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Babylonia  Related: Ancient History Middle Eastern
(băbĬlō´nēe) , ancient empire of Mesopotamia. The name
is sometimes given to the whole civilization of S Mesopotamia, including the states established by the city rulers of Lagash,
Akkad (or Agade), Uruk, and Ur in the 3d millennium BC Historically it is limited to the first dynasty of Babylon established
by Hammurabi (c.1750 BC), and to the Neo-Babylonian period after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Hammurabi, who had his capital at Babylon , 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 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 ) was inherited from the older Sumerian culture. All these Babylonian institutions influenced the civilization of Assyria 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. BC 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 BC with
the fall of the Kassites. As a subsidiary state of the Assyrian Empire (after the 9th cent. BC), Babylonia flourished once
more. It was the key area in the attempted uprising against the Assyrian king, Sennacherib , and Babylon was sacked (c.689 BC) in his reign.
After the death of Assurbanipal, the last great
Assyrian monarch, Nabopolassar, the ruler of Babylonia, established (625 BC) his independence. He allied himself with the
Medes and Persians and helped to bring about the capture of Nineveh (612 BC) and the fall of the Assyrian Empire. He established
what is generally known as the Chaldaean or New Babylonian Empire. Under his son, Nebuchadnezzar , the new empire reached its height (see Babylon ). The recalcitrant Hebrews were defeated and punished with the Babylonian captivity . 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 BC the last of the Babylonian rulers surrendered to Cyrus the Great (see also Belshazzar ). 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). |
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