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.

A.2.

Family Life

The family was the basic unit of Babylonian society. Marriages were arranged by the parents, and the betrothal was recognized legally as soon as the groom had presented a bridal gift to the father of the bride; the marriage ceremony was usually concluded with a contract inscribed on a tablet. Although marriage was viewed primarily as a practical arrangement, there is some evidence to suggest that surreptitious premarital lovemaking was not altogether unknown. The Babylonian woman had certain important legal rights. She could hold property, engage in business, and act as a witness in a trial. The husband, however, could divorce her on relatively trivial grounds, or, if she had borne him no children, he could marry a second wife. Children were under the absolute authority of their parents, who could disinherit them or, as has already been mentioned, could even sell them into slavery. In the normal course of events, however, children were loved and, at the death of their parents, inherited all their property. Adopted children were not uncommon and were treated with care and consideration.

A.3.

Cities

The populations of the Babylonian cities cannot be estimated with any reasonable degree of accuracy, because the authorities, so far as extant documents reveal, took no census. The number of inhabitants of a city probably ranged between 10,000 and 50,000. The city streets were narrow, winding, and irregular, flanked by the high, windowless walls of houses. The streets were not paved or provided with drains. The average house was a small, one-storey, mudbrick structure, consisting of several rooms grouped round a courtyard. The house of a prosperous Babylonian, on the other hand, was probably a two-storey brick dwelling of about a dozen rooms, with plastered and whitewashed interior and exterior walls. The ground floor consisted of a reception room, kitchen, lavatory, servants’ quarters, and, sometimes, even a private room of worship. Furniture included low tables, high-backed chairs, and beds with wooden frames. Household vessels were made of clay, stone, copper, and bronze, and baskets and chests were of reed and wood. Reed mats, skin rugs, and woollen hangings covered the floors and walls.

Houses were often built above a mausoleum in which members of the family were buried. The Babylonians believed that the souls of the dead travelled to the next world, and that, at least to some extent, life continued there as on Earth. For this reason, pots, tools, weapons, and jewels were buried with the dead.

B.

Technology

The Babylonians inherited the technical achievements of the Sumerians in irrigation and agriculture. Maintaining the system of canals, dykes, weirs, and reservoirs constructed by their predecessors demanded considerable engineering knowledge and skill. Preparation of maps, surveys, and plans involved the use of levelling instruments and measuring rods. For mathematical and arithmetical purposes they used the Sumerian sexagesimal system of numbers, which featured a useful device of so-called place-value notation that resembles the present-day decimal system. Measures of length, area, capacity, and weight, standardized earlier by the Sumerians, remained in use. Farming was a complicated and methodical occupation requiring foresight, diligence, and skill. A recently translated document written in Sumerian but used as a textbook in Babylonian schools is a veritable farmer’s almanac; it records a series of instructions and directions to guide farm activities from the watering of the fields to the winnowing of harvested crops.

Babylonian artisans were skilled in metallurgy, in the processes of fulling, bleaching, and dyeing, and in the preparation of paints, pigments, cosmetics, and perfumes. In the field of medicine, surgery was well known and often practised, judging from the Code of Hammurabi, which devotes several paragraphs to the surgeon. Pharmacology doubtless also developed, although the only significant evidence of this comes from a Sumerian tablet written several centuries before the reign of Hammurabi.

C.

Legal System and Writing

Law and justice were key concepts in the Babylonian way of life. Justice was administered by the courts, each of which had between one and four judges. The elders of a town often formed a tribunal. The judges could not reverse their decisions for any reason, but appeals against their verdicts could be directed towards the king. Evidence consisted either of statements from witnesses or of written documents. Oaths, which played an important role in the administration of justice, could be either promissory, declaratory, or exculpatory. The courts inflicted penalties ranging from capital punishment and mutilation to flogging, reduction of social status to slavery, and banishment. Awards for damages ranged from 3 to 30 times the value of the object to be restored.

