The Rise and Fall of New Babylonia: History, Culture, and Power Dynamics

The “New” Babylonia • Hammurabi died about 1750 B.C. • Babylonia began to fall apart • City-states rebelled • Armies from the mountains (north and east) began taking the empire’s territory • Still remained one of the most powerful cities in the F.C.

689 B.C. • Babylon was destroyed by powerful rulers from Nineveh • About 60 years later Babylonians were able to rebuild Babylon • Made it a capital of an even stronger empire • Why might both Babylonian and non-Babylonian kings want to rebuild the city of Babylon?

The “New” Babylon • The new Babylon became the world’s largest city • Famous for it’s beauty and technology • Two massive walls and a moat now protected it • City was split in two by the Euphrates River • Connected by a moveable bridge and underwater tunnel

Babylon’s Ziggurat • The cities Ziggurat was at the center of the city • It was 200 yards wide and rose 100 yards into the sky

Sorrow in Babylon • Not all people thought Babylon was the greatest city • Those newcomers were prisoners brought from Israel

Sum It Up • Cuneiform probably developed as a way to keep track of farm supplies and surplus. • The system was later expanded to communicate more complex ideas as well. • Mesopotamia was not always unified into a single empire. Both govt. and religion greatly shaped life on a local level.

Sum It Up cont. • Cuneiform writing helped Sargon, king of Kish, to rule over great distances. • The rise to power of Hammurabi made Babylon one of the world’s richest and most powerful cities in ancient times.

The Beginnings of Judaism Practice and Project book: p. 27 Anthology: Praying at the Western Wall, pp. 24-25

The Big Picture • Hammurabi ruled, goods were traded and people were traveling to Egypt and Mesopotamia • Information about this time came from a source that millions of people continue to read today • Collection of books known as the Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible • Original language was Hebrew • Translated into almost every language on Earth • Sacred to more than 17 million Jews today • Christians and Muslims also read and honor it

Judaism • Jewish people’s record of their history and their religion

Gods & Goddesses • Ancient Sumer – • Believed in many, many gods • Anything that happened to them (good or bad) was the result of a god’s pleasure or displeasure • Daily life was spent trying to please the gods • No matter how hard they tried, many of their gods remained gloomy anyway

Gods & Goddesses • Ancient Babylon – • Believed in most of the same gods as the Sumerians • Babylonian gods behaved in a manner even more gloomy than before • To Sumerians, Marduk was an important god • To Babylonians he was the most important (and gloomy) god of all

The Rise and Fall of New Babylonia: History, Culture, and Power Dynamics