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								<TITLE>Babylonian History</TITLE></HEAD>

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								   <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>

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								     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 &amp;

								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 &amp;

								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].

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								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 &amp; 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. :) ]

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								These sources were used in the preparation of this document.

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								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>

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