Unit 3. Babylonian Civilization

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 489.

Mesopotamia – a cradle of the earliest civilizations – has brought to life Babylon - a town that is mentioned in the Bible due to its Tower of Babel which can no longer be seen.

The Babylonian civilization, which endured from 18th century BC to 6th century BC was highly urbanized and was based mainly on agriculture rather than industry.

The king of the civilisation had absolute power and exercised legislative, judicial and executive powers. Each city had a mayor and council of city elders who were in charge of local administration.

Babylonian society consisted of three classes they are the awilu, a free person of the upper class; the mushkenu, a free person of low estate; and the wardu, or a slave.

Ancient Babylonians did not have money. Instead they used weights of things for commerce. Weights of barley were used, as were weights of silver. The unit of weight they used was the shekel.

Throughout the long period of Babylonia history, the Babylonians achieved a high level of civilization that made an impact on the whole known world. Sumerian culture was its basis. In the area of religion, the Sumerians already had a system of gods, each with a main temple in each city with elaborate festivals . The chief gods were Anu, god of heaven; Enlil, god of the air; and Enki or Ea, god of the sea.

In conclusion, the strong civilization of Babylon was far more advanced than any other during its time. Babylon used advanced ways in its specialization of labor by providing them with a guaranteed system of reward for increased skill. It also possesed an extremely organized government with the use of Hammurabi's Code.

The Babylonians inherited the technical achievements of the Sumerians in irrigation and agriculture. For mathematical and arithmetical purposes they used the Sumerian decimal system. Babylonian artisans were skilled in metallurgy, in the processes of fulling, bleaching, and dyeing, and in the preparation of paints, pigments, cosmetics, and perfumes. In the field of medicine, surgery was well known and often practiced