Babylonians
The Babylonian Society
The Babylonian Society was an cultural region in Mesopotamia(modern day Iran), which in Greek stood for "land between the rivers." They had two rivers that surrounded them, the Euphrates and the Tigris. These rivers provided many things for them from an irrigation system to trading route between Akkad and Sumer. These rivers were a key element in there society. There was many spots in history for short periods of time that the Babylonians ruled. One of the bigger part of the rule started in 586 BCE when overtaking the Assyrians, and the rule ended in 538 BCE when the Persians took over.
Advanced Cities
A few major cities of Mesopotamia were Larsa, Babylon, Nippur, and Ur. Babylon, Ur and Larsa were big religious centers of the area. Nippur,Ur, and Babylon are still cities in moder day Iraq. At this time Babylon was the one of the better known cities of Mesopotamia. Babylon was also one of the larger cities at this time, covering 2,300 acres.
Social Structure
Mesopotamia was surrounded by the rivers the Euphrates and the Tigris casuing the ground to be very fertile. They also had good weather patterns, all this caused agricultural settlