Hammurabi
After the collapse of the Sumerian civilization, the people
were reunited in 1700BC by King Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750
BC), and the country flourished under the name of Babylonia.
Babylonian rule encompassed a huge area covering most of the
Tigris-Euphrates river valley from Sumer and the Arabian Gulf
(Persian Gulf). He extended his empire northward through the
Tigris and Euphrates River valleys and westward to the coast
of the Mediterranean Sea. After consolidating his gains under
a central government at Babylon, he devoted his energies to
protecting his frontiers and fostering the internal prosperity
of the Empire. Hammurabi's dynasty, otherwise referred to
as the First Dynasty of Babylon, ruled for about 200 years,
until 1530 BC. Under the reign of this dynasty, Babylonia
entered into a period of extreme prosperity and relative peace.
Throughout his long reign he personally supervised navigation,
irrigation, agriculture, tax collection, and the erection
of many temples and other buildings. Although he was a successful
military leader and administrator, Hammurabi is primarily
remembered for his codification of the laws governing Babylonian
life. Under Hammurabi the two cultures which compose Mesopotamian
civilization [the Assyrians and the Babylonians] achieve complete
and harmonious fusion.
Hammurabi Code
Hammurabi was a king and a great lawgiver of the Old Babylonian
(Amorite) Dynasty. His law code was produced in the second
year of his reign. Many new legal concepts were introduced
by the Babylonians, and many have been adopted by other
civilizations. These concepts include: Legal protection
should be provided to lower classes; The state is the authority
responsible for enforcing the law; Social justice should
be guaranteed; The punishment should fit the crime. Hammurabi
Code, ("An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.")
is still quoted today attests to its importance, is a collection
of the laws and edicts of the Babylonian king Hammurabi,
and is considered the earliest legal comprehensive code
known in history. A copy of the code is engraved on a block
of black diorite nearly 2.4 m (8 ft) high. A team of French
archaeologists at Susa, Iraq, formerly ancient Elam unearthed
this block, during the winter of 1901-2. The block, broken
in three pieces, has been restored and is now in the Louvre
Museum in Paris.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
On Hammurabi's death, 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 BC (given in some sources as 1570 or 1595 BC), a Cassite
Dynasty was set up in Babylonia.
The Mitanni, another culture, were meanwhile building their
own powerful empire. They were 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).
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.
After defeating and virtually annexing Mitanni, the Assyrians,
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. the land was under Assyrian rule for
about two centuries. The Assyrian culture showed a dramatic
growth in science and mathematics, among the great mathematical
inventions of the Assyrians was the division of the circle
into 360 degrees and were among the first to invent longitude
and latitude in geographical navigation. They also developed
a sophisticated medical science, which greatly influenced
medical science as far away as Greece.
In the 6th century BC (586 B.C.), Nebuchadnezzar conquered
Judea (Judah), destroyed Jerusalem; Solomon's Temple was
also destroyed; Nebuchadnezzar carried away an estimated
15,000 captives, and sent most of its population into exile
in Babylonia. It was not until the reign of Naboplashar
(625-605 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian
civilization reached its ultimate distinction. His son,
Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) is credited for building
the legendary Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world. It is said that the Gardens were built
by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife or concubine, Amyitis,
who had been "brought up in Media and had a passion
for mountain surroundings". He did this because his
wife had lived in the mountains and she was homesick on
the flat plains of Babylon. He planted a large amount of
brightly colored tropical plants on the roof of the palace.
The gardens were completed around 600 BC. The Hanging Gardens
were built on top of stone arches 23 meters above ground
and watered from the Euphrates by a complicated mechanical
system. It was Nebuchadnezzar II who restored Mesopotamia
to its former Babylonian glory and made Babylon the most
famous city of the ancient world.
The Hanging Gardens on the east bank of the River Euphrates,
about 50-km south of Baghdad, Iraq, used to be considered
as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. "Has plants
cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees
are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth.
The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams
of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping
channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating
the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence
the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow
firmly attached to supple branches... This is a work of
art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that
the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of
the spectators."
In 626 BC, 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 BC, Nineveh,
the capital of Assyria, fell. The entire city, once a great
capital of a great empire, was burned and sacked.
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