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BABYLON

Babylonia [2000 - 323 BC] - derives it's name from the city Babylon.

Babylon (Babylonian, Bab-ilim or Babil, 'Gate of God'), one of the
most important cities of the ancient world, whose location today is
marked by a broad area of ruins just east of the Euphrates River, 90
km (56 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq.

Babylonia was located in what is now southern Iraq. Babylonian
literature was well developed in the 3rd millennium B.C. Records have
been found of highly developed religion, history and science,
including medicine, chemistry, alchemy, botany, zoology, math and
astronomy.

In the Old Testament it is called 'Shinar' - Akkadia and Sumer as well
as 'the land of the Chaldeans.'

The Babylonians lived in Mesopotamia, a fertile plain between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
_________________________________________________________________

HISTORY

Long periods of the history of the Middle East in antiquity cannot be
dated by an absolute chronology or according to a modern system of
reckoning. The 'Sumerian King List' gives a succession of rulers to
the end of the dynasty of Isin, about 1790 BC, but it is quite
unreliable for dates prior to the dynasty of Akkad, about 2340 BC. A
relative chronology is well established for the era from the beginning
of the dynasty of Akkad to the end of the 1st Dynasty of Babylon,
about 1595 BC. This period, however, is followed by an obscure period
of more than 700 years, during which dates are only approximate.
Scholars follow at least three chronological systems 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.

The Babylonian civilization, which endured 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, a more
or less absolute monarch who exercised legislative and judicial as
well as 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 in
accordance with their own culture and ethos. The resulting way of life
proved to be so effective that it underwent relatively little change
for some 1200 years. It exerted influence on all the neighboring
countries, especially the kingdom of Assyria, which adopted Babylonian
culture almost in its entirety. Fortunately, many written documents
from this period have been excavated and made available to scholars.
One of the most important is the remarkable collection of laws often
designated as the 'Code of Hammurabi', which, together with other
documents and letters belonging to different periods, provides a
comprehensive picture of Babylonian social structure and economic
organization.

During the reigns of Hammurabi and his son Samsu-iluna (r. about
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 beating them off, the
Kassites continued to infiltrate Babylonia in the centuries that
followed. Samsu-iluna suffered another serious setback when a rebel
leader, Iluma-ilum, 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 became badly disorganized. Babylonia
later fell under the rule of the dynasty of the Sealand, at least for
a brief period. Finally, toward the middle of the 16th century BC, a
Kassite ruler named Agum (r. about 1570 BC) became master of Babylonia
and extended its territory from the Euphrates River 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 of the Orient, the other
three being the Egyptian, Mitanni, and Hittite empires.

After Assyria freed itself of Mitanni domination early in the 14th
century BC, its rulers began to interfere in the affairs of Babylonia
and sought to control it politically. They were eventually successful,
and a weakened Babylonia fell prey to the Elamites, who invaded it
from the east, deposed its Kassite king, and practically reduced it to
a state of vassalage.

A revolt then broke out in southern and central Babylonia, and a new
dynasty, known usually as the 2d Dynasty of Isin, was founded. Toward
the end of the 12th century BC, Nebuchadnezzar I (r. about 1125-1103
BC), one of the Isin kings, defeated the Elamites and even attacked
Assyria. Soon after, Aramaean nomads began swarming into Babylonia.
For about two centuries thereafter the country was in a state of
political chaos.
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THE CHALDEAN PERIOD

Among the surrounding tribes was one powerful group known as the
Chaldeans. They settled in and dominated the district along the
Persian Gulf. Beginning in the 9th century BC, the Chaldeans were
destined to play an important political role in the history of the
Orient; their rulers helped destroy the Assyrian Empire and, at least
for a brief period, made Babylonia, or, as it gradually came to be
known, Chaldea, the dominant power of Mesopotamia.

One of the outstanding Chaldean kings was Merodach-baladan II (r.
722-710 BC), who fought bitterly and bravely, if unsuccessfully,
against four mighty Assyrian monarchs: Tiglath-pileser III (r. 745-727
BC), Shalmaneser V (r. 727-722 BC), Sargon II (r. 722-705 BC), and
Sennacherib (r. 705-681 BC), the destroyer of Babylon. Sennacherib's
successors, Esarhaddon (r. 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 (r. 626-605 BC) proclaimed himself king of Babylonia.
Allying himself with the Medes, he helped to destroy Assyrian might.

