Babylonian Civilization

We explain what the Babylonian civilization was, the stages in which it was divided and its characteristics. In addition, politics, religion, art and culture.

What was Babylonian civilization?

Babylonian civilization was a Ancient culture of the near East that existed between 2100 and 538 a. C . The Babylonians conquered neighboring peoples and, twice in their history, managed to build an empire and control the entire region. Its main city, Babylon, was located on the shores of the Euphrates River, in the Low Asian Mesopotamia.

It was recognized for the greatness of its architecture and the constructions of palaces with terraces. Over the centuries, legends about the beauty of their hanging gardens ran .

In addition, Babylonian civilization It was the first to settle its laws in writing . Hammurabi, king of the Paleobabilonic Empire, encoded the 282 civil and criminal laws that governed the political, economic and social order of his empire.

• See also: Mesopotamian civilization

Characteristics of Babylonian civilization

The main characteristics of the Babylonian civilization are the following:

• They inhabited Asian Mesopotamia between 2100 and 538 a. C., and founded the city of Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates River.
• They created the Paleobabilonic Empire (1792-1750 BC) and the Neobabilonic Empire (635-538 BC) as centralized theocratic states.
• They legally organized their society into categories of nobles, free men and slaves.
• They had two important emperors who influenced the political history of the entire region: Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) and Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC).
• They based their economy on agriculture, trade and taxation.
• They developed knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, which were used by later cultures.

Geographic location of Babylonian civilization

Babylonian civilization He settled in the southern region of Asian Mesopotamia And he founded his main city, Babylon, on the shores of the Euphrates River. Throughout their history, the Babylonians came to occupy the territories of the Sumerian cities, the kingdom of Akkad and Phenicia.

The region depended on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers For the development of agriculture, since the rains were scarce and irregular. It was surrounded by the Arabic desert, the Zagros Montes and the Persian Gulf.

Origin and history of Babylonian civilization

The Babylonians were a semiting town from the Arab desert. Historians recognize the following stages in their history:

• Origins (2100-1792 BC) . Towards 2100 a. C., the town of Semita origin arrived in the Mesopotamian region and founded the city of Babylon as a commercial colony within the Sumerian cities network. Over time, the city began to be relevant as a religious and commercial center. In 1894 a. C., the first independent dynasty of the city of Babylon was established, with Prince Amorrita Sumuabum. The first kings of this dynasty dedicated themselves to growing their city, built religious buildings and walls, and developed the network of channels for agriculture. Sumulailu protected the city with walls and Sabum lifted the Temple of Esagila dedicated to the god Marduk. This allowed them to have a more important role in the game of pacts and alliances that characterized the policy of the entire region. Towards the end of the period, the kingdom of Babylon controlled the cities of Kish, Dilbbat, Sippar, Borsippa and Gudua.
• Paleobabilonic Empire (1792-1750 BC) . In 1792 d. C., Hammurabi assumed as sixth king of the Babylonian dynasty. When conquering the Assyrian cities and reunifying the Sumerian cities under their tutelage, he formed an empire that is currently called the Paleobabilonic Empire. During his reign, Hammurabi established a body of laws written known as “Hammurabi Code”, imposed the cult of Marduk (divinity of the city of Babylon) as the main god of the Mesopotamian pantheon and established the Akkadian as an official language within the empire.
• Mesobabilonic period (1750-635 BC) . During the reign of the descendants of Hammurabi, Assyria became independent and began the incursions of the houses (an Indo -European people) that, over time, undermined the political power of the empire. Towards 1595 a. C., The Hittites (a town from Anatolia) invaded the region and defeated the last Babylonian king. The houses seized the city, founded a dynasty of Babylonian princes and called their Karduniash kingdom. The Casitas rulers adapted to the Babylonian culture, took the Acadia language as their own, followed the ceremonies established by the local priestly groups and maintained the previous government system. The houses developed diplomatic relations with the kingdom of Egypt, which allowed them to enjoy some political stability. Towards 1360 a. C., the Assyrians conquered the entire region and Babylon was within its empire.
• Nebabilonic Empire (635-538 BC) . At the death of the last Assyrian emperor, Babylon recovered his independence. Nabopolasar was the first king of the new Babylonian dynasty. It allied with the Medes to destroy the Capital Assyria and expand the Babylonian influence throughout the region. Nabudocodonesor II, his son, managed to conquer all Mesopotamia, Phenicia and Palestine, and signed peace agreements with the neighboring peoples of the Medes and the Egyptians. During this period, Babylon became the most important city of the Near East, a cultural headquarters of the entire region. In 538 a. C., the Persians invaded Babylon and turned her into a province of her empire.

Babylonian social organization

The Babylonian society was divided into three large groups established by law: nobles, free men and slaves.

• The nobility . He called herself Mar Baniwhich meant “good people.” It was made up of governors, judges, officials, priests and army officers. They were landowners and monopolized the different functions of the State.
• Free men . They included the population of merchants, peasants and artisans. They had to pay taxes and work on the construction of large works when the emperor established it. The peasants could be small landowners, tenants (rented lands to work) or day laborers (they worked foreign lands in exchange for the payment per day). The artisans joined professionals of different and varied items: carpenters, metallurgical, goldsmiths, weavers, potters, brewers, etc. The merchants were organized to invest in a coordinated manner and received help from the State to establish commercial ties with other kingdoms and cities.
• The slaves . They were people who had lost their freedom, either as prisoners of war or as punishment for having committed serious crimes or not paying their debts. There were also slaves who had been bought by merchants in other places and relieved locally. Slaves could possess goods, make economic exchanges and have their own family (they could even get married to free people). However, they could be bought, sold, exchanged, rented and even inherited by their masters.

