A detailed introduction of ancient Babylon.

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Brief introduction of ancient Babylonian kingdom

1, Kingdom of Babylon

Babylon was originally an unknown town on the Euphrates River. About 1894 BC, a branch of Semitic people from the Syrian grassland, the Amorite Iahrurum tribe, captured this small town under the leadership of leader Sumab and established the country. Be brave and good at fighting, and fight for Hammurabi

Taking this as the center, the strong and martial Amorites fought in the north and the south, and finally established a powerful kingdom of Babylon, which was called "the Kingdom of Babylon" in history. The Amorites are also called Babylonians. Babylonians inherited the civilization achievements of Sumerians and Akkadians, and carried them forward, and developed Mesopotamian civilization to its peak. People like to use the word "Babylon" to summarize the ancient civilizations in the two river basins, which is enough to show the world the brilliant achievements and charm created by Babylonian civilization. Hammurabi was the most outstanding king of Babylon. Hammurabi made a code called code of hammurabi. It is the first relatively complete ancient written code in the world. BC 1595, Murcelis I, the Hittite king, captured and swept the city of Babylon, and the statue of Marduk was also taken away. However, the Hittite army quickly retreated because of the domestic court coup, and soon the Kaxiti people occupied this place and established the kingdom of Babylon, which was called "the third dynasty of Babylon" in history.

2, the king of Babylon watches

Sumu Abu 65438 BC+0894 BC-65438 BC+08865438 BC+0 BC 65438 BC+0880 BC-65438 BC+0845 BC 65438 BC+0844 BC-65438 BC+08365438 BC. Special BC 18 12- BC 1793 Hammurabi BC 1792- BC 1750 Samsuyiluna BC 1749- BC17/. Mititana BC 1683- BC 1647 Amisaduka BC 1646- BC 1626 Samsutana BC 1625- BC1595 [/Kloc-]

Edit this pre-Babylonian period

Achievements of ancient Babylonian civilization

abstract

The Tigris River and the Euphrates River, which flow through Iraq, have produced world-renowned two-river civilizations and bred dazzling Babylonian culture, which once stood on a par with ancient China civilization, Indian civilization and Egyptian civilization in Hui Qi. Ruins of ancient Babylon

In Babylonian times, mathematics and astronomy were the most developed sciences, and decimal and hexadecimal methods were used for counting. Hexadecimal method is used to calculate the degree and timing of the day of the week, which is still used all over the world. In the field of algebra, the Babylonians could solve ternary equations. In astronomy, we know how to distinguish stars from planets, and we also name known stars. At that time, the lunar calendar divided a year into 12 months, a day and night into 12 hours and a year into 354 days. In order to adapt to the difference of the earth's revolution, it is well known to set up a leap month. The Babylonians' long-term accumulation in astronomical observation enabled the later Babylonians to predict solar eclipses and planetary collisions, and further calculated that a year is 6: 06, 15 minutes 4 1 second in 365 days, only 26 minutes and 55 seconds more than the modern calculation. The multiplication table was not unique to China in ancient times, but also found on the ancient Babylonian clay tablets. But the monosyllabic pronunciation of Chinese characters (including numbers) is catchy to read; The abacus formula developed later also inherited this feature, which played a certain role in improving the operation speed and algorithm. By the 8th century BC/KLOC-0, during the reign of Hammurabi (BC 1792-BC 1750), a code called code of hammurabi was compiled. This is considered to be the first code in the history of human society, carving cuneiform characters and portraits on 2.25-meter-high stone pillars. This code specifies in detail the class relations among kings, slave owners, freemen and slaves, and also provides for the protection of widows and orphans. This is not only of progressive historical significance, but also a pioneering work in the field of human social code. On the banks of the Euphrates River near Sheila, about 90 kilometers south of Baghdad, there is a ruin of Babylon. From the unification of the two river basins by the Kingdom of Babylon in 19 BC to the 6th century BC, Babylon has been the most prosperous and spectacular city in West Asia. Especially in the dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC), the new town of Babylon entered its heyday. According to historical records, the new Babylonian city expanded by Nebuchadnezzar II is square, each side is about 20 kilometers long, and there are moats and high walls outside. The main wall has a tower every 44 meters. There are more than 300 towers and 65,438+000 bronze doors in the city. There are broad avenues paved with stone slabs in the city, as well as the Marduk Temple, which is more than 90 meters high. The Euphrates River runs through the city, with bridges, roads and docks built by stone piers on both sides. Its grandeur can be seen. The palace is extremely luxurious. Its walls are decorated with colorful tiles and exquisite lion statues. The palace is also decorated with "Hanging Gardens", which was called "Hanging Gardens" in ancient times. This square "hanging garden" is more than 500 meters in circumference and built on a 23-meter-high man-made mountain. The garden is full of exotic flowers and grasses, just like a fairyland on earth. The "Hanging Garden" of the New Babylon Palace is listed as one of the seven wonders of the world. Historically, the birthplace of civilization has always been closely related to rivers. Like two vines of life, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers extend in the desolate and arid desert areas. Today, the Iraqi generation has joined hands to shape the rich Mesopotamian plain. Here gave birth to the oldest civilization of the two river basins in human history, which is what people used to call "Babylonian civilization". Archaeological excavations have proved that Babylonian civilization is the general name of a series of urban civilizations in the two river basins from 6000 to 500 BC. On the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, cities with similar or different styles dot the Mesopotamian plain. On this historical stage, Sumerians and later Sumerian invaders played the leading role in creating civilization in turn like lanterns, and jointly played the glorious movement of Mesopotamian civilization. When we open the history again, the tragedy of history will appear in front of us.

