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A Short History of Babylon
Much of our perception of Babylon in the West is filtered through the poignant echoes of loss and longing that resonate in the Hebrew Bible. The lamenting exiles of Judah craved a return to their lost homeland after the sack of Jerusalem in 587 BC and their forcible removal by Nebuchadnezzar to the alien floodlands of the Euphrates. But to see Babylon only as an adjunct to Old Testament history is misleading. A Short History of Babylon explores the ever-changing city that shaped world history for two millennia.
- GenresHistoryAncient History
272 pages, Hardcover
First published February 20, 2020
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About the author
Karen Radner
31 books9 followersKaren Radner is Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
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July 5, 2021
This book was full of interesting tidbits about Babylon. A few of them were:
*Why the city decayed so quickly compared to some other ancient places. Most of the city was built with mud-brick, which is magnificent for cooling but decays quickly.
*How advanced the Code of Hammurabi was in some ways. Most of what I have read about the Code compares it unfavorably with the Torah; however, Radner notes that the Code limits debt slavery for native Babylonians to three years, much as the Torah limits debt slavery for Jews. And like Rome and Catholicism, the Code creates a class of nun-like virgins, women who became celibate to spend their lives praying for the dead.
*Babylonian (and Assyrian) priests tried to foretell the future by reading the entrails of a sheep. Radner explains how this worked; livers are small enough to be easily held, and each liver has a unique surface with different patterns. Babylonians developed traditions that told diviners what patterns meant "yes" (in response to a question asked by a sacrificer) and which patterns meant "no."
*The Assyrian/Babylonian relationship in the 7th c. BCE was somewhat similar to the Assyrian/Hebrew relationship. First the Assyrians invaded. Like the Hebrew Northern Kingdom, the Babylonians revolted. At first the Assyrians treated Babylon much like the Northern Kingdom- executing the king and deporting the inhabitants. Assyrians even claimed that their own local deity was now superior to Marduk (the deity most heavily worshipped by Babylonians). The next Assyrian king moved in a different direction, acknowledging Marduk's importance and claiming that the Babylonians had abandoned him (much as the Northern Kingdom Hebrews abandoned their God, according to the Bible). Just a few decades later, Babylon not only regained its independence but took over Assyria. And about 80 years after Babylon regained independence, Persia took over Babylon.
*Although Babylon was hardly monotheistic, the city was dominated by temples of Marduk, so perhaps the Babylonian emphasis on Marduk as the chief god foreshadows monotheism.
*Radner tries to explain why Babylonian records don't address the conquest of the Hebrew Southern Kingdom. First, the most durable Babylonian records simply do not address feats of military glory to the same extent as Assyrian records. Second, by the 6th century Babylonians had begun to use papyrus, which (unlike the clay tablets used earlier) has mostly perished.
*Radner discusses recent records of early Jewish settlement in Babylonia (presumably as a result of the Babylonian conquest of the Southern Hebrew Kingdom in 586). Recently discovered clay tablets show that there was a town called Al-Yahadu (the Town of Judah) and other towns had names that may reference Israel. The tablets also refer to businessmen with Jewish names (which, in this context, meant the names begin with Y and thus reference the Jewish God in some way). Some reference a family whose Jewish-named patriarch was deported to Babylon as part of the conquest; the patriarch then gave his son a not-so-Jewish name, and the son then gave HIS children Jewish names.
*Why did the Babylonians and Assyrians deport Jews anyhow? Radner explains that this was not an act of pure vindictiveness; rather, agriculture in this part of the world was very labor-intensive, and there was plenty of arable land but not always enough people to work the land. (Dates in particular were labor-intensive). Deporting conquered people to these places solved the problem.
*Why the city decayed so quickly compared to some other ancient places. Most of the city was built with mud-brick, which is magnificent for cooling but decays quickly.
*How advanced the Code of Hammurabi was in some ways. Most of what I have read about the Code compares it unfavorably with the Torah; however, Radner notes that the Code limits debt slavery for native Babylonians to three years, much as the Torah limits debt slavery for Jews. And like Rome and Catholicism, the Code creates a class of nun-like virgins, women who became celibate to spend their lives praying for the dead.
*Babylonian (and Assyrian) priests tried to foretell the future by reading the entrails of a sheep. Radner explains how this worked; livers are small enough to be easily held, and each liver has a unique surface with different patterns. Babylonians developed traditions that told diviners what patterns meant "yes" (in response to a question asked by a sacrificer) and which patterns meant "no."
*The Assyrian/Babylonian relationship in the 7th c. BCE was somewhat similar to the Assyrian/Hebrew relationship. First the Assyrians invaded. Like the Hebrew Northern Kingdom, the Babylonians revolted. At first the Assyrians treated Babylon much like the Northern Kingdom- executing the king and deporting the inhabitants. Assyrians even claimed that their own local deity was now superior to Marduk (the deity most heavily worshipped by Babylonians). The next Assyrian king moved in a different direction, acknowledging Marduk's importance and claiming that the Babylonians had abandoned him (much as the Northern Kingdom Hebrews abandoned their God, according to the Bible). Just a few decades later, Babylon not only regained its independence but took over Assyria. And about 80 years after Babylon regained independence, Persia took over Babylon.
*Although Babylon was hardly monotheistic, the city was dominated by temples of Marduk, so perhaps the Babylonian emphasis on Marduk as the chief god foreshadows monotheism.
*Radner tries to explain why Babylonian records don't address the conquest of the Hebrew Southern Kingdom. First, the most durable Babylonian records simply do not address feats of military glory to the same extent as Assyrian records. Second, by the 6th century Babylonians had begun to use papyrus, which (unlike the clay tablets used earlier) has mostly perished.
*Radner discusses recent records of early Jewish settlement in Babylonia (presumably as a result of the Babylonian conquest of the Southern Hebrew Kingdom in 586). Recently discovered clay tablets show that there was a town called Al-Yahadu (the Town of Judah) and other towns had names that may reference Israel. The tablets also refer to businessmen with Jewish names (which, in this context, meant the names begin with Y and thus reference the Jewish God in some way). Some reference a family whose Jewish-named patriarch was deported to Babylon as part of the conquest; the patriarch then gave his son a not-so-Jewish name, and the son then gave HIS children Jewish names.
*Why did the Babylonians and Assyrians deport Jews anyhow? Radner explains that this was not an act of pure vindictiveness; rather, agriculture in this part of the world was very labor-intensive, and there was plenty of arable land but not always enough people to work the land. (Dates in particular were labor-intensive). Deporting conquered people to these places solved the problem.
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