The Babylonians

The Babylonians
By: Andrew Murdza and Doug Bingle
Who were the Babylonians?
Ancient culture who lived in the
Mesopotamian Region.
Controlled the city of Babylon
A civilization that lasted from 1894 BCE to
593 BCE.
The Location of the Babylonian Empire
Located in the Mesopotamian river
valley, between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
Rivers provided trade routes and
drinking water and enabled agriculture
Mesopotamia was rich in clay and
bitumen (oil), but it lacked timber,
building stone, and minerals.
The marshes were rich in fish, reeds, and
waterfowl.
The Rise of Babylon
Babylon was founded in 1894 BCE
Before the rule of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE), Babylon
was not a prominent civilization
The abundance of grains, textiles, and oil in Babylon
funded military campaigns to expand the city state into
an empire.
Hammurabi was a proficient war strategist, who proved to
be untrustworthy
He blocked the Euphrates river then released its water to
cut off and eventually starve his enemy
Babylonian Laws and Values
Hammurabi’s Code includes severe
punishments for dishonesty, deception,
thieving, and irresponsibility.
The rights of an individual depended on his
or her gender and social class
Women had some but fewer rights than
men
Believed in the ownership of one person by
another
The Government and Social Classes in Babylonia
The head of the government was a king,
with individual governors under him
Local affairs were settled at courts based
on Hammurabi’s Code of Laws
The people of Babylon were divided into
three social classes:
Awilu (the upper class)
Mushkenu (the lower class of men)
Wardu (the class of slaves)
Communication in the Babylonian Empire
The Babylonian language, related to
Hebrew and Arabic, and is very similar to
Akkadian
Babylonians wrote in cuneiform
Babylonians used about six hundred
different symbols to represent words or
syllables of words.
To keep legal and trade records, a base 60
number system was used.
Education in Babylonia
Only the sons and some daughters of wealthy
Babylonian families could afford education
The bulk of Babylonian education was
learning to write in the Sumerian and
Akkadian languages
However, they also solved learned to
algebraic and geometry problems
Information was primarily learned by
repeating professors’ work, SumerianAkkadian dictionaries, and math tables.
Achievements in Mathematics
Used place-value number system.
Developed use of 60 second minutes, 60
minute hours, and 24 hour days to
represent time.
First to measure angles in degrees (with a full
circle being 360 degrees).
They knew about trigonometry and used it to
find Pythagorean triples.
Achievements in Medicine
Babylonian medicines were derived from plant extracts,
spices, and resins, many of which had antibiotic or
antiseptic properties
Carried out cataract and dental surgeries
Used liquid soap to wash their hands, and some houses
had toilets and bathtubs.
The Babylonians had treats for ailments in the head,
muscles, and various body systems.
The Fall of the First Empire
Hammurabi’s conquests removed buffers between
Babylonia, the Kassites, and the powerful Hittites
The Babylonians were able to hold back the Kassites, but
their army was severely weathered and they were an
attractive target
The last of the First Babylonian empire fell when the
Hittites dethroned the last king in 1595 BCE
The Creation of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
The Hittites and Kassites attacked Babylon in 1595 BCE but
the Kassites gained power
The Kassites ruled the Babylonian region until the Assyrians
conquered Babylon
Under Assyrian rule, Babylon was weak and its people
suffered
The Chaldeans attacked the Assyrian Babylon while it was
weakened by civil war and took control.
The Neo-Babylonian Empire was formed.
Neo-Babylonia - Rule Under the Chaldeans
Chaldean Babylon gained independence from Assyria in
626 BCE as the Assyrian Empire fell.
Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the
city of Babylon, constructing the Hanging Gardens
The “Neo-Babylonian Renaissance” was a time where
Babylonian art and culture flourished
The Neo-Babylonian Empire included lands from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
This is also the time where the Jews were expelled to
Babylon in 597 BCE
The Babylonian Economy
Babylonia’s currency was made of gold and silver,
but there was also barter
They grew surpluses of grains and fruit and had
cattle and sheep
In addition to farmers and shepherds, there were
weavers of textiles, metalworkers, and
carpenters
Bitumen was a prosperous export
Babylonian Trade
Babylonia exported primarily grains, bitumen, and
textiles to pay for its imports of metals, stones
for building, cotton, and timber., mainly across
the Tigris and the Euphrates
Babylonia traded with Egypt and the Sinai
Peninsula, Ethiopia, Southern Arabia, India, and
the Mediterranean Islands
The majority of the government’s taxes came from
trade
Babylonian Mythology and its Presence in Christianity
Polytheistic, rich in stories and myths
Includes a great flood that with Utnapishtim
(Noah) survives with the help of Ea (God)
Ea (the serpent), convincing Adapa to eat the
water and bread of death
Believed by Heaven and the Underworld
Babylonians used stories explain natural
phenomenon instead of using science
Achievements in Engineering and Art
Had irrigation systems, ziggurats, the Tower of
Bal, and the mystic Hanging Gardens.
The Babylonians were skilled goldsmiths
Rather than paintings and music, Babylonian
art took the form of stone carvings, or
images glazed onto brick.
A famous work of Babylonian literature was
the full story of Gilgamesh from the
Sumerian poems.
Fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire
The empire fell after the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 BCE
The Persian king Cyrus conquered the city of Babylon in 539 BCE
The Babylonian infantry were no
match for the cavalry and tactics of
the Persians, who destroyed the
city of Babylon
The Chaldeans were the last group to
rule the city
Influence on Other Civilizations of the Time
The Babylonians were a breadbasket for the surrounding empires; their
exports in grains and textiles supported their neighbors
Babylon trade linked its neighbors, spreading culture and religion
Babylonian achievements in mathematics and medicine diffused
throughout the fertile crescent and are the foundation of Greek
mathematics
Babylon contributed to the end of Assyria, which would leave a void for the
city states of Medes and Persia to emerge.
Works Cited
https://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/assyrbabyl-faq.html#Atrahasis
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp
http://ancientbabylon.blogspot.com/
http://www.sumerian.org/Frayne-ScribalEducation.htm
http://history-world.org/bab2.htm
http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/masters/egypt_babylon/babylon.pdf
http://www.livius.org/articles/place/babylonia/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1692448/
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Iraq.html
http://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=5
Works Cited (Continued)
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/trade/home_set.html
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/4b.asp
http://www.chaldeansonline.org/chald.html
http://www.indiana.edu/~ancmed/meso.HTM
http://www.livius.org/articles/place/babylonian-empire/
http://www.ancient.eu/timeline/babylon/
http://www.jaas.org/edocs/v5n1/Paulissian.pdf
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/history-emperor-worship-influence-babylon-egypt-greece/339.aspx
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Iraq.html
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Images Works Cited
http://depositphotos.com/6536165/stock-photo-cuneiform-writing.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Hammurabi_bas-relief_in_the_U.S._House_of_Representatives_chamber.jpg
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_seep
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http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/rec_babylon_city.gif
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