The earliest ancient civilization discovered in the two river basins has been more than 6000 years ago. Although Babylon has disappeared now, its influence (especially in religion) remains today. It really deserves to be one of the four ancient civilizations.
Babylonian civilization is roughly bounded by today's Baghdad city and divided into north and south parts. The northern part is centered on the ancient city of Assyria, called Silesia, or Assyria for short; The south is centered on the city of Babylon and is called Babylonia, which means "the land of Babylon". Babylon is divided into two regions, Sumer in the south near the mouth of the Persian Gulf and Akkad in the north of Sumer. The residents of these two areas are called Sumerians and Akkadians respectively. Mesopotamian civilization was originally created by Sumerians.
Sumer and the ancient Egyptians invented writing almost at the same time. They used sharpened reeds as pens, carved words on the clay embryo, and then dried the clay embryo to become clay tablets. This kind of writing is called cuneiform because of its sharp shape.
In 2007 BC, the Amorites invaded the two river basins and destroyed the Ur dynasty established by Akkadians and Sumerians. Around 1894 BC, the Amorites established a dynasty with Babylon on the Euphrates River as its capital. From then on, Mesopotamia was called Babylonia, and all the residents there were called Babylonians.
The period of ancient Babylonian kingdom was one of the most brilliant periods in the history of the two river basins. A famous monarch, Hammurabi, appeared in this country. After Hammurabi unified the two river basins by force, he established a centralized autocratic country. He personally holds various powers such as religion, military, administration, justice and water conservancy construction. In order to rule his country more effectively, he promulgated the famous code of hammurabi. The code ***282, carved on a black basalt stone pillar with a height of 2.25m, is the earliest complete written code found so far.
The kingdom of Babylon reached its peak during the reign of Hammurabi, but after Hammurabi's death, the empire collapsed. The kingdom was invaded by Hittites and Caxites, and was finally annexed by Assyrian Empire in 729 BC.
In 6 12 BC, the Chaldeans and the Medes overthrew the Assyrian Empire. The empire established by the Chaldeans also took the city of Babylon as its capital, which was called the "New Kingdom of Babylon" in history. The kingdom reached its peak during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem twice, destroyed the Jewish kingdom and took a large number of Jews into slavery in Babylon. This is what the Bible calls a "prisoner of Babylon". Nebuchadnezzar also ordered the reconstruction of the city of Babylon, where the Hanging Garden, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was built. The rebuilt city of Babylon is very spectacular. It wasn't until 100 years later that Herodotus, a Greek historian known as the "father of history", came to Babylon and still called it the most magnificent city in the world.
In 538 BC, the new kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by the Persian Empire. Since then, there has never been an independent and complete country in the ancient two river basins.
One of the seven wonders of the world
When it comes to Babylonian civilization, the first thing that people talk about and think about is the "hanging garden". It is considered as one of the seven wonders of the world.
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".
For thousands of years, there has been a beautiful and touching legend about "Hanging Garden". The new king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), married the princess of the Medes. The princess was beautiful and won the king's favor. But as time went on, the princess became very sad. Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know why. The princess said, "my hometown is full of green mountains and green waters, and birds are singing and flowers are fragrant." And here is the endless plain of Babylon, and even a hill can't be found. How I long to see the mountains and winding paths in our hometown again! " So the princess is homesick. Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar II ordered craftsmen to build a cascade garden in his palace according to the scenery of Mount Mitis, which was full of exotic flowers and herbs, and opened a quiet mountain path in the garden, with flowing water beside the path. The craftsmen also built a tower in the middle of the garden, which stood in the air. The exquisite garden scenery finally won the princess's heart. Because the garden is higher than the palace wall, it feels that the whole imperial garden is hanging in the air, so it is called "hanging garden" and "hanging garden". Those who went to Babylon to worship, do business or travel in those days could see the golden roof shining in the sun from a distance. Therefore, by the 2nd century AD, Greek scholars listed the "Hanging Garden" as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" when evaluating famous buildings and sculptures around the world. Since then, the "Hanging Garden" has become more famous.
Regrettably, the "Hanging Garden", like other famous buildings of Babylonian civilization, has long been lost in the rolling yellow sand. We can only understand the "hanging garden" through historical records of later generations and modern archaeological excavations.
However, there are also some records that although the "hanging garden" is mentioned, people think that the legendary "hanging garden" was not built by Nebuchadnezzar II, but was specially built by a Syrian king to please his beloved princess. Some records even think that the legendary "Hanging Garden" actually refers to the royal garden built by Assyrian King sinatra Herib in Nineveh, his capital.
It was not until the end of 19 that German archaeologists excavated the ruins of Babylon. When they excavated Nangong Garden, they excavated an unusual, semi-underground and almost rectangular building in the northeast corner, with an area of about 1.260 square meters. This building consists of two rows of log cabins, each row is only 6.6 square meters on average. There is a corridor between the two rows of cottages, which is symmetrically arranged and surrounded by tall and generous walls. A well with three sinks, one square and two ovals, was found in a hut in the west row. According to the analysis of archaeologists, these huts may be the original water rooms, and those tanks were used to install the pressurized water machine. Therefore, archaeologists believe that this place is probably the site of the legendary "Hanging Garden". At that time, the Babylonians paved the solid vaults of these huts with mud, raised them layer by layer, and planted flowers and trees. As for irrigation water, it is continuously supplied by the pressurized water machine in the underground cabin. Archaeologists have proved through textual research that the principle of using pressurized water machine at that time was basically the same as the chain pump we use now. It ties several buckets to a chain belt and connects them with a wheel placed on the wall. When the wheel rotates once, the bucket will rotate with it, completing the whole process of lifting and pouring water, and then the water will flow into the garden through the sink for irrigation. This kind of pressurized water machine is still widely used in the two river basins. In addition, archaeologists did find a lot of traces of planting flowers and trees in the site. However, so far, no exact documents have been found in the clay tablets of Babylonian cuneiform characters. Therefore, whether the archaeologist's explanation is correct needs further study. In short, the true face of the legendary "hanging garden" is still hidden in the fog of history.
