known what arguments he used.
Babylonian astronomy was the basis for much of what was done in
Greek and Hellenistic astronomy, in classical
Indian astronomy, in
Sassanian,
Byzantine and
Syrian astronomy, in medieval
Islamic astronomy, and in
Central Asian and
Western European astronomy.
Mathematics
The Babylonian system of mathematics was
sexagesimal, or a base 60
numeral system (see:
Babylonian numerals). From this we derive the modern day usage of 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 (60 x 6) degrees in a circle. The Babylonians were able to make great advances in mathematics for two reasons. First, the number 60 has many
divisors (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30), making calculations easier. Additionally, unlike the Egyptians and Romans, the Babylonians had a true place-value system, where digits written in the left column represented larger values (much as in our base-ten system: 734 = 7×100 + 3×10 + 4×1). Among the Babylonians' mathematical accomplishments were the determination of the
square root of two correctly to seven places (
YBC 7289 clay tablet
). They also demonstrated knowledge of the
Pythagorean theorem well before Pythagoras, as evidenced by this tablet translated by Dennis Ramsey and dating to ca. 1900 BC:
4 is the length and 5 is the diagonal.
What is the breadth?
Its size isn't known.
4 times 4 is 16. And 5 times 5 is 25.
You take 16 from 25 and there remains 9.
What times what shall I take in order to get 9?
3 times 3 is 9. 3 is the breadth.
The
ner of 600 and the
sar of 3600 were formed from the unit of 60, corresponding with a degree of the
equator. Tablets of squares and cubes, calculated from 1 to 60, have been found at
Senkera, and a people acquainted with the sun-dial, the clepsydra, the lever and the pulley, must have had no mean knowledge of mechanics. A crystal lens, turned on the lathe, was discovered by
Austen Henry Layard at
Nimrud along with glass vases bearing the name of Sargon; this could explain the excessive minuteness of some of the writing on the
Assyrian tablets, and a lens may also have been used in the observation of the heavens.
The Babylonians might have been familiar with the general rules for measuring the areas. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference, which would be correct if π were estimated as 3. The volume of a cylinder was taken as the product of the base and the height, however, the volume of the frustum of a cone or a square pyramid was incorrectly taken as the product of the height and half the sum of the bases. Also, there was a recent discovery in which a tablet used π as 3 and 1/8. The Babylonians are also known for the Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance equal to about seven miles today. This measurement for distances eventually was converted to a time-mile used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time. (Eves, Chapter 2)
Medicine
The oldest Babylonian texts on
medicine date back to the
First Babylonian Dynasty in the first half of the
2nd millennium BC. The most extensive Babylonian medical text, however, is the
Diagnostic Handbook written by the physician Esagil-kin-apli of
Borsippa,
Along with contemporary
ancient Egyptian medicine, the Babylonians introduced the concepts of
diagnosis,
prognosis,
physical examination, and
prescriptions. In addition, the
Diagnostic Handbook introduced the methods of
therapy and a
etiology and the use of
empiricism,
logic and
rationality in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of medical
symptoms and often detailed empirical
observations along with logical rules used in combining observed symptoms on the body of a
patient with its diagnosis and prognosis.
The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means such as
bandages,
creams and
pills. If a patient couldn't be cured physically, the Babylonian physicians often relied on
exorcism to cleanse the patient from any
curses. Esagil-kin-apli's
Diagnostic Handbook was based on a logical set of
axioms and assumptions, including the modern view that through the examination and
inspection of the symptoms of a patient, it's possible to determine the patient's
disease, its aetiology and future development, and the chances of the patient's recovery.
Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of
illnesses and diseases and described their symptoms in his
Diagnostic Handbook. These include the symptoms for many varieties of
epilepsy and related
ailments along with their diagnosis and prognosis.
Literature
There were libraries in most towns and temples; an old
Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and in Semitic times, this involved knowledge of the extinct
Sumerian language, and a complicated and extensive syllabary.
A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of the syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists of them were drawn up.
There are many Babylonian literary works whose titles have come down to us. One of the most famous of these was the
Epic of Gilgamesh, in twelve books, translated from the original Sumerian by a certain Sin-liqi-unninni, and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of
Gilgamesh. The whole story is a composite product, and it's probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure.
Philosophy
» Further information: Babylonian literature: Philosophy
The origins of Babylonian
philosophy can be traced back to early Mesopotamian
wisdom, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly
ethics, in the forms of
dialectic,
dialogs,
epic poetry,
folklore,
hymns,
lyrics,
prose, and
proverbs. Babylonian
reasoning and
rationality developed beyond
empirical observation.
It is possible that Babylonian philosophy had an influence on
Greek, particularly
Hellenistic philosophy. The Babylonian text
Dialog of Pessimism contains similarities to the
agonistic thought of the
sophists, the
Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogs of
Plato, as well as a precursor to the
maieutic Socratic method of
Socrates. The
Milesian philosopher
Thales is also known to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia.
Technology
Babylonians invented many technologies, which include
metalworking,
copper-working,
glassmaking,
lamp making,
textile weaving, flood control, water storage, as well as
irrigation. Earlier on they used
copper,
bronze and
gold, and later they used
iron. Palaces were decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. Also, copper, bronze, and iron were used for
armor as well as for different weapons such as
swords,
daggers,
spears, and
maces.
Babylonia in culture
Babylonia, and particularly its capital city Babylon, has long held a place in
Abrahamic religions as a symbol of excess and dissolute power. Many references are made to Babylon in the
Bible, both literally and allegorically. The mentions in the
Tanakh tend to be historical or prophetic, while
New Testament references are more likely figurative, or cryptic references to pagan Rome. The legendary
Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the
Tower of Babel are seen as symbols of luxurious and arrogant power respectively.
Footnotes
Further Information
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