To ensure that their legal, administrative, and economic institutions functioned effectively, the Babylonians used the cuneiform system of writing developed by the Sumerians. To train their scribes, secretaries, archivists, and other administrative officials, they adopted the Sumerian system of formal education, under which secular schools served as the cultural centres of the land. The curriculum consisted primarily of copying and memorizing both textbooks and Sumero-Babylonian dictionaries containing long lists of words and phrases, including the names of trees, animals, birds, insects, countries, cities, villages, and minerals, as well as a large and diverse assortment of mathematical tables and problems. In the study of literature, the pupils copied and imitated various types of myths, epics, hymns, lamentations, proverbs, and essays in both the Sumerian and the Babylonian languages.

III.

History

Long periods of the history of the ancient Middle East cannot be dated with any accuracy. The Sumerian King List gives a succession of rulers to the end of the dynasty of Isin, about 1790 bc, but it is unreliable for dates before the dynasty of Akkad, about 2340 bc. A relative chronology is well established for the period beginning with the dynasty of Akkad to the end of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon, about 1595 bc. This period, however, is followed by more than 700 years of obscurity, during which dates are only approximate. There are three main chronological systems in use for the ancient Middle East: high, middle, or low, depending upon whether the date assigned to the first year of the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon is 1848, 1792, or 1728 bc. The dates in this article and in that on Sumer follow the so-called middle chronology and date the first year of Hammurabi’s reign to 1792 bc.

A.

The Sumerians

Towards the end of the 3rd millennium bc, the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad covered a vast area ruled by a Sumerian dynasty known as the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. The catalyst in its downfall was the migration of a large group of Semitic nomads, the Amurru, or biblical Amorites, from the Arabian deserts to the west. They captured a number of important cities such as Isin, Larsa, Babylon, and Eshnunna (now Tall al Asmar) where they established new dynasties. About 2000 bc the last ruler of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur was taken captive by the Elamites. The kingdom of Sumer and Akkad disintegrated, and civil war broke out. At first the city of Isin attempted to control Sumer and Akkad, but its authority was challenged by Larsa, some distance to the south, and the two cities were constantly at war. About 1790 bc King Rim-Sin (reigned c. 1823-1763 bc) of Larsa conquered and occupied Isin, an event considered so important that it marked the beginning of a new, though limited, dating era in the scribal annals.

B.

Hammurabi

Rim-Sin was unable to exploit his victory, because at the same time in the formerly modest city of Babylon to the north, the ruler Hammurabi came to the fore. As king, Hammurabi combined astute diplomacy and military leadership; he defeated Rim-Sin, as well as the kings of Elam, Mari, and Eshnunna, and about 1760 bc became the ruler of a united kingdom extending from the Persian Gulf to the River Habur. The history of Babylonia is considered to begin with Hammurabi.

An unusually active and capable administrator, Hammurabi gave his personal attention to such details as the cleaning of irrigation canals and the insertion of an extra month into the calendar. He was an outstanding lawgiver; the Code of Hammurabi is one of the most significant legal documents ever uncovered. He was also an inspiring religious leader; during his reign the Babylonian city god Marduk became a recognized leader in the pantheon of deities.

C.

The Kassites and the 2nd Dynasty of Isin

During the reigns of Hammurabi and his son Samsu-iluna (reigned c. 1750-1712 bc), who succeeded him, Babylonian civilization reached the zenith of its cultural development and political power. Some of the more important cities of Babylonia began to seek independence, however, and, in the reign of Samsu-iluna, the Kassites first invaded the country. Although Samsu-iluna succeeded in driving them back, they nevertheless infiltrated Babylonia over the following centuries. Samsu-iluna also had to deal with the rebel leader, Iluma-ilum, who founded a dynasty in the southern Babylonian district, bordering on the Persian Gulf, commonly known as the Sea-land.

Under Samsu-iluna’s successors Babylonia suffered a serious decline in power and territory. When, about 1595 bc, a Hittite army penetrated as far south as Babylon and carried off Babylonian prisoners and wealth to far-off Anatolia, the kingdom was thrown into disorder. For a brief period, Babylonia fell under the rule of the dynasty of the Sea-Land. Finally, towards the mid-16th century bc, the Kassite ruler Agum (reigned c. 1570 bc) took over Babylonia and extended its territory from the Euphrates to the Zagros Mountains.

Under Kassite rule, Babylonia once again became a power of considerable importance. At the beginning of the 15th century bc, for example, it was one of the four major powers in western Asia, the other three being the Egyptian, Mitanni, and Hittite empires.

Following Assyria’s recovery of independence from Mitanni domination in the early 14th century bc, its rulers began to interfere in the affairs of Babylonia and sought to control it politically. They were eventually successful, and Babylonia was so weakened that it fell to the Elamites, who invaded it from the east, deposed its Kassite king, and reduced it to a state of vassalage. A revolt broke out in southern and central Babylonia, and a new dynasty, known as the 2nd Dynasty of Isin, was founded. Towards the end of the 12th century bc, Nebuchadnezzar I (reigned c. 1125-1103 bc), one of the Isin kings, defeated the Elamites and attacked Assyria. Not long afterwards large groups of Aramaean nomads migrated to Babylonia. For about two centuries thereafter the country was in a state of political chaos.

D.

The Chaldean Period

One of the tribes surrounding Babylonia was the powerful group known as the Chaldeans. They settled and dominated the district along the Persian Gulf. From the 9th to the 6th century bc, the Chaldeans played an important part in shaping the history of Asia; their rulers helped to destroy the Assyrian Empire and, at least for a brief period, established Babylonia, or, as it gradually came to be known, Chaldea, as the dominant power in Mesopotamia.

One of the outstanding Chaldean kings was Merodach-baladan II (reigned 722-710 bc), who fought bitterly and bravely, if unsuccessfully, against four mighty Assyrian monarchs: Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745-727 bc), Shalmaneser V (reigned 727-722 bc), Sargon II (reigned 722-705 bc), and Sennacherib (reigned 705-681 bc), the destroyer of Babylon. Sennacherib’s successors, Esarhaddon (reigned 681-669 bc) and Ashurbanipal, retained political control of Babylonia in spite of numerous rebellions and defections. In 626, however, when Assyria was in turmoil and menaced by the Medes, the Scythians, and the Cimmerians, a Chaldean named Nabopolassar (reigned 626-605 bc) proclaimed himself King of Babylonia. Allying himself with the Medes, he helped to destroy Assyrian might.

Taking advantage of Assyria’s weakened position, Egypt began to menace Palestine and Syria. In 605 bc Nebuchadnezzar II marched against the Egyptians and defeated them at Carchemish (in modern Syria). Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned for 43 years, extended Babylonian political control over most of Mesopotamia. To students of the Bible he is known as the destroyer of Jerusalem and as the king who took the captive Jews to Babylonia. To archaeologists and historians he is known as the great builder and restorer. He reconstructed Babylon, his capital, in a lavish style and restored many temples throughout Babylonia.

The Babylonian revival did not last for long. Following Nebuchadnezzar’s death in 562 bc, there was a protracted struggle for power among various parties and individuals. In 556 bc Nabonidus, one of Nebuchadnezzar’s governors, became King of Babylonia (reigned 556-539 bc). A somewhat enigmatic figure, he antagonized the influential priestly class of Babylon. Nabonidus left the city of Babylon under control of his son Belshazzar and lived for a while in the city of Harran and later in the oasis of Teima, in the Arabian Desert. In 539 bc the Babylonians were defeated by the Persian king Cyrus the Great, who had defeated Media. Nabonidus was captured at Sippar (near modern Baghdad, Iraq), and the Persians entered Babylon without meeting any resistance. Babylonia was then annexed to Persia and so finally lost its independence.

E.

The Babylonian Legacy

More than 1,200 years separated the glorious reign of Hammurabi from the subjugation of Babylonia by the Persians. During this long span of time the Babylonian social structure, economic organization, art and architecture, science and literature, judicial system, and religious beliefs underwent considerable modification, but generally only in details, not in essence. Based almost entirely on the culture of Sumer, Babylonian cultural achievements left a deep impression on the ancient world, and particularly on the Hebrews and the Greeks. Babylonian influence is evident in the works of such Greek poets as Homer and Hesiod, in the work of the Greek mathematician Euclid, in astronomy, in astrology, in heraldry, and in the Bible.