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 returned 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.
1, the founding process and political system of Babylon.
In the history of Mesopotamia, the Sumerian era was followed by the Babylonian era (about 2000 BC to about 1600 BC). The difference between Sumerians and Babylonians: geography and language (but the center of gravity moved northward to Akkad, and for a long time it was centered on the newly built city of Babylon. In addition, in Babylonian times, people with Mesopotamian ears spoke languages belonging to the Semitic family. )。 Amo Park Jung Su people entered Mesopotamia around 2000 BC and settled in Akkad. Two and a half centuries later, Amopak Rongsu conquered the whole Sumerian, and their Sumerian dialect also replaced Sumerian as the oral and written language of Mesopotamia. The founder of the ancient Babylonian Empire was the sixth king Hammurabi (BC 1792- 1750). During the Babylonian period, the centralized monarchy system was further strengthened.
2. Economic development and social class
During the Babylonian period, the two river basins had entered the heyday of bronze, and agriculture, handicrafts and commerce had made new development. From the agricultural point of view, the development of irrigation is particularly prominent. In the 33rd year of Hammurabi's reign, this canal was the largest. It can provide eternal and sufficient water sources for Nipur, Elidu, Ur, Larsa, uruk and Ising. From the perspective of handicraft industry, handicraft industry has increased, and there are only 10 kinds of handicrafts mentioned in code of hammurabi. From a commercial point of view, domestic and foreign trade was very developed at that time, and cities such as Babylon, Szipal, niebuhr and Larsa were all important commercial centers. The royal family and temples still control commerce. Under the royal family and temple, there are commercial agent Damuka and assistant retailer Shamaru. Silver has become the standard of price calculation. Ancient Babylonian society had an obvious hierarchical system. At that time, people were divided into three classes: Avilu, Mushgennu and slaves. Avilu is a freeman with civil rights, including large, medium and small slave owners, but most of them are lower-class freemen. Mushgennu is a free man without citizenship. This level is lower than Avilu in legal status. Besides prisoners of war, slaves were also bought from other places. The sale of slaves was very common at that time.
3. Law
Babylon inherited the Sumerian legal tradition, changed the original Sumerian law, and formulated the code of hammurabi during the reign of King Hammurabi. The famous code of hammurabi is the first and most complete written law in ancient times. Several main features of the code:
(1) Implement homomorphic revenge, that is, follow the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; "If a person hurts the eyes of a nobleman, he will still hurt his eyes. If a man breaks a noble's hands and feet, he also breaks his hands and feet. " (Articles 196 and 197 of the Code)
(2) class discrimination; The code lacks the modern concept of "everyone is equal before the law". In code of hammurabi, slaves have no rights at all, and a slight mistake will be punished horribly. In addition, the code also mentions two legal classes: one is "people", which obviously refers to nobles; The other is all other people who are neither "human" nor slaves. Their legal treatment is poor, but they have certain legal rights. Compared with "man" invading "man", "man" infringes on people who are inferior to them but not slaves, and "man" does as much harm to slaves as he does to the property of slave owners. The compensation of the lower class is lower than that of the upper class: "If people from the aristocratic class beat people from the aristocratic background, they will be fined." . Whoever beats a free man will be punished for cutting off his ear. "(Articles 203 and 205 of the Act)
(3) implementing strict regulations on the protection of commercial property; "Whoever steals items from temples or enterprises shall be sentenced to death; Those who accept stolen goods are also sentenced to death. " (Article 6 of the Code) The seller is not punished for fraud, and the law only reminds the buyer to be careful.
(4) Promulgating laws and regulations of many countries to intervene in economic and social life; Including determining the annual price of basic commodities, limiting the interest rate to 20 cents, carefully adjusting family relationships, ensuring the credibility of weights and measures, and the city is responsible for compensating the victims of unsolved robberies or murders. "If the robber who blocked the road is not caught, the robbed person must swear to explain his loss, and then the mayor or local governor of the place where the robbery occurred will repay the loss." "If someone dies, the mayor or local governor must pay compensation to the relatives of the deceased." (Articles 23 and 24 of the Code)
4. Literature
The greatest literary work in Babylonian times is the Epic of Gilgamesh (a story about the forgotten and Enzidu). This epic vividly reflects people's desire to explore the mystery of the natural law of life and death, and also shows that people can never overcome the natural law and death is inevitable. So this hero who longs for eternal life finally has to admit that he should eat, drink and be merry without worrying about what will happen tomorrow: "Forgotten, where are you drifting?" /You will never get the eternal life you seek,/Because God made man with death. /... forgot one, put on new clothes and take a shower. /Gaze at your child holding your hand,/Happiness Your wife is in your arms. /People should only care about these things. "
The ancient Babylonians made a complete story of Sumerian legends about the flood and the appearance of human beings. This is reflected in the Babylonian myth "Atrahas".
5. Scientific achievements
Ancient Babylon inherited Sumerian achievements in mathematics and astronomy and made further development. Around 1800 BC, calligraphers of the Babylonian temple in Cuba used multiplication and division tables and tables for calculating square roots, cubic roots, reciprocal and exponents. A basic thing in our modern life, which comes from ancient Babylonian mathematics, is to divide a day into two 12 hours, each hour into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds. Since then, all western civilizations have inherited the "decimal" timing method of the Babylonians.