The famous hanging garden

Location: Located on the east bank of the Euphrates River, about 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Hanging gardens in Babylon

History: The ancient Babylonian kingdom was once prosperous under the rule of the famous king Hammurabi (1792~ 1750 BC). But it was not until the new Babylonian dynasty that Mesopotamian civilization reached its peak. It is believed that the legendary Hanging Garden was built by Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC). It is said that Nebuchadnezzar built the hanging garden to please his queen or concubine who grew up in Medea and had deep feelings for mountain scenery. Although the most detailed description of this garden was written by Greek historians Bellows and Diodor Rus West Gullers, the historical records of Babylon do not mention it. Although descriptions of his palace, the city of Babylon and the walls of Babylon were found on various writing boards left over from the period of Nebuchadnezzar, there was no mention of the hanging garden on these writing boards. Even historians who have described the hanging gardens in detail have never witnessed them. Modern historians believe that when Alexander's soldiers arrived in rich Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were deeply shocked. When they later returned to their rugged hometown, they brought back the amazing gardens and coconut trees in Mesopotamia ... the palace of Nebuchadnezzar ... and all kinds of stories about Babel and Golden Pagoda. It is the imagination of poets and ancient historians that combines all these elements and creates one of the wonders of the world. It was not until the twentieth century that some secrets around the hanging garden were uncovered. Archaeologists are still trying to collect enough evidence to draw a final conclusion about the geographical location, irrigation system and real appearance of the garden. Like the colossus of Rhodes, archaeologists have not found the remains of the hanging garden so far. In fact, many ancient people mentioned hanging gardens in their works, but they only heard of them from others and never really saw them. Is the hanging garden purely a legend? Of course, the hanging gardens in Babylon have never hung in the air. The origin of this name is purely due to people's misinterpretation of the Greek word "kremastos" and the Latin word "pensilis", which originally meant "hanging" and "protruding". It is generally believed that the Hanging Garden was built by King Nebuchadnezzar (604- 562 BC) to comfort the homesick princess Amyitis, and it was modeled after her hometown in the mountains. This hanging garden was built in 600 BC. It is a pyramid with four corners. The building made of asphalt and bricks is supported by arched columns. Green trees are planted on the steps all year round. The river looks like a hill from a distance under the artificial river next to the hanging garden. The most magical part of the hanging garden is the water supply system. Because there is not much rain in Babylon, and the ruins of the hanging garden are thought to be far away from the Euphrates River, the researchers believe that there should be many water conveyance facilities in the hanging garden, as shown in the figure. The slaves kept pushing the handle with gears to transport the groundwater to the storage tank on the top floor and then return to the ground through the artificial river. Another problem is maintenance, because it is impossible for ordinary buildings to resist the erosion of the river for many years without falling down. Because there are not many stones in Mesopotamia, researchers think that the bricks used in hanging gardens are different. They added reeds, asphalt and tiles, and there are even documents that the stone was covered with lead to prevent the river from infiltrating into the foundation.