With Assyria no longer to be feared, Egypt began to menace Palestine
and Syria. Nabopolassar's son Nebuchadnezzar II marched against the
Egyptians and defeated them at Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned
for 43 years, extended Babylonian political control over practically
all 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
elaborate style and restored many temples throughout Babylonia.

The Babylonian revival did not long endure. After Nebuchadnezzar's
death (562 BC), a struggle for power apparently went on among various
parties and individuals for several years. In 556 BC Nabonidus, one of
Nebuchadnezzar's governors, became king of Babylonia (r. 556-539 BC).
A somewhat enigmatic figure, he in some way 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 resistance. Babylonia was then annexed to Persia and lost its
independence for all time.
_________________________________________________________________

THE CODE OF HAMMURABI - LEGAL SYSTEM 

The Code of Hammurabi consisted of a collection of the laws and edicts
of the Babylonian King Hammurabi, and the earliest legal code known in
its entirety. A copy of the code, engraved on a block of black diorite
nearly 2.4 m (8 ft) high, was unearthed by a team of French
archaeologists at Susa, Iraq, formerly ancient Elam, during the winter
of 1901-2. The block, broken in three pieces, has been restored and is
now in the Louvre in Paris.

Composition of the Code:

The divine origin of the written law is emphasized by a bas-relief in
which the king is depicted receiving the code from the sun god,
Shamash. The quality most usually associated with this god is justice.
The code is set down in horizontal columns of cuneiform writing: 16
columns of text on the obverse side and 28 on the reverse. The text
begins with a prologue that explains the extensive restoration of the
temples and religious cults of Babylonia and Assyria. The code itself,
composed of 28 paragraphs, seems to be a series of amendments to the
common law of Babylonia, rather than a strict legal code. It begins
with direction for legal procedure and the statement of penalties for
unjust accusations, false testimony, and injustice done by judges;
then follow laws concerning property rights, loans, deposits, debts,
domestic property, and family rights. The sections covering personal
injury indicate that penalties were imposed for injuries sustained
through unsuccessful operations by physicians and for damages caused
by neglect in various trades. Rates are fixed in the code for various
forms of service in most branches of trade and commerce.

A Humane Civil Law:

The 'Code of Hammurabi' contains no laws having to do with religion.
The basis of criminal law is that of equal retaliation, comparable to
the Semitic law of "an eye for an eye." The law offers protection to
all classes of Babylonian society; it seeks to protect the weak and
the poor, including women, children, and slaves, against injustice at
the hands of the rich and powerful.

The code is particularly humane for the time in which it was
promulgated; it attests to the law and justice of Hammurabi's rule. It
ends with an epilogue glorifying the mighty works of peace executed by
Hammurabi and explicitly states that he had been called by the gods
"to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and
the evil." He describes the laws in his compilation as enabling "the
land to enjoy stable government and good rule," and he states that he
had inscribed his words on a pillar in order "that the strong may not
oppress the weak, that justice may be dealt the orphan and the widow."
Hammurabi counsels the downtrodden in these ringing words: "Let any
oppressed man who has a cause come into the presence of my statue as
king of justice, and have the inscription on my stele read out, and
hear my precious words, that my stele may make the case clear to him;
may he understand his cause, and may his heart be set at ease!"
_________________________________________________________________

LEGAL SYSTEM

Law and justice were key concepts in the Babylonian way of life.
Justice was administered by the courts, each of which consisted of
from one to four judges. Often the elders of a town constituted a
tribunal. The judges could not reverse their decisions for any reason,
but appeals from their verdicts could be made to the king. Evidence
consisted either of statements from witnesses or of written documents.
Oaths, which played a considerable role also 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 to slavery, and banishment. Awards
for damages were 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 their Sumerian predecessors. To train their
scribes, secretaries, archivists, and other administrative personnel,
they adopted the Sumerian system of formal education, under which
secular schools served as the cultural centers 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.
_________________________________________________________________