Throughout Babylonian history, The priestly class became a privileged group within society. The temples fulfilled an economic role in addition to religious. They had great land properties that leased or work for day laborers and slaves.

Babylonian political organization

Babylon’s political organization changed throughout its history. During the paleobabilonic empires (1792-1750 BC) and Neobabilonic (635-538 BC), Babylon managed to impose itself on neighboring peoples and become the capital of a centralized state

Hammurabi, king of the Paleobabilonic Empire, sought to unify the territories under his command, established the Akkhey as an official language, unified laws in a common code and organized the state religion around the cult of God Marduk. The King, as the head of the State, controlled all economic activities and charged taxes. He had artisans at his service that worked in Salas of the Royal Palace for this purpose. In addition, it distributed land between the State, the temples and some important families.

A millennium later, Nabopolysar, king of the neobabilonic empire, wanted to restore the old Hammurabi tradition and was governed by his former Code of Laws. However, he intervened less in the organization of the economy and assigned his land to private administrators.

Both empires were theocratic since the Babylonians They considered that the king was a representative of the god Marduk . They believed it was their destiny to maintain the divine order in their lands and expand their cult of the rest of the region.

Babylonian economic organization

During the imperial stages, Babylon organized its economy around agriculture, trade and taxation .

Agriculture and livestock were possible thanks to the development of channels and irrigation systems that allowed the water of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Babylonian State distributed its lands in three categories: lands dedicated to the production of cereals, lands of palm trees (resistant to the conditions of soil salinization) and lands for grazing.

Merchants exchanges between Mesopotamian cities and during the Neobabilonic Empire (635-538 a. C.) came to establish a commercial network with the Peoples of the Mediterranean Sea.

Babylonian culture

Some of the main cultural features of Babylonian civilization were:

• Language . The Empire imposed the Akkadio, a Semitic Language, as an official language and, for religious issues, used the Sumerian language.
• Writing . The Babylonians used the cuneiform writing of the Sumerian culture. They used the clay table as a basis for writing, but also recorded the walls of the temples and palaces, wrote in stelae or monoliths and marked different types of everyday objects.
• Architecture . Babylonian architects designed their constructions based on straight lines and used the vitrified brick in sight for the decoration of temples and palaces. The high towers or staggered pyramids, which used to function as temples (called Zigurats), were typical of the Mesopotamian peoples. The Babylonians stood out in the creation of Palacios, with emblems such as Ishtar’s door, and hanging gardens that were formed by plants and trees, and constitute one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
• Astronomy . The Babylonians were the precursors of astronomical letters and made wide observations of planets and stars. They had knowledge of the distance of the earth and the sun and could specify solstices and equinoxes. In addition, they divided the year into 12 months and the week in 7 days, calendar that we inherit until today. On the other hand, it was the Babylonians who determined the elliptical orbit of the Earth.
• Laws . The Babylonians created the first written legal code, called Hammurabi codewhich was made up of 282 laws. This code was influenced for the legal systems of subsequent civilizations and mainly included laws based on the law of the talion (“eye for an eye, tooth for the tooth”). The Hammurabi code was created by King Hammurabi in 1750 a. C. and was formed by laws that had been dictated by Shamash (God who ruled justice) and that evidence the social and economic structure of this civilization.
• The city of Babylon . Outstanding for its architecture and art, it was a cultural, political and religious center that influenced the entire region. It was characterized by its temples, channels and hanging gardens. Some of the ruins and relics found by the researchers were removed from their place of origin and are exposed in museums around the world, such is the case of the Ishtar Gate, which is located in the Berlin Pergamum Museum.
• Tradition . Babylon is recognized for being part of the biblical tradition, refers to her in many books and, above all, in the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. In addition, it is an important city in the tradition of the Jewish people, since there “the banishment and captivity of Babylon”, carried out by the Babylonians after the taking of Jerusalem.

Religion of Babylon

Babylonian religion was polytheistic . During the imperial periods, the Babylonians established a unified cult throughout the Empire, in which the God Marduk (patron of Babylon) was imposed on the rest of the gods (whose cult also remained in the conquered cities).

The rest of the divinities represented elements of nature: the sun, the moon, the water, the earth, etc. Besides, There were kind spirits with human faces and malignant with monstrous features.

Continue with:

• Sumerians
• Mycenaean civilization
• Byzantine civilization

References

• Liverani, M. (1995). The Old East. History, society and economy. Critical editions.
• Kuhrt, A. (2000). The Middle East in Antiquity (c. 3000-330 BC). Grupo Planeta (GBS).
• Sanmartín, J., & Serrano, JM (1998). Ancient History of the East: Mesopotamia and Egypt (Vol. 22). Akal editions.
• Wagner, CG (1999). History of the Near East (Vol. 3). University of Salamanca.
• Wagner, CG (1987). Babylon, History of the ancient world. East. (Vol. 3). Akal editions
• “Babylon” in World History.
• “Babylon” in Britannica.
• “The door of Ishtar, a wonder of ancient Babylon” in National Geographic.
• “The prophet who kept the Israelites firm in the faith in exile” in Cope.
• “Babylon” in UNESCO.
• “Babylon” in Met Museum.