The Babylonians

Much confusion surrounds many peoples understanding of Mesopotamian history in general. One area where this is most pronounced is the history of the Babylonians.

The two most famous periods of Babylonian history are more than 1000 years apart. One of these periods, is the time around the reign of Hammurabi about 1750 BC. The other period is that of the neo-Babylonian empire around 600 BC. This is the period which the Bible talks about in the Old Testament in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and others. Though these two periods are the most famous, there were many other periods in Babylons history. However, after the neo-Babylonian empire fell to Persia, many empires controlled Babylon and it was never a major power again.

The Babylonians are best known for their knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and there city planning and architecture. The Babylonians mapped the path of various stars in the night sky, understood exponential growth of numbers, basic algebra, knew the Pythagorean theorem (before the Greeks), understood basic geometry and kept records of astronomical events.

The Babylonians practiced polytheism and based their beliefs largely on the Sumerians and Akkadians with Marduk held in especially high regard.

Babylon is located in modern day Iraq. Its' future is extremely unsure. What is sure, is that Babylons memory will forever impact civilization on earth.


Map created by: MapMaster