The code of Hammurabi

Code of hammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon, Hammurabi (code of hammurabi was 1792- 1750 before the Louvre).

A law promulgated in 2000 is considered to be the earliest systematic code in the world, which came into being 3800 years ago. The full text of the code is engraved in cuneiform, with 282 articles except preface and conclusion. Including litigation procedures, damages, tenancy relationship, creditor's rights and debts, property inheritance, slave disposal, etc. 190 1 was discovered in Iran. It is a black basalt cylinder and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. At the upper end of the column is a relief, in which Hammurabi took the scepter from Chamakh, the sun god. Code of hammurabi divided people into three grades: 1. Freemen with civil rights II. Freemen without citizenship 3. Slaves: Royal slaves, slaves belonging to freemen and private slaves of citizens. In18th century BC, during the reign of Hammurabi of Babylonian dynasty in Cuba (1792- 1750 BC), a code was compiled. This is considered to be the first code in the history of human society, with cuneiform characters and portraits carved on the 2.25-meter-high stone pillars. This code stipulates in detail the class relations among kings, slave owners, freemen and slaves, and also stipulates the protection of widows and orphans, shortening the period of debt slavery to three years, and so on. This is not only of progressive historical significance, but also a pioneering work in the field of human social code. January: Nissan is equivalent to our present mid-March-mid-April. February: Iyyar is equivalent to our current mid-April-mid-May. March: Simanu is equivalent to our current mid-May-mid-June, April; Duuzu is equivalent to our current mid-June-mid-July. May: Abu is equivalent to mid-July-mid-August. June: Uluru is equivalent to our present mid-August-mid-September. July: Tishritu is equivalent to our current mid-September-65438+1mid-October. August: Arah-samnu is equivalent to our current 65438+ mid-October-165438+ mid-October. September: Kislimu is equivalent to our current165438+1mid-October-65438+mid-February. 10 month: Tebetu is equivalent to our current 65438+mid-February-65438+1mid-October. 1 1 month: Sabatu is equivalent to our current 65438+1mid-October-mid-February. 1February: Addaru is equivalent to our current mid-February-mid-March. The names of these months are derived from Akkad's Sem language, but the symbols used are Nipur Sumer's cuneiform symbols. This method of reading Sumerian symbols with Akkadian pronunciation continued until cuneiform disappeared. However, the Sami month names in Babylon are still in use. For example, later Jews used the Babylonian month names in the two river basins until modern times. In Babylon, every 30 days is a month, and a year is ***360 days, with an extra month every four years. January of that year was bimonthly (that is, two Aries months), and the previous month of bimonthly was called celebration month. (Right-handed people talk nonsense: a 30-day carnival is so happy ~) Similarly, there were 390 days in that year.

Edit this paragraph about the politics and society of the Kingdom of Babylon.

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The political system of the city-state in the Babylonian era was different from that in the Sumerian Akkadian era and the third Ur dynasty. After the reunification of Hammurabi, a centralized autocratic system was established. The king monopolizes political, military, diplomatic, judicial and religious powers and directly appoints central and local officials. Set up a governor in a large administrative region, appoint an official named "Shakanaku" in a larger city, and appoint an official named "Labia Num" in a small city for governance. Some cities (such as Xipal, etc. ) obtained a certain degree of autonomy, and the city commercial supervisor was elected from wealthy families for a term of 1 year, responsible for taxation, canal excavation, wall construction, management of public warehouses and docks, etc. Hammurabi's domestic policy is basically a continuation of Isis's city-state policy. In the process of unification, the basic policy of Hammurabi's foreign policy is to make far-reaching friends and attack near, and the flexible alliance serves the overall goal of unifying the two river basins.

