MESOPOTAMIA

Ancient Babylon

The Babylonian Empires

The Babylonian Empires

Babylonian Empire• Overtook Sumerians around 2,000 B.C.• Built capital, Babylon, on Euphrates river.•  The Babylonians modified and transformed their

Sumerian heritage in accordance with their own culture and ethos. • The resulting way of life proved to be so effective that it

underwent relatively little change for some 1200 years. • It exerted influence on all the neighboring countries,

especially the kingdom of Assyria, which adopted Babylonian culture almost in its entirety.

Babylon – “Gate of God”

• The Sumerians were conquered by the Babylonians.

• The king of Babylon was Hammurabi.

• Hammurabi united the cities of Sumer and then expanded his empire all the way to Asia Minor

A crossroad For Trade• Babylon’s location made it a good place for trade.

• Groups of travelers, called caravans, traveled back

and forth from the Sumerian cities in the south to the city of Akkad in the north.

• Along the way, they always stopped in Babylon to trade.

• Babylon had special markets, called bazaars, that people went to buy and trade goods from as far as India and Egypt.

• Babylon became rich due to trade.

Tower of Babel• Most famous of

all the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia.

• Has been restored many times throughout the centuries.

• No one really knows how it actually looked.

BABYLONIAN ZIGGURAT

The Reign of Hammurabi• The Old Babylonian Period • High point was reign of

King Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.) united all of Mesopotamia through conquest

• During reign government controlled economy and passed comprehensive laws called the Hammurabi Code

• There are 282 laws in Hammurabi’s code.

• Inscribed on a stone pillar placed in the public hall for all to see

Hammurabi’s Code

• Hammurabi Stone depicts Hammurabi as receiving his authority from god Shamash.

• Punishments were designed to fit the crimes as people must be responsible for own actions.

• Law number 196 states: If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. Some people summarize Hammurabi’s code by saying “an eye for an eye.”

• Law number 195 states: If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off. There are many, many more laws like this in Hammurabi’s Code.

On the left is a stela, which has all 282 of Hammurabi’s laws engraved on it. This stela is located in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.The Hammurabi stela was discovered in 1909, in Susa, Elam, which is now Khuzestan. Khuzestan is a province of southern Iran.

Susa

Hammurabi’s code• Below are situations Hammurabi

faced. Take few minutes to decide what you think to be a fair way to deal with the situations.

1. What should be done to the carpenter who builds a house that falls and kills the owner?

2. What should be done about a wife who ignores her duties and belittles her husband?

3. What should be done if a son is adopted and then the birth-parents want him back?

4. What happens if a man is unable to pay his debts?

5. What should happen to a boy who slaps his father?

6. What happens to the wine seller who fails to arrest bad characters gathered at her shop?

7. How is the truth determined when one man brings an accusation against another?

Writing Activity

Hammurabi, the JudgeHammurabi, the Judge

Code of Hammurabi

Social Institutions Cont.

• Religion- • Believed in many gods - Polytheists

• Many references were made in the bible

Babylonian Religion

Babylonian MathBabylonian Math

Babylonian NumbersBabylonian Numbers

The Ishtar Gate 1

The Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate

The Four Beasts

Babylon

Medo-Persia

Greece

Rome

Babylonia is Conquered• Hammurabi conquered many of the neighboring cities, and

he kept expanding his empire. • Hammurabi would often go to war against his allies as well. • When the city of Elam attacked Larsa, Hammurabi helped

Larsa defend themselves. Once Elam was conquered, Hammurabi turned right around and conquered Larsa!

• Each time that Babylon would conquer another city, Hammurabi would take the city’s chariots, weapons, tools, and all their riches. Trading helped Babylon get rich, and so did conquest.

• Though Hammurabi formed a large and rich empire, the people that ruled after him could not keep it together. The empire kept getting smaller and smaller until eventually it was destroyed.

The Assyrians

The Assyrians Rise to Power• Assyria was a small kingdom of walled cities that

was located north of Babylon. Their city was located in open land that was easily attacked, and they had to constantly defend themselves against invaders. Therefore, they became skilled warriors.

• At around 1365 B.C., the Assyrians decided that the best defense they had was to attack other countries first, before they could attack them. By 650 B.C., Assyria had conquered a large empire. King Sargon II was a successful and ruthless Assyrian ruler.

The Assyrian War Machine• The Assyrians were

geniuses at waging war. They invented the battering ram, which they used to pound down city walls. They used catapults to throw rocks at enemies, and protected their archers (people who use a bow and arrows) with helmets and armor.

Assyrian Learning• The capital of the

Assyrian Empire was a city called Nineveh. Nineveh became a great city of learning. It had a famous library that held thousands of clay tablets with writings from Sumer and Babylon. These records tell us a lot about life in Mesopotamia.

Assyria Overthrown• The people that the

Assyrians conquered were constantly rebelling against Assyrian rule. Most of the time, the Assyrians crushed the people who tried to fight them. However, in 612 B.C., two groups joined together to smash the Assyrian empire. These groups were the Medes and the Chaldeans.

The New Babylonian Empire• The Chaldeans created

a new empire, centered at Babylon after they defeated the Assyrians in 612 BC. The greatest king of Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar II. He rebuilt Babylon and put massive walls around the city to protect it. He also built a great palace with hanging gardens.

Hanging gardens of Babylon

Babylonians (1700-700 BC)

Hanging Gardens of Nebuchadnezzar

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

A New Center for Learning• Under the Chaldeans,

the New Babylonian empire became a center of learning and science. Chaldean astronomers charted stars and measured the correct length of the year. Chaldean farmers raised bees for their honey. Many people came to Babylon to share ideas and discoveries.

The Fall of the 2nd Babylonian Empire

• The second Babylonian empire came under attack and was defeated by the Persians, who were led by Cyrus, in 539 BC. Though the Chaldeans were defeated, the city of Babylon was spared from destruction.

Cute websitehttp://www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/hammurabi_situation_index.htm

CH 2 Sec. 1 Primary Source Document Analysis: “Hammurabi’s Code” (see handout)

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.