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The Babylonian. By Alex Norman. Introduction. More than 5,000 years ago, the world’s first large cities and towns were built in a region called Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is also known as “the cradle of civilization.” Mesopotamia was located in modern day Iraq .
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The Babylonian By Alex Norman
Introduction • More than 5,000 years ago, the world’s first large cities and towns were built in a region called Mesopotamia. • Mesopotamia is also known as “the cradle of civilization.” • Mesopotamia was located in modern day Iraq. • The Mesopotamia civilizations were the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. • They were the first civilizations of the ancient world.
Geography • The Babylonian lived in modern day Iraq right between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East . • People lived there as early as 3800 B.C.
Timeline • 1894 B.C King Sumu-abum forms the first Babylonian dynasty. • 1782-1750 B.C Hammurabi rules. • 626-605 B.C Nabopolassar rules Babylon. • 605-562 B.C Nebuchadnezzar II rules. • 597 B.C Nebuchadnezzar II conquers Jerusalem. • 539 B.C Babylon is overthrown by Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.
The Babylonian Empire • The Babylonian Empire had two periods of greatness. • The first was around 1790 B.C.E. when king Hammurabiruled. Under Hammurabi all of the cities were again united into one empire. • A thousand years later, a second Babylonian empire called New Babylonia had begun. Their greatest emperor was Nebuchadnezzar the second, who rebuilt the city of Babylon.
Religion • The word Babylon means “gate of the gods.” • Worshipping gods was important to all Babylonians because they believed their gods controlled everything. • The people believed in many different gods. • The chiefs among these were Enlil, An, Ishtar, and Enki.
Religion • In Babylonian times Marduk was the “director of all of the gods .” • They thought Marduk punished bad people and helped good people. • The New Year was the most important holiday in Babylon. • This month fell during what is now April or March.
Religion • The New Year festival honored Marduk. • Priests read a long poem about the life of Marduk. • Kings lead the parade from the Temple of Marduk and went through the city. • The symbol of Marduk was a dragon.
Famous Kings Hammurabi ruled Babylon from 1792 to 1750 B.C. Hammurabi was famous because he made Babylon the most powerful civilizations in Mesopotamia. He was also famous for his family’s code of law . Nebuchadnezzar the second was famous for rebuilding Babylon and for making the Hanging Gardens of Babylon which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world which the remains of have never been found. He ruled from 605 to 562 B.C.
The code of the Hammurabi • Hammurabi had a code as a king. His code was if someone poked out someone's eye, his own eye would be poked out. • If a son hit his father his hand would be cut off.
Social structure They had three social classes. The first group was made up of Kings, soldiers, nobles, and priests who owned the land. The second group was made up of farmers, traders, and artisans. The third group was made up of slaves who were captured by the Babylonian in wars, other slaves owed money that they couldn’t repay and became slaves that worked for the temples and palaces. They also worked for rich families as a servant.
Food and meals The most important crops were cereals such as wheat and barley .They used barley to make flour, porridge, and beer. They ate two meals a day, Breakfast and Dinner. People ate cheese made from the milk of cows and goats. They ate the meat of goats, sheep, pigs, cows, and fishes.
Commerce and trade • The land had rich soil but there was almost no timber, metal, and stone.That was why they imported these goods by land and water. • Trading ships sailed the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Persian Gulf. • They exported mostly grains and clothes and they brought home both practical, luxury items, and goods such as lead, silver, gold, pine, cedar, stones, spices, and perfumes.
Commerce and trade • Caravans traveled extensive overland trade routes. • They used donkeys to carry their merchandise • While traders went to the far corners of the world, other merchants operated local markets. • Peddlers such as fire wood men and salt men sold their goods door to door.
Writing system • The Babylonian used a writing form called cuneiform. • Cuneiform was made up of different symbols that stood for actions and objects. • Writing in cuneiform was a job for a group of people called scribes. • Scribes spent years learning cuneiform and had to learn more than 500 different signs. • When someone needed a contract written they had to hire a scribe to do it.
Numeral website http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/babylon/index.htm
Clothing • The people wove sheep's wool into large shawls. • They also made linen from the stems of the flax plant. They wore a short sleeved tunic underneath. • They wore either boots or sandals made of fabric or soft leather.
Housing • There were not many trees so they used clay, mud, and reed instead to make their buildings and homes. • They built their houses and temples and city walls with bricks. • They made mud bricks with mud, clay, and reed but it didn’t last long. • The Babylonians made many bricks in the Summer because the sun made the bricks dry faster.
The Babylonian ideas • The Babylonians divided the day and night into twenty-four hours and an hour into sixty minutes. • Their calendar was similar to ours except that they had only 364 days in a year so they added a month every few years. • They studied the planets and stars and named constellations and predicted eclipses of the sun and the moon and indentified five planets which were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Conclusion • The Babylonian was one of the first civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia. • Even though the Babylonian are gone their ideas and inventions are still around.
Work cited • Rustad, Martha. The Babylonians Life in ancient Babylon. M Millbrook press. • Apte, Sunita. Mesopotamia. Weldon Owen Education Inc. • Schomp, Virginia. Ancient Mesopotamia The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Scholastics Inc.