2. Class relations

Ancient Babylonian society was divided into three levels: 1. "Avilu" is a free man with full authority, the upper class is the ruling class, and the lower class is mostly yeomen and soldiers who pay taxes, perform military service and corvee. 2. "Mushchinu" is a free man, and he has no right to be attached to royal land. There were other subordinate classes like Mushchinu in Babylonian times. 3. "Waldo" (male slave) and "Amtu" (female slave) are slave classes.

3. Land system

The land occupied by the royal family in Hammurabi period can be divided into three categories: 1. "Support (maintain) the palace"; Land granted on the condition of service and land granted on the condition of paying taxes (tribute). Soldiers, officials, Tamuka (commercial agent, usurer) and so on obtained land on the condition of service. Soldiers Ledu and Bayiru got royal land for military service. His land can be inherited by his adult son, but it is still conditional on military service; Whoever refuses or hires someone to perform military service on his behalf shall be sentenced to death. 2. "Neigongren"; A person who owns most of the royal land on the condition of paying taxes (tribute) is exploited and controlled by the royal family, and his land cannot be bought, sold, mortgaged or passed on to the heiress. 3. In addition to royal land, ancient Babylonian society also had temple land, urban land and private land. Documents such as code of hammurabi and archaeological contract documents prove that private land accounts for a considerable amount, and land tenancy and employment relations have become popular. The land rent is generally 1/2 or 1/3 of the harvest. The land rent for orchards and vegetable gardens is two-thirds of the harvest. The value of land changes with the supply of irrigation water, and the rent of some gardens supplying irrigation water is as high as 3/4 of the harvest. The usury industry is very active, and both temples and hotels operate usury industry. The active usury industry promoted the development of debt slaves. Debt slaves are called kisato. In the aspect of family and marriage, it also preserves the patriarchal remnants of patriarchy and husband power. Parents can sell their wives or children as slaves, or make them debt slaves. Children must pay for other people's children killed by their parents. The development of debt slavery led to the debtor's resistance. After Hammurabi, the struggle against debt slavery broke out, which led to the king's release order. This is also one of the important reasons for the demise of ancient Babylon.

4. Monk class

The priest is the attendant of the temple, and is responsible for presiding over sacrificial activities, festival ceremonies, chanting prayers, divination and so on. They were one of the most special classes in ancient Mesopotamia. Most of the gods in Mesopotamia were enshrined in temples. Therefore, there are countless temples in Mesopotamia. According to statistics, archaeologists at Sumerian site alone have unearthed 3,500 temples! Mesopotamia paid attention to the blessing and enjoyment of the world, built temples to worship the gods and maintained good relations with them, so as to bless the good weather, the country and the people. Therefore, in a country, temples are often the best buildings after palaces. All ethnic groups are willing to spend a lot of money to build temples. The Babel described by Herodotus in his works is the most representative temple. Since there are countless temples, the number of priests who serve as temple attendants is naturally amazing. They are not only numerous, but also powerful. In Mesopotamia, the kingship of the country was restricted by three kinds: law, nobility and priest. Among them, the priest is the most powerful. The king is the spokesman of God, his power is given by God, and the representative of God is the priest. In the eyes of ordinary people, a monarch can't be justified if he doesn't get a scepter from a priest. When the priest authorizes the king on behalf of God, there is usually a solemn ceremony. Under this theocracy, priests have great privileges. In addition, priests are an important economic force of the country. They control and manage the wealth in the temple. Due to the position of religion in national life, temples in Mesopotamia have accumulated countless wealth. The king usually allocates part of the land as temple property and designates an area for paying rent and taxes. If a foreign war is won, the first place to send prisoners of war and trophies is the temple. Coupled with all kinds of offerings offered by the people, the temple is not only full of food, vegetables and fruits, but also a lot of gold and silver treasures. As managers of wealth, priests rented land, operated banks and participated in commercial activities, which increased the property of temples. Therefore, priests get wealth from God and power from wealth, and become the privileged class of society. Priests mostly come from noble families, and their careers are hereditary, and their titles are passed down from generation to generation. They are also often a minority of people whose cultural knowledge is monopolized by the state. In the schools set up in temples, priests are both school administrators and teachers, instilling religious ideas into students, so they are also a class with monopoly ideas. Pastors are also divided into different grades. Senior priests are responsible for presiding over major sacrificial activities, while ordinary priests are responsible according to their grades. For example, Karoo and Nanu are responsible for singing hymns, Nisaku is responsible for hosting libation, Namuk is responsible for cleaning, and Banu is responsible for exorcism. In addition, there are priests who specialize in divination and interpretation of omens. They are responsible for praying for good luck to God, reading dreams and astrology.

