1. BABYLON Umirbekova Gaukhar FLR 211

2. Babylonia Basics ~ The Babylonian Empire lasted from the 18thcentury BC to the 6th century BC ~ There were between 10-15 cities with approximately 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants (no one really knows for sure how many people really lived there) ~ The heartland of Ancient Babylonia was located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, in what is today Iraq ~ The height of the empire began in the 18thcentury and lasted to the 17th century (it was only a great power for about a hundred years at the very beginning)

3. Relationship to surrounding people ~ Hammurabi united many of the surrounding civilizations under Babylonian rule, including the Assyrians, the Akkadians, and the Sumerians ~ Babylonia also traded with Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine ~After Hammurabi united several kingdoms, the Babylonians adopted the Akkadian language for their official use, and the Sumerian language for religious purposes

4. Religion ~The Babylonian religion is polytheistic, similar to that of the Aztec or Greek religion. ~Architecture(Temples, ziggurats, gates) and art were dedicated to their many gods. ~Several religious cults through out the city with their own ways of worship, fought often ~Their 1000 line epic creation story is one of the earliest creation stories in human history(predating the Old Testament). Religious Practices include: Giving offerings of food and artifacts. Human sacrifices were possible as well. Practices of healing magic, magic charms and divination. People or families had individual gods for personal prayer. They could leave their god and worship a new one if they had bad luck with their last god. Gods include: Marduk -King of Gods, God of the rising sun Ea -God of wisdom Shamash -God of justice, Sun God Ishtar -God of love and war Tiamat -Dragon goddess, slain by Marduk, corpse made into the Earth Nabu -Son of Marduk

5. Babylonian Gods marduk ishtar tiamat

6. Architecture ~Though the city of Babylon stands today, it is in ruins compared to what it used to be. ~The most impressive parts of the city that stand today are the various temples and ziggurats, the multiple gates, most notibly the rebuilt Gate of Ishtar, the Processional Road, the largest and only paved road in the city, and the kings palace. ~The more famous examples of the city's architecture are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel, but neither stand today and many debate their existence

7. The Tower of Babel forms the focus of a story told in the Book of Genesis of the Bible. According to the story, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar As the King James version of the Bible puts it: And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. —Genesis 11:4–9[2] Tower of Babel

8. The Tower of Babel has often been associated with known structures, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk by Nabopolassar, king of Babylonia (c. 610 BC). The Great Ziggurat of Babylon base was square (not round), 91 metres (300 ft) in height, and demolished by Alexander the Great. A Sumerian story with some similar elements is told in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.

9. Art ~Most art were terra-cotta or stone carvings of gods, kings and animals. Were apparently glass makers, but no samples remain today. Their most notable contribution is the use of polychrome glazed bricks, which gave the bricks a shiny blue coating and protected them from damage for 1,000's of years.

10. Government ~The main form of government was a monarchy with one king ~The king used governors to maintain order and control over different provinces of the empire ~An effective tool used by the government was Hammurabi's Code, the first uniform code of laws which, reinforced class distinctions awilu, a free person of the upper class; mushkenu, a free person of low estate wardu, or slave ~Patriarchy authority was enforced by the code but women still had laws to protect them

11. Economic life and trade relations ~Babylon was a very prosperous city and empire ~Babylon traded surplus' of food and manufactured goods such as furniture and pottery ~In return they received goods from around the ancient world: ~From the south they received cotton ~They imported wood from Persia and India in the east ~Babylon traded for wood from Syria in the north ~They imported minerals such as gold, copper, and stone from Egypt, Sinai, and Yemen in the west

12. Other major achievements and facts ~The most famous innovation of ancient Babylonian culture was astronomy, which began study of astrology ~Created calendar which perfectly predicted eclipses ~Sexagesimal system for the calculation of time and angles, which is still practical because of the multiple divisibility of the number 60 ~Cuneiform on clay tablets revealed their knowledge of science, math, and literature. The Babylonians recorded on these tablets songs, prayers, and poems along with history and laws. ~The Babylonians performed complicated surgeries and had extensive knowledge on medicine. They even did operations of eyes

13. Archaeology in Babylonia ~Much of the western part of Babylon is under water because the Euphrates River has changed it's course over time, so excavation of much of the city is difficult to do. ~ Some prominent sites found in Babylon include: ~Kasr (Castle/Palace): the burial place of Nebuchadnezzar ~Amran Ibn Ali: the site of a temple of Marduk, also called Esagila, which contained shrines to the deities Nabu and Ea ~Babil: site for a palace of Nebuchadnezzar's ~Archaeology in Babylon and other parts of Babylonia are still being excavated today but much of what we know about Ancient Babylonia is from archaeology, such as the layout of their cities, their knowledge of math, and the natural disasters that occurred.

14. That’s ALL, thank you.