NEO - BABYLOnian

Empire
 Rise & Fall

End : around 600 B.C.E.

Began in 626 B.C.E.

● Rose to power in the late 7th century

● Heirs of the urban traditions : long existed in
southern Mesopotamia
● Ruled an empire as dominant in the Near East
as that held by the Assyrians before them
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 Rise & Fall
Battle of Opis

End : October of 539 B.C.

Fought in September 539 BC

Persian invasion of Mesopotamia

Armies of Persia under Cyrus the Great x Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus
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Map - Geography

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Map - Geography

After the fall of Assyria, a territory was divided:

● Babylonia : central part of the former Assyria

● Medes : north – eastern part
● At that time Lydia raised : western Asia Minor
CITIES

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 Inventions
The Sundials
● The oldest known devices that are used to measure time

● Showing the hours each day

○ discovery led to the present time measuring system

● Invented around 3500 BCE : used in Neo - babylonian period

● Helped Neo-Babylonians keep track of their day

● Helped them have a consistent schedule

 Inventions
The Hanging Gardens

● One of the seven wonders of the ancient world

● Large structure with plants decorating the whole place

● Built by Nebuchadnezzar II at around 600 BCE

● Gift for A Homesick Wife > Medes

● Impressive irrigation system

 Inventions
Ishtar Gate
● Entrance to the city of Babylon

● Nebuchadnezzar II built it in around 575 BCE

● The height is over 38 feet and still stands today

 Inventions
The Ziggurat
● Nebuchadnezzar had rebuilt the ziggurat : 605 to 562 BCE

● Temple that had many floors sort of resembling the shape of a pyramid

● Made out of sun-baked bricks

● Neo-Babylonia called

"House of the Platform Between Heaven and Earth"

 Art & Architecture
Art
Invoke the styles and iconography of the 3rd millennium rulers

Architecture
Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B.C.E.) largely rebuilt this ancient city
 The Ishtar Gate
was constructed in Babylon in antiquity.

● Whole gate was covered in lapis lazuli glazed bricks.

■ walls 12 meters high
■ flanked by square towers and covered by
glazed bricks
■ molded with the figure of sacred animals.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
 Government & Laws
Government
● Cities had local autonomy and received special privileges
from the kings : Monarchy

● Centered on their temples

● Actual legal decisions given by the judges in the law courts

● Cases were decided in assemblies

 Government & Laws
Government
● Temples dominated urban social structure

● A person's social status & political rights

were determined by where they stood in
relation to the religious hierarchy

● 6 kings
 Government & Laws
Government 1

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3 6

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 Government & Laws
Cuneiform law
● legal codes written in cuneiform script

● The Code of Hammurabi : the most well-known of

the cuneiform laws

● Consist of specific "if... then..."

○ example or precedent

● Punishments for crimes vary from code to code

○ not all prescribe vengeance
Public Works
● Dams and Dikes = Control flooding
● Canals use to bring water to the fields
● City walls was built to protected the city
from other army’s attack
● Warehouses used to store food
● Corvee labor
○ workers would be drafted from the
general population and put to work
as a form of a taxation by the state

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Social Classes
● Royalty(King and high priests)
● Middle Class (Average Jobs)
● Upper Class (Best Jobs)
● Lower Class (Bad Jobs)
● Slaves
 Specialized Job / Division of Labor
Farmers (Peasants)
● Irrigation systems and
yearly flooding helped
farmers grow their crops.
● Important role as they fed
everyone
Weavers Potters
● Built in multiple methods
● Evidence on sculptures,
○ Coil building
pottery, & in writings left on
○ slab building
tablets indicates that a
○ pinch potting
thriving textile industry
● Potter's hands were one of
the valuable tools
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 Specialized Job / Division of Labor

Craftsmen & Marchants

● enjoyed high status & a sort of guild system
Scribes
● Nearly always men
came into existence
● Babylonian scribal education
● gave them collective bargaining power
○ concentrated on learning to write
Sumerian and Akkadian
○ Using cuneiform

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 Language & Writing

● Introduced the Akkadian language (the "language of Akkad")

as a written language

● Adapting Sumerian Cuneiform orthography for the purpose

● The cuneiform script

○ writing system of ancient Mesopotamia

● The symbols were written on wet clay tablets which were baked in
the hot sun
 Religions
● Babylonian mythology was greatly influenced
by their Sumerian counterparts

● Polythestic (Many goddess)

Marduk

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 TIMELINE
605 BCE - 562 BCE

Unsuccessfully ★ Fall of
besieges Tyre Babylonia
626 BCE 601 BCE 575 BCE

585 BCE - 572 BCE 539 BCE

★ Rising of Unsuccessfully built the Ishtar Gate
Neo-babylonia attempts to and great walls of
invade Egypt Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar II reign began

★ built Hanging garden
 Reference
https://neobabylonianachievements.weebly.com/achievements.html

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/ancient-near-east1/babylonian/a/neo-babyloni

an

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylonian_Empire#Fall_of_Babylon

https://www.britannica.com/place/Neo-Babylonian-Empire

https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ARTH110-2.4-NeoBabylonia.pdf

http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub363/item1527.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylonian_Empire#Revival_of_old_traditions

https://ahsmesopotamia5th.weebly.com/job-specialization-and-public-works.html