WRITING SYSTEM

Babylonians developed an abstract form of writing based on cuneiform
symbols. Their symbols were written on wet clay tablets which were
baked in the hot sun and many thousands of these tablets have survived
to this day. It was the use of a stylus on a clay medium that led to
the use of cuneiform symbols since curved lines could not be drawn.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the Babylonian's calculating skills
was their construction of tables to aid calculation.
_________________________________________________________________

MATHEMATICS

The Babylonians had an advanced number system, in some ways more
advanced than our present system. It was a positional system with base
60 rather than the base 10 of our present system. Now 10 has only two
proper divisors, 2 and 5. However 60 has 10 proper divisors so many
more numbers have a finite form.

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.

The Babylonians divided the day into 24 hours, each hour into 60
minutes, each minute into 60 seconds. This form of counting has
survived for 4000 years.
_________________________________________________________________

CREATIONAL STORY - THE ENUMA ELISH

The Babylonian 'Epic of Creation - Enuma Elish' is written on seven
tablets, each containing between 115 and 170 lines long. Society.
_________________________________________________________________

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 citizenry as well. For example, free
persons might be reduced to slavery as punishment for certain
offenses; parents could sell their children as slaves in time of need;
or a man might even turn over his entire family to creditors in
payment of a debt, but for no longer than three years.
_________________________________________________________________

SLAVERY

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 the slaves stay strong and healthy, they
usually were well treated. Slaves even 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 with the market, as well as with the
attributes of the individual; the average price for a grown man was
usually 20 shekels of silver, a sum that could buy some 35 bushels of
barley.
_________________________________________________________________

MUSHKENU

The position of the mushkenu in society can be surmised from a number
of legal provisions in the Code of Hammurabi. To cite comparative
examples, if a mushkenu was injured in 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 ten shekels, but the mushkenu
paid five shekels; and, in the case of a slave, the master had to pay
a fee of only two shekels.
_________________________________________________________________

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 ceremony often was concluded with a contract inscribed on a
tablet. Although marriage was thus reduced to a practical arrangement,
some evidence exists to show that surreptitious premarital lovemaking
was not altogether unknown. The Babylonian woman had certain important
legal rights. She could hold property, engage in business, and qualify
as a witness. The husband, however, could divorce her on relatively
light 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 mentioned before, could sell
them into slavery. In the normal course of events children were loved
and, at the death of the parents, inherited their property. Adopted
children were not uncommon and were treated with care.
_________________________________________________________________

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 from 10,000 to 50,000. The city streets were
narrow, winding, and quite irregular, with high, windowless walls of
houses on both sides.

The streets were unpaved and undrained. The average house was a small,
one-story, mud-brick structure, consisting of several rooms grouped
around a court. The house of a well-to-do Babylonian, on the other
hand, was probably a two-story brick dwelling of about a dozen rooms
and was plastered and whitewashed both inside and out.

The ground floor consisted of a reception room, kitchen, lavatory,
servants' quarters, and, sometimes, even a private chapel. Furniture
consisted of low tables, high-backed chairs, and beds with wooden
frames. Household vessels were made of clay, stone, copper, and
bronze, and baskets and chests of reed and wood. Floors and walls were
adorned with reed mats, skin rugs, and woolen hangings.

Below the house was often located a mausoleum in which the family dead
were buried. The Babylonians believed that the souls of the dead
traveled to the nether 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.
_________________________________________________________________

TECHNOLOGY - FARMING - MAP MAKING

The Babylonians inherited the technical achievements of the Sumerians
in irrigation and agriculture. Maintaining the system of canals,
dikes, weirs, and reservoirs constructed by their predecessors
demanded considerable engineering knowledge and skill.

Preparation of maps, surveys, and plans involved the use of leveling
instruments and measuring rods.

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 the 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 the 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.
_________________________________________________________________

MEDICINE 

In the field of medicine, surgery was well known and often practiced,
judging from the Hammurabi law code, which devotes several paragraphs
to the surgeon.

