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

2. The sophisticated and humble civilization of: Babylon A piece of Babylonian Art. Many pieces of art like this one here were engraved into buildings for decoration. This is a map of how big the empire of Babylon was like from 606-536 BC. By Christopher Chen This is a picture of old time Babylon cuneiform writing written on a clay tablet.

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 1894 B.C.: Amorite leader Sumu-abum founded a new dynasty of tribal Amorite kings that ruled Babylon for 300 years. Hammurabi ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. and conquered nearly every competing kingdom during the 1760's B.C. In 1595 B.C., a Hittite raid destroyed the city. Babylon reemerged about 1450 B.C. as an important political and cultural center under the Kassite dynasty, which lasted until about 1155 B.C. In 689 B.C., King Sennacherib of Assyria destroyed Babylon in revenge for the murder of his son, who had been serving as king of the city.

5. Another son, Esarhaddon, rebuilt Babylon soon after becoming king in 680 B.C. The Neo-Babylonian Empire began in 626 B.C., when the military leader Nabopolassar became king of Babylon and attacked the Assyrians. He won a great deal of territory from them. In 539 B.C., Persian invaders captured Babylon and overthrew the Neo- Babylonian Empire. In 331 B.C., the Macedonian military leader Alexander the Great gained control of Babylon. When Alexander died in 323 B.C., one of his generals, Seleucus, became king of Babylonia and lands around it. Seleucus founded Seleucia, a new capital, on the Tigris River. Gradually, Babylon became deserted. 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 At the end of the Second Diadoch War, Antigonus expelled Seleucus from Babylon; he fled to Ptolemy, Egypt, and an alliance had formed against Antigonus. Seleucus' arrived at Babylon between May 13 th and June 1 st, 311 B.C. and easily conquered it. Almost immediately afterward, the satrap of Media, Antigonus' friend Nicanor, and the satrap of Aria, Euagoras, marched on Babylon, but Seleucus was waiting for them. Euagoras was killed during the battle, and his men went over to Seleucus. Seleucus immediately took Nicanor's capital Ecbatana. He took Susa, Elam, and Media, too. Seleucus was still in Media when Demetrius, son of Antigonus, and his army besieged the two citadels of Babylon. When the first one was captured and looted, the main force left the city with Archelaus as satrap to take the second citadel. Seleucus organized a guerilla war against Archelaus. Finally, Seleucus and Antigonus met each other in a full-scale battle. Antigonus’ men were hungry and unarmed, and Antigonus was forced to go back to Syria. The two parties probably concluded with a peace treaty. (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: 1.Sumerian 2.Semitic language related to modern Arabic and Hebrew 3.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: 1.Q: What was the average population of Babylon? A: About 200,000 people 2.Q:What does the name "Babylon" mean? A: Babylon means “Gate of the Gods” 3.Q:Did Babylonians marry? A:Yes 4.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: 1.When was Babylon created, or when was it formed? 2.When did Babylon become uninhabited (disappeared)? 3.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