5. Schools in Babylon

When the schools in Babylon came into being is still inconclusive. In 1930s, archaeologists excavated a school site about 2 100 BC in Mali, south of the Euphrates River. According to archaeological excavations, it is considered as the oldest known school. "It includes a passage and two houses. This big house is 44 feet long and 25 feet wide. The area of a small room is one third of that of a large room. The big room has four rows of stone benches, each row can seat 1 person, 2 or 4 people, with a capacity of 45 people. There are three rows of stone benches in the small room, which can accommodate 23 people. Much like a school classroom. There are no windows in the walls of the two rooms, and light enters from the roof. There is no podium or desk in the room, but there are many students' homework tablets. At the bottom of the wall, there is a shallow sink filled with earth, as if to make a clay tablet for writing. There is an oval pottery basin nearby, which may be used to store clean water, make a clay board out of clay, or place writing utensils. There are many shiny shells on the ground, which seem to be teaching AIDS for computing. The house is near the palace, not the temple; The clay tablets just excavated elsewhere are also stored near the palace, not adjacent to the temple; Some people infer that this is an old school. "Schools in the two river basins aim at training teachers of the law. A scribe is divided into a senior scribe and a junior scribe. The former acts as an official, while the latter is engaged in various occupations, such as notary, handprint clerk, land survey registrar, military intelligence recorder, copywriter, calculator, secretary, etc. In the ancient two river basins, a large number of clay tablets were excavated by archaeology. The earliest date shown on these clay tablets is about 3000 BC. They are written in Sumerian hieroglyphics. In the following 1000 years, hieroglyphics developed into cuneiform characters, which were widely popular in the Middle East and used by Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites and Persians. Most of these archaeological discoveries are religious articles or documents related to real life, such as contracts, records, reports of civilian personnel, laws, regulations and announcements. There are also some materials about mathematics. Although the mathematical level of the two river basins was much higher than that of ancient Egypt at that time, these mathematical problems, like ancient Egypt, involved some practical problems. In later mathematical records (that is, Persian and Seleucid times), there are some astronomical charts and calculation steps about calendars and astrology. Obviously, the purpose of these two valley schools is to provide advanced teaching for different types of future officials. A Sumerian article about 2000 BC describes school life at that time. This article was copied many times later, so it can be inferred that its description is representative. Judging from the adequacy of repeated use in this article, it can be judged that it was written by an adequate student, but the full text was written in Sumerian, because Sumerian was an academic language at that time and its status was equivalent to Latin in Europe later. Students come to school in the morning and bring their own lunch. The headmaster is the "father of the school", with a Sumerian teacher and an arithmetic teacher. The form of class is to copy the existing blackboard books. The subjects studied are Sumerian, arithmetic and bookkeeping. The school implements strict discipline, which is carried out by a handyman, a teacher and a playground supervisor. Students are often flogged several times a day for different mistakes, including being late in the morning, talking in class, standing up or leaving campus without permission, etc. It is not until evening that exhausted students can walk home and report their day to their father (usually an official). Go to bed early after dinner to ensure that you are full of energy the next morning. Sometimes, teachers are invited home, usually because the father wants his son to be the most outstanding writer and knowledgeable person, and he wants him to be better than other students and even people of noble birth. In 2000 BC, the house of wisdom was a place for advanced teaching in the two river basins. The students are all graduated scribes, and the research here is also of high level. However, the schools in the two river basins are different from those in ancient Greece, and their so-called profound knowledge also focuses on application value rather than theoretical exploration. Taking mathematics as an example, theoretical speculation has not been fully developed, and a large number of Babylonian mathematical papers involve specific issues. Babylon created the earliest civilization of mankind, and its education was earlier than other countries. " It can even be said that there were schools earlier than Egypt, or at least about the same time as Egypt. This is the original cradle of human school education and the starting point of human formal education. "Of course, its higher education is still quite vague.

