Ancient Babylon

Ancient BabyloniaGrace Wang, Matt Millard,Rebecca Waldrop and Julia GaffneyBabylonia Basics ~ The Babylonian Empire lasted from the 18thcentury BC to the 6th century BC~ There were between 10-15 cities withapproximately 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants (noone really knows for sure how many peoplereally lived there)~ The heartland of Ancient Babylonia waslocated between the Tigris and the Euphratesrivers, in what is today Iraq~ The height of the empire began in the 18thcentury and lasted to the 17th century (it wasonly a great power for about a hundred years atthe very beginning)Relationship to surrounding people~ Hammurabi united many of thesurrounding civilizations underBabylonian rule, including theAssyrians, the Akkadians, and theSumerians~ Babylonia also traded with Anatolia,Syria, and Palestine~After Hammurabi united severalkingdoms, the Babylonians adopted theAkkadian language for their official use,and the Sumerian language for religiouspurposesReligion~The Babylonian religion is polytheistic, similar to that of the Aztec or Greek religion.~Architecture(Temples, ziggurats, gates) and art were dedicated to their many gods.~Several religious cults through out the city with their own ways of worship, fought often.~Their 1000 line epic creation story is one of the earliest creation stories in humanhistory(predating the Old Testament).Religious Practices include:•Giving offerings of food and artifacts. Human sacrifices were possible as well.•Practices of healing magic, magic charms and divination.•People or families had individual gods for personal prayer. They could leave their god andworship a new one if they had bad luck with their last god.Gods include:•Marduk - King of Gods, God of the rising sun•Ea - God of wisdom•Shamash - God of justice, Sun God•Ishtar - God of love and war•Tiamat - Dragon goddess, slain by Marduk, corpse made into the Earth•Nabu - Son of MardukBabylonian GodsMardukTiamatIshtarArchitecture ~Though the city of Babylon stands today, it is in ruinscompared to what it used to be.~The most impressive parts of the city that stand today are thevarious temples and ziggurats, the multiple gates, most notiblythe rebuilt Gate of Ishtar, the Processional Road, the largestand only paved road in the city, and the kings palace.~The more famous examples of the city's architecture are theHanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel, butneither stand today and many debate their existence.Art~Most art were terra-cotta or stone carvings of gods, kings and animals.Were apparently glass makers, but no samples remain today. Their mostnotable contribution is the use of polychrome glazed bricks, which gave thebricks a shiny blue coating and protected them from damage for 1,000's ofyears.Government~The main form of government was amonarchy with one king~The king used governors to maintain orderand control over different provinces of theempire~An effective tool used by the governmentwas Hammurabi's Code, the first uniformcode of laws which, reinforced classdistinctionsawilu, a free person of the upperclass;mushkenu, a free person oflow estate wardu, or slave~Patriarchy authority was enforced by thecode but women still had laws to protectthemEconomic life and trade relations~Babylon was a very prosperous city and empire~Babylon traded surplus' of food and manufactured goods such asfurniture and pottery~In return they received goods from around the ancient world:      ~From the south they received cotton      ~They imported wood from Persia and India in the east      ~Babylon traded for wood from Syria in the north      ~They imported minerals such as gold, copper, and stone from Egypt, Sinai, and Yemen in the westOther major achievements and facts~The most famous innovation of ancient Babylonian culture was astronomy, which began asa study of astrology~Created calendar which perfectly predicted eclipses~Sexagesimal system for the calculation of time and angles, which is still practical becauseof the multiple divisibility of the number 60~Cuneiform on clay tablets revealed their knowledge of science, math, and literature. ThatBabylonians recorded on these tablets songs, prayers, and poems along with history andlaws.~The Babylonians performed complicated surgeries and had extensive knowledge onmedicine. They even did operations of eyes