Introductory Animoto Video Click to view my Animoto Video! By Christopher Chen The sophisticated and humble civilization of: Babylon By Christopher Chen This is a map of.
Download ReportTranscript Introductory Animoto Video Click to view my Animoto Video! By Christopher Chen The sophisticated and humble civilization of: Babylon By Christopher Chen This is a map of.
Slide 1
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 2
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 3
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 4
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 5
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 6
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 7
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 8
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 9
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 10
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 11
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 12
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 13
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 14
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 15
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 16
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 17
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 18
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 19
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 20
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 21
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 22
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 2
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 3
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 4
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 5
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 6
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 7
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 8
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 9
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 10
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 11
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 12
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 13
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 14
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 15
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 16
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 17
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 18
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 19
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 20
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 21
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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
Slide 22
Introductory Animoto Video
Click to view my Animoto Video!
By Christopher Chen
The sophisticated and
humble civilization of:
Babylon
By Christopher Chen
This is a map of how big the
empire of Babylon was like from
606-536 BC.
A piece of Babylonian Art.
Many pieces of art like this
one here were engraved into
buildings for decoration.
This is a picture of old time
Babylon cuneiform writing
written on a clay tablet.
Geography
Babylon 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 Babylon
1894 B.C.:
Amorite leader
Sumu-abum
founded a new
dynasty of
tribal Amorite
kings that ruled
Babylon for
300 years.
In 1595 B.C., a
Hittite raid
destroyed the
city.
Hammurabi
ruled from
1792 to 1750
B.C. and
conquered
nearly every
competing
kingdom during
the 1760's B.C.
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.
History of Babylon (cont.)
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.
In 539 B.C.,
Persian
invaders
captured
Babylon and
overthrew the
NeoBabylonian
Empire.
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 331 B.C.,
the
Macedonian
military leader
Alexander the
Great gained
control of
Babylon.
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
(311-308 B.C.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
This is a picture of
• Kishar: father of earth
the upper body of
Marduk, the national
god of Babylon.
Technology of Babylon
Babylonians:
• 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.
2.
3.
Sumerian
Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew
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 Babylon
There 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] Continued
5. 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