Babylonia

I

Introduction

Babylonia (in Babylonian, Bābili, “Gate of God”; Old Persian, Babirush), ancient kingdom in Mesopotamia, known originally as Sumer and later as Sumer and Akkad, lying between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, south of modern Baghdad, Iraq.

II

Babylonian Civilization

The Babylonian civilization, which flourished from the 18th until the 6th century bc, was, like the Sumerian that preceded it, urban in character, although based on agriculture rather than industry. The country consisted of a dozen or so cities, surrounded by villages and hamlets. At the head of the political structure was the king, an absolute monarch who exercised legislative, judicial, and executive powers. Under him was a group of appointed governors and administrators. Mayors and councils of city elders were in charge of local administration.

The Babylonians modified and transformed their Sumerian heritage to suit their own culture and ethos. The resulting way of life proved to be so effective that it underwent relatively little change for about 1,200 years. It influenced the neighbouring countries, especially the kingdom of Assyria, which adopted Babylonian culture almost in its entirety. Fortunately, a large body of Babylonian literature has been found through excavation and made available to scholars. One of the most important works is the remarkable collection of laws often called the Code of Hammurabi, which date from the 18th century bc and which, together with other documents and letters belonging to different periods, provide a comprehensive picture of Babylonian social structure and economic organization.

A

Society

Babylonian society consisted of three classes represented by the awilu, a free person of the upper class; the wardu, or slave; and the mushkenu, a free person of low estate, who ranked legally between the awilu and the wardu. Most slaves were prisoners of war, but some were recruited from the Babylonian population. For example, free people might be reduced to slavery as punishment for certain offences; parents could sell their children as slaves in time of need; or a man might even surrender his entire family to creditors in payment of a debt, but for no longer than three years. Slaves were the property of their master, like any other chattel. They could be branded and flogged, and they were severely punished if they attempted to escape. On the other hand, because it was to the advantage of the master that slaves remained strong and healthy, they were usually well treated. Slaves had certain legal rights and could engage in business, borrow money, and buy their freedom. If a slave married a free person and had children, the latter were free. The sale price of a slave varied according to the state of the market and the attributes of the individual involved; the average price for a grown man was usually 20 shekels of silver, a sum that could buy about 35 bushels of barley.

A

1

The Mushkenu

The position of the mushkenu in society can be inferred from a number of legal provisions in the Code of Hammurabi. To cite comparative examples, if a mushkenu suffered an injury to eye or limb, he was indemnified by the payment of a mina (roughly 0.45 kg, or 1 lb, of silver); in the case of an awilu similarly injured, the law of retaliation (lex talionis) was applied; whereas for an injured slave, the indemnity was to be half the slave’s market value. If the injury required surgical treatment, the awilu had to pay a fee of 10 shekels, but the mushkenu paid 5 shekels; and, in the case of a slave, the master had to pay a fee of only 2 shekels.