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- <HEAD>
- <TITLE>Babylonian History</TITLE></HEAD>
- <BODY>
- <H1>Babylonian History</H1>
-
- At the request of a few people, I've written a brief sketch of
- the history of ancient Babylonia. I've written this article
- because JMS has mentioned that there may be many parallels between
- Babylon 5 and ancient Babylon; however, for the same reason, I have
- to be extensively careful not to turn this article into a bunch of
- what some people may consider "story ideas." In other words, I'm
- going to do my best to describe Babylonian history while not adding
- my ideas about how the history might relate to Babylon 5--these
- conclusions are up to you, as the reader, although I'll gladly
- discuss the topic anywhere but in <KBD>alt.tv.babylon-5</KBD> (which JMS
- currently reads).
- <P>
- Note that this is <EM>not</EM> to serve as a complete history of
- Babylon (nor, in fact, anything even remotely close to a complete
- history). If anything, this is merely supposed to be a back-
- ground--an outline according to which Babylonian history actually
- developed. There are many historically important points which are
- not included here for reasons of space and clarity.
- <P>
- <HR>
- <P>
- Most scholars mark the beginning of Babylonian history with
- the rise of Hammurabi. However, I'm going to go back a little
- further and describe the setting upon which Hammurabi rose to
- power.
- <P>
- At the end of the 2000's B.C. (2050-2000), the great kingdom
- of Sumer was disintegrating at the hands of external invaders.
- Sumer had been a powerful kingdom in the western part of Asia, and
- it had roughly occupied the land that was one day to become
- Babylonia. After the ruling dynasty of Sumer fell, the cities of
- Larsa and Isin moved in to conquer. After hundreds of years, Larsa
- eventually defeated Isin.
- <P>
- However, just as Larsa defeated Isin, Hammurabi came to power
- in the city of Babylon. Hammurabi went on to defeat Larsa and
- establish a vast kingdom in the region formerly occupied by Sumer.
- However, as Sabatino Moscati explains in his famous book, <EM>The Face
- of the Ancient Orient</EM> (meaning the Near East),
- <BLOCKQUOTE>The relationship
- between the Akkadins [the Babylonians and Assyrians] and the
- Sumerians is growing more and more like that which exists between
- the Romans and the Greeks ... the newer people is permeated with
- the older and superior culture ... and makes a cultural capitula-
- tion at the very moment of its political victory.</BLOCKQUOTE>
- <P>
- Hammurabi, needless to say, was a very capable military and
- political leader; further, that the Hammurabi Code ("An eye for an
- eye, a tooth for a tooth.") is still quoted today attests to its
- importance. Hammurabi's dynasty, otherwise referred to as the
- First Dynasty of Babylon, ruled for about 200 years, until 1530
- B.C. Under the reign of this dynasty, Babylonia entered into a
- period of extreme prosperity and relative peace. As H.W.F. Saggs
- points out, however, in his book, <EM>Everyday Life in Babylonia &
- Assyria</EM>, "It would be a mistake to think of Babylon as the only
- city-state of significance at this period." Saggs goes on to quote
- a letter that was written around this period, which reads:
- <BLOCKQUOTE>There
- is no king who of himself alone is strongest. Ten or fifteen kings
- follow Hammurabi of Babylon, the same number follow [Larsa], the
- same number follow [Eshnunna], the same number follow [Qatanum]
- [...]</BLOCKQUOTE>
- Five kingdoms are listed, all of which are considered to
- be just about as powerful, except for one, which has twenty kings
- following it (rather than fifteen). Saggs also mentions another
- important city-state, the Mari. It was an outpost of Sumer, and
- "in the early second millennium B.C. was the capital of a kingdom
- extending over 200 miles along the river. In 1796 B.C., it
- experienced ... a change of dynasty [when Assyria took over]".
- <P>
- Also, importantly, as Moscati points out, in his book which I
- referred to before, "Under Hammurabi the two cultures which compose
- Mesopotamian civilization [the Assyrians and the Babylonians]
- achieve complete and harmonious fusion."
- <P>
- In the meantime, however, a tribe known as the Cassites
- (Kassites) began to attack Babylonia as early as the period when
- Hammurabi's son ruled the empire. Over the centuries, Babylonia
- was weakened by the Cassites. Finally, around 1530 B.C. (given in
- some sources as 1570 or 1595 B.C.), a Cassite Dynasty was set up in
- Babylonia. Saggs describes what seems to be a common trend--that
- the Cassites adopted many of their predecessors' customs.
- <P>
- The Mitanni, another culture, were meanwhile building their
- own powerful empire. Saggs refers to the Mitanni as having a
- "considerable, if temporary importance"--they were very powerful
- but were around for only about 150 years. Still, the Mitanni were
- one of the major empires of this area in this time period, and
- they came to almost completely control and subjugate the Assyrians
- (who were located directly to the east of Mitanni and to the
- northwest of Cassite Babylonia). I mention this because the
- Assyrians, after they finally broke free of the Mitanni (who were
- having political troubles of their own), were the next major power
- to assert themselves on Babylonia. Saggs again writes a very
- relevant line:
- <BLOCKQUOTE>We have already seen that Assyria was for a time
- actually a vassal of Mitanni [and was under pressure from other
- peoples]. The human response to this continual pressure was the
- development of a sturdy warlike people prepared to fight ruthlessly
- for their existence.</BLOCKQUOTE>
- <P>
- After defeating and virtually annexing Mitanni, the Assyrians,
- as I said, reasserted themselves on Babylonia. They weakened
- Babylonia so much that the Cassite Dynasty fell from power; the
- Assyrians virtually came to control Babylonia, until revolts in
- turn deposed them and set up a new dynasty, known as the Second
- Dynasty of Isin. Nebuchadnezzar the First, of this Dynasty, added
- a good deal of land to Babylonia and eventually came to attack
- Assyria. However, because of the influx of many nomadic tribes,
- Babylonia was eventually plunged into virtual anarchy. It stayed
- this way for more than 150 years.
- <P>
- Eventually, during the 800's B.C., one of the most powerful
- tribes outside Babylon, the Chaldeans (Latin Chaldaeus, Greek
- Khaldaios, Assyrian Kaldu), entered the scene. The Chaldeans rose
- to power in Babylonia and, by doing so, seem to have increased the
- stability and power of Babylonia. They fought off many revolts and
- aggressors. Chaldean influence was so strong that, during this
- period, Babylonia came to be known as <dfn>Chaldea</dfn>.
- <P>
- In 626 B.C., the Chaldeans helped Nabopolassar to take power
- in Babylonia. At that time, Assyria was under considerable
- pressure from an Iranian people, the Medes (from Media). Nabo-
- polassar allied Babylonia with the Medes. Assyria could not
- withstand this added pressure, and in 612 B.C., Nineveh, the
- capital of Assyria, fell. The entire city, once a great capital of
- a great empire, was burned and sacked.
- <P>
- Later, Nebuchadnezzar the Second (Nabopolassar's son)
- inherited the empire of Babylonia. He added quite a bit of
- territory to Babylonia and rebuilt Babylon, still the capital of
- Babylonia.
- <P>
- However, Babylonia did not hold together much after Nebuchad-
- nezzar died; Nabonidus, the new king, could not seem to unite the
- various elements of Babylonian civilization. To quote <EM>Funk &
- Wagnalls New Encyclopedia</EM>,
- <BLOCKQUOTE>A somewhat enigmatic figure, he
- [Nabonidus] in some way antagonized the influential priestly class
- of Babylon.</BLOCKQUOTE>
- <P>
- Shortly after the end of Nabonidus's reign, the Persians moved
- in to conquer. Babylon fell, never to rise again. "And then the
- history of the ancient Mesopotamian empires in ended for ever"
- [Moscati].
- <P>
- <HR>
- <P>
- For further reference:
- H.W.F. Saggs has written a wonderful description of Babylonian and
- Assyrian culture and history entitled <EM>Everyday Life in Babylonia
- and Assyria</EM>.
- <P>
-
- Sabatino Moscati's classic book, <EM>The Face of the Ancient Orient</EM>
- (again, "Orient" refers here to the Middle/Near-East), is always
- helpful. His chapter on "The Babylonians and Assyrians" was
- particularly useful.
- <P>
-
- <EM>Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia</EM>, 1983, Volume 3 (<EM>ASSIS-BERKS</EM>),
- provides nice, albeit brief, outlines of both Assyrian and
- Babylonian histories. [Further, you only have to take out one
- volume. :) ]
- <P>
-
- These sources were used in the preparation of this document.
- <P>
- <HR>
- <P>
- Copyright 1994, Shawn Bayern. Permission granted to distribute
- noncommercially as long as this document (and this notice) is not
- changed in any way.
- <P>
- <ADDRESS>
- Shawn Bayern<BR>
- <A HREF="mailto:shawn.bayern@yale.edu">shawn.bayern@yale.edu</A>
- </ADDRESS>
- </BODY>
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