rä`bē), fl. 1792–1750 B.C...... Click the link for more information. (c.1750 B.C.), and to the Neo-Babylonian period after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Hammurabi, who had his capital at Babylon Babylon (băb`əlŏn), ancient city of Mesopotamia.
..... Click the link for more information. , issued the code of laws for the management of his large empire—for he was in control of most of the Tigris and Euphrates region even before he defeated the Elamites. Babylonian cuneiform cuneiform (ky
nē`ĭfôrm) [Lat...... Click the link for more information. writing was derived from the Sumerians. The quasifeudal society was divided into classes—the wealthy landowners and merchants and the priests; the less wealthy merchants, peasants, and artisans; and the slaves. The Babylonian religion (see Middle Eastern religions Middle Eastern religions, religious beliefs and practices of the ancient inhabitants of the Middle East. Little was known about the religions of the city-states of W Asia until stores of religious literature were uncovered by excavations in the 19th and 20th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ) was inherited from the older Sumerian culture. All these Babylonian institutions influenced the civilization of Assyria Assyria (əsĭr`ēə), ancient empire of W Asia.
..... Click the link for more information. and so contributed to the later history of the Middle East and of Western Europe.
The wealth of Babylonia tempted nomadic and seminomadic neighbors; even under Hammurabi's successor Babylonia was having to stave off assaults. Early in the 18th cent. B.C. the Hittites sacked Babylon and held it briefly. The nomadic Kassites (Cassites), a tribe from Elam, took the city shortly thereafter and held it precariously for centuries. Babylonia degenerated into anarchy c.1180 B.C. with the fall of the Kassites. As a subsidiary state of the Assyrian Empire (after the 9th cent. B.C.), Babylonia flourished once more. It was the key area in the attempted uprising against the Assyrian king, Sennacherib Sennacherib (sĕnăk`ərĭb) or Senherib, d. 681 B.C., king of Assyria (705–681 B.C.).
..... Click the link for more information. , and Babylon was sacked (c.689 B.C.) in his reign.
After the death of Assurbanipal, the last great Assyrian monarch, Nabopolassar, the ruler of Babylonia, established (625 B.C.) his independence. He allied himself with the Medes and Persians and helped to bring about the capture of Nineveh (612 B.C.) and the fall of the Assyrian Empire. He established what is generally known as the Chaldaean or New Babylonian Empire. Under his son, Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar (nĕb'əkədnĕz`ər), d. 562 B.C., king of Babylonia (c.605–562 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , the new empire reached its height (see Babylon). The recalcitrant Hebrews were defeated and punished with the Babylonian captivity Babylonian captivity, in the history of Israel, the period from the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.) to the reconstruction in Palestine of a new Jewish state (after 538 B.C.).
..... Click the link for more information. . Egypt had already been defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in the great battle of Carchemish (605) while Nabopolassar was still alive. The empire seemed secure, but it was actually transitory. The steady growth of Persian power spelled the end of Babylonia, and in 538 B.C. the last of the Babylonian rulers surrendered to Cyrus the Great Cyrus the Great (sī`rəs), d. 529 B.C., king of Persia, founder of the greatness of the Achaemenids and of the Persian Empire.
..... Click the link for more information. (see also Belshazzar Belshazzar (bĕlshăz`ər), according to the Bible, son of Nebuchadnezzar and last king of Babylon.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Babylonia became an important region of the Persian Empire.
Bibliography
See R. W. Rogers, A History of Babylonia and Assyria (6th ed. 1915); D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (1926–27); G. R. Driver et al., The Babylonian Laws (1952–55); H. W. F. Saggs, Everyday Life in Babylonia and Assyria (1965, repr. 1987); J. Wellard, Babylon (1972).
Babylonia
Ancient cultural region of the Tigris and Euphrates river system. The area was divided into Sumer (southeast) and Akkad (northwest) when the first Babylonian line of Amorite kings took power after 2000 BC. Largely because of the efforts of Hammurabi (r. c. 1792–50 BC), Babylonia gained regional hegemony but declined after his death; the Kassites from the east eventually assumed power (c. 1595) and established a dynasty that lasted some four centuries. After Elam conquered Babylonia (c. 1157 BC), a series of wars established a new Babylonian dynasty whose outstanding member was Nebuchadrezzar I (r. c. 1124–03 BC). Following his rule, a three-way struggle developed for control of Babylonia among Assyria, Aram (see Aramaeans), and Chaldea, in which the Assyrians ruled the area most frequently (9th–7th century BC). In the 7th–6th century BC the Chaldean Nebuchadrezzar II (605–562 BC) instituted the last and greatest period of Babylonian supremacy, conquering Syria and Palestine and rebuilding Babylon, the capital city. It was conquered in 539 BC by the Persian Achaemenian dynasty under Cyrus II and in 331 BC by Alexander the Great, after which the capital city was gradually abandoned.
Babylonia
How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|