Pharmacology, too, doubtless had made considerable progress, although
the only major direct evidence of this comes from a Sumerian tablet
written several centuries before Hammurabi.
_________________________________________________________________

THE TOWER OF BABEL - GENESIS 11:1-5

In this classic story from the Old Testament of the Bible, the people
of the Earth were building a colossal staged temple-tower or
multi-storeyed ziggurat - that would reach heaven. But did they really
believe they could reach their Gods? Most likely the tower would be
used as a place of worship.

Actually, the purpose of the tower was to provide a common religious
center as a rallying point, lest the people be scattered. The builders
of the tower were in open defiance of God's command (Genesis 9:1)
(53).

In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God commands Noah and his sons to "Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" (9:1 NAS). On the fifth day
of the creation of the Earth, God gave this command to the birds and
fishes (Gen. 1:20-23). On the sixth day, God reiterated this command
to the pinnacles of creation, man and woman (Gen. 1:26-28). Humanity
was to subjugate the untamed Earth by dispersing themselves.

The builders in Shinar banded together for a common ecumenical
purpose. Genesis 11:6 suggests that this assembly would have given
rise to projects of a purely secular nature. The people did not
consider that their misguided enthusiasm may have been just a bit
shortsighted. Considering the benevolent, omniscient knowledge of God
it appears that the long-term consequences of the Tower of Babel might
have resulted in a plight similar to the apostate state of humanity
(Gen. 6:1-5) prior to the sanctifying flood of the entire Earth (Gen.
6:6-24).

Genesis 9:18-19 and the entire tenth chapter of Genesis contain the
Table of the Nations. All of the people alive at the time of Babel
were descended solely from the three sons of Noah. Consequently, Shem,
Ham and Japheth are the fathers of modern civilization. Hayes remarks
that Genesis 10 is specifically written to demonstrate that all
humanity descended from these three men (146). As Noah was a virtuous
man in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:8-9), it is reasonable to presume that
the commandments of God were passed on to his sons.

Genesis chapter 10, verses 5, 20 and 32 also suggest that the land of
the Earth was physically divided at this time in response to Babel.
Genesis specifies: ". . . the name of the one was Peleg, for in his
days the earth was divided . . ." (10:25). Willmington comments that
"Peleg" means "division" (53). The coastal outlines of the Earth's
continents suggest the likely prior unification of the various land
masses. The terra firma can be viewed as a once-unified puzzle now
separated into its various fragments.

It is important to note that although chapter 10 precedes the account
of Babel in chapter 11, the events described in both chapters are not
rendered in a chronologically consecutive fashion. Accordingly, it
must be understood that the tenth chapter of Genesis details events
prior, during and after those described in chapter 11. Chapter 12 of
Genesis portrays the beginning of God's redemptive plan commencing
with the call of Abram.

Despite the bleak future of Babel, God had promised Himself never to
destroy the Earth with a flood again due to the disobedience of
mankind (Gen. 8:20-22). God also made a covenant with Noah, his
descendents and "every living creature," that He would never again
destroy the Earth with a flood. Genesis 9:8-17 affirms that the
rainbow serves as a personal reminder to God of His covenant.

Accordingly, God separated the people to different lands and languages
to frustrate their self-destructive plans. Determined to stay faithful
to His covenant, this was God's only merciful alternative in response
to the tower. If the people were punished, it was a light affliction
administered. The reproof was quite mild compared to the prior
worldwide flood (Gen. 7:21-23). Similarly, the rebuke of God at Babel
hardly parallels the subsequent fiery obliteration of Sodom and
Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24-30).

Although at a casual glance this rebellion appears benign, it has been
demonstrated that this autonomous or self-governing spirit would
likely prove to be self-destructive. Willmington points out that the
first person plural pronouns "us" and "we" occur no less than 5 times
in this King James Version rendering of one sentence:

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 (Gen. 11:4) (50).

Nowhere in the entire passage referring to the Tower of Babel is there
found the slightest indication that the builders considered God's will
in their plans. The Bible goes to great lengths to confirm God's
disdain for society's self-ruling ecumenical pursuits. The Psalmist
writes of God's intervention into the affairs of humanity:

The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans
of the peoples (Psalm 33:10 NAS).