Edit this Babylonian legend.

Every spring, the plateau snow melts, and the Euphrates River and Tigris River flood in the two river basins. Especially in the downstream area, the terrain is low and concave, almost completely submerged. A Babylonian myth that has been handed down to this day vividly reflects this situation: an ancestor of a Babylonian king dreamed that he met a fairy. God told him that the flood would flood the earth to punish human sins. Because he has always been devout to God, and God wants to save him. The man obeyed God's command, built an ark, moved his family to the boat, and took some animals and some seeds with him. Soon, dark clouds filled the sky, darkness covered the earth, storms hit, floods flooded all life, and only the ark floated on the boundless water. On the seventh day, the wind stopped and the river was calm. At this time, the ark floated to a mountain. The people on board released the animals from the ark, scattered seeds on the mountains, and life on earth began again. Many myths of human nations are influenced by ancient Babylonian legends. The story of the famous Noah's Ark in the West also evolved from this legend: a man named Noah built an ark according to God's command, and the whole family sat on it to escape the flood. After the flood receded, Noah released a pigeon. Soon, the pigeon came back with an olive Ye Fei that had just been unscrewed, and Noah knew that the flood had receded and everything was back to life. Later, westerners regarded pigeons and olive branches as symbols of peace. Of course, neither the immortal nor the dove of peace can bring real peace and happiness to people. To overcome the flood, people must rely on themselves. Later, this legend was written by Jews in the Old Testament.

Related nouns

1. Babylonian prisoner "Babylonian prisoner" originated in 60 BC1year. This year, Nebuchadnezzar went to war with Egypt again, but the result was lost. Jehoiakim, the Jewish king who had surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar for three years, took the opportunity to leave New Babylon for Egypt. When Nebuchadnezzar heard the news that the Jewish king had surrendered, he flew into a rage and vowed to level Jerusalem. At the end of 598 BC, Jehoiakim, the Jewish king who surrendered to Egypt, died and his son jehoiachin succeeded him. Nebuchadnezzar thought it was time to attack the Jewish kingdom and personally led a great army to attack Jerusalem. After more than two months of siege, driven by the pro-Babylonian faction in the Jewish community, the Jewish king and all his ministers went out of the city to surrender. Nebuchadnezzar deposed jehoiachin, made Joachim's uncle king of Judah, and renamed him Zedekiah, making him swear allegiance to the new kingdom of Babylon and not rebel. Then he ordered that most members of the Jewish royal family be brought to Babylon with Jewish craftsmen. Before he left, he ordered his men to ransack the temple in Jerusalem. In 588 BC, Egypt launched an attack on Palestinian areas. King Zedekiah of Judah who surrendered to New Babylon and other small countries in the region rose up against the Egyptians. Soon, Nebuchadnezzar once again led the new Babylonian army to launch a second siege of Jerusalem. The siege lasted 18 months. Due to famine and internal division, Jerusalem finally fell in 586 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar hated the rebellious Jewish king. He ordered his son to be killed in front of King Zedekiah, and then he gouged out Zedekiah's eyes. When Zedekiah, who was blind, was brought before Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar said to him, "This is the result of your betrayal. So he ordered Zedekiah to be bound with bronze chains and taken to Babylon for public display. The whole city of Jerusalem was looted. The city walls were demolished and temples, palaces and many houses were burned down. Almost all the living residents were taken to Babylon. This is the famous "prisoner of Babylon" in history. Being a "prisoner of Babylon" is a painful experience for Jews. The prophetic documents of Jews, the account of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem, and the "prisoner of Babylon" are all preserved in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, Nebuchadnezzar is said to be a tool for God to punish Jews for their sins.