Babylon was once a small village in ancient Sumer. But village
had grown in size and in power. Babylon never really fit in the Sumer
civilization. For one thing, they had a different language. As the civilization
of Sumer weakened, the Babylonians took over. King Hammurabi declared Babylon to
be the capital of Babylonia. King Hammurabi built his new capital in honor of
the great god Marduk, and thus it had to be the best city in the world. Indeed,
it probably was. To the Sumerians, Marduk was an important god. To the Babylonians, Marduk was the most important god of all.
Three thousand five
hundred years ago (3500 years ago!), ancient Babylon was
quite a place! It was a massive walled city, with a network of
canals and vivid green crops. There was much to buy, like fresh
fruits and vegetables, baked breads and cheese, warm coats, gold
jewelry and date wine. Inside the walls, life teemed.
Everyone lived inside the walled city. Farmers did not live on
their farms but here in the city. Merchants, craftsmen, food
vendors all made their homes here. Each family had their own
home. The streets were narrow, flanked on each side by the three
story houses of the inhabitants. In the center of the city was
the great Ziggurat, the religious temple. Visitors could see the top of the 300
foot high ziggurat long before they reached
the huge city gates. There
was a beautiful palace for the king and the royals. And every
family, be they rich or poor, had their own home inside the
walled city.
Homes: Many of the houses
of the nobles and common people were
designed with three stories of living space, with flat roofs.
Even the very poor, who lived in tiny townhouses, typically had
three levels of living space. The courtyard, or first floor, in
each house was very important. Behind the front door, a visitor
might find a tiny garden and domesticated animals such as
chickens. Rooftops were also important. People had
easy access to their roofs from inside their homes. Roofs were
flat for a reason. Flat roofs provided a fourth living space.
Much of their life was spent on the roof. They cooked and slept
on their roofs. Remember - Babylon was a walled city. These
roofs were inside the city walls. Some of the fancier roofs were
designed with four walls for privacy, and some had grape arbors
that provided food, privacy, and shelter from the sun.
City Streets:
Inside the walled city, the streets in
ancient Babylon were very narrow. Most streets were unpaved.
Streets or alleyways provided access to everyone’s front door.
The streets also served as a garage dump. People simply threw
their trash out the door. On occasion, the city covered the
streets with a new layer of clay. This buried the trash, but
made the level of the street higher. It soon became necessary to
build steps down to your front door. Most people filled in the
area between the road and their door, or punched in a
new door and built up.
Procession Avenue and the
Ishtar Gate: One of the most impressive sites was the
avenue that led into the city. This avenue was called Procession
Street (or Procession Avenue.) Huge pacing brick animals were
positioned along both sides of the avenue as decoration. The
avenue passed under the elaborate Ishtar Gate, the gate to the
walled city, which was designed with dragons and bulls in honor
of Marduk. Most mythical dragons have wings. Marduk’s dragon was
wingless. (It looked somewhat like a huge dragon dog.)
Festival of the New Year/The
Annual Procession of the Gods: Each New Year, during
the New Year Festival, statues of the gods were paraded along
Processional Avenue. The statue of Marduk, Chief of all the
Gods, led the parade, attended by his caretaker priests. Next in
line was Marduk’s goddess wife (statue) attended by her
caretaker priests. The third statue in the parade featured the
sun god Shamash. More statues followed, in a seemingly endless
procession of gods and goddesses, each attended by their
respective caretaker priests.
When the parade reached the Euphrates River,
each statue was carefully placed into a waiting boat, one statue
per boat. As they were loaded, the boats sailed or were rowed in
a continuing parade towards the Garden Temple. When
the boats landed at the Garden Temple, each statue was
transferred to a waiting chariot, one statue per chariot, and
the procession continued. At the end of procession, the statues
were returned to their temples. Each major city in
ancient Babylonia celebrated the festival of the New Year in
much the same way. Many people braved the terrors of travel
to visit the capital city Babylon at festival time because they
so wanted to see this famous annual procession.
Hanging Gardens: One
of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens,
may have really have existed. The Hanging Gardens were perhaps the first roof garden.
Although the garden had walls, the top of this massive area was
left open. The tops of trees could be glimpsed from a great
distance. This gave the appearance of a garden hanging in thin
air, which is how the garden received its name. The gardens were
terraced, and rose about 75 feet high. There were flowers and
fruit trees and cascading waterfalls. The gardens were part of
the palace, built
a gift of love from a king for his queen.
Babylonian Laws:
The government and laws of Babylon were like the government and laws of Sumer. There was a king and other nobles who ruled with the help of an assembly of the people. The
laws of Babylon were taken from the laws of Sumer. Everyone
was expected to know and obey the laws. To
ensure that the laws were followed by everyone, one of the kings
of Babylon, King Hammurabi, had the laws written down on stone
tablets so that, whether they were rich or poor, everyone would be treated equally under the
law. Most of these laws were taken from Sumerian law.
A day as a boss in ancient Babylon (video, animated)
Daily Life in Ancient Babylon
The Story of Aplum and the Extra Month
Astronomers of Babylon
Babylonian Myths
How Marduk Became King of ALL the Gods
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Hammurabi's Code
Plumbing Babylonian Style
The First Cities - The City of Babylon
Architecture of
ancient Mesopotamia
Art &
Craftsmen
Music and Instruments (hear it!)
Free
Presentations about Ancient Babylon