Archaeologists have long desired to locate the Tower of Babel. They
have been unfruitful in their efforts. There may be Scriptural
evidence for why the ruins have not been found. The land of Shinar is
shown in Zechariah 5:11 as a site for the city of Babylon. The ancient
city of Babylon was located some 80 kilometers south of modern-day
Baghdad, Iraq (Douglas 111). The Bible confirms that Babel and Babylon
were both located in Shinar. Of the history of the Tower of Babel,
Hayes states:

This episode (Gen. 11:1-9) was included . . . as the capstone of . . .
primeval history. . . . The original story was . . . to explain the
existence of multiple language groups with its play on the words Babel
(Babylon) and babal ("confuse") (146).

Babylon is an apostate city frequently mentioned in the Old Testament.
From 2nd Kings 17:24 through Zechariah 6:10 there are at least 257
direct references to Babylon (Strong's 94-95). Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary defines ancient Babylon as: ". . . a city
devoted to materialism and the pursuit of sensual pleasure" (122). In
the 18th chapter of the Book of Revelation, Babylon epitomizes
mankind's final organized rebellion against the sovereignty of God and
is utterly destroyed. This parallels the destruction of ancient
Babylon, overthrown pursuant to the prophecy of the 13th chapter of
Isaiah.

Babel's founder was Nimrod the Hunter (Gen. 10:8-12), who also was a
"king of Shinar" (Webster's 798). Nimrod was a ruthless conqueror of
the ancient day with ambitious political aspirations (Willmington 53).
Willmington states: "Nimrod's name means 'let us revolt'" (53).
Genesis 10:9-12 shows that Babel was the first of many cities that
Nimrod established.

The Assyrian capital of Nineveh is enumerated (Gen. 10:11) as one of
the many cities built by Nimrod. The prophecy of the Book of Jonah
records God's solemn warning to the city to repent of its evil ways.
God sent the reluctant prophet Jonah to deliver the admonition.
Nineveh immediately repented. However, the prophecy of the Book of
Nahum declares that God's judgment would fall on the subsequently
backsliding and unrepentant Nineveh and that they would be pillaged by
the Babylonians, Scythians and the Medes.

In Genesis 11:5-7 an exceptionally rare and uncommon event occurred.
God personally visited the Tower of Babel to see what was going on.
Later, God paid a visit to the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to
ascertain the degree of depravity of their inhabitants. These cities
were completely disintegrated by a fiery earthquake metaphorically
referred to as a "furnace" (Gen. 19:24-29).

The Tower of Babel is extremely significant to the epic of the Bible.
The story is much more than God indiscriminately interrupting an
insignificant building project. The Tower of Babel marks the origins
of the nations of the Earth.
_________________________________________________________________

THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON

The ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar
II (604-562 BC) is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The
greatness of this achievement serves as an indication of the level of
ancient Babylonian art and architecture.

The Hanging Gardens were built on top of stone arches 23 metres above
ground and watered from the Euphrates by a complicated mechanical
system. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built by King Nebuchadnezzar
II about 600 BC, were a mountainlike series of planted terraces.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were a series of terraces filled with
plants. Excavations have found an elaborate tunnel and pulley system
that apparently brought water from the ground level to the top
terrace.
_________________________________________________________________

THE BABYLONIAN LEGACY

More than 1200 years had elapsed from the glorious reign of Hammurabi
to the subjugation of Babylonia by the Persians. During this long span
of time the Babylonian social structure, economic organization, arts
and crafts, science and literature, judicial system, and religious
beliefs underwent considerable modification, but generally only in
details, not in essence. Grounded almost wholly on the culture of
Sumer, Babylonian cultural achievements left a deep impress on the
entire ancient world, and particularly on the Hebrews and the Greeks.
Even present-day civilization is indebted culturally to Babylonian
civilization to some extent. For instance, Babylonian influence is
pervasive throughout the Bible and in the works of such Greek poets as
Homer and Hesiod, in the geometry of the Greek mathematician Euclid,
in astronomy, in astrology, and in heraldry.

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