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1. Click to view my Animoto Video! Introductory Animoto Video By Christopher Chen

2. The sophisticated and humble civilization of: By Christopher Chen Babylon 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. This is a map of how big the empire of Babylon was like from 606-536 BC.

3. 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.

4. History of Babylon

5. History of Babylon (cont.)

6. 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

7. 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. 

8. The Babylonian War (311-308 B.C.)

9. 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.

10. 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 • Kishar: father of earth This is a picture of the upper body of Marduk, the national god of Babylon.

12. 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

15. 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.

16. 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: • Sumerian • Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew • Akkadian

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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: • Q: What was the average population of Babylon? A: About 200,000 people • Q:What does the name "Babylon" mean? A: Babylon means “Gate of the Gods” • Q:Did Babylonians marry? A:Yes • 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.

20. [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.

21. 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: • When was Babylon created, or when was it formed? • When did Babylon become uninhabited (disappeared)? • How many leaders ruled Babylon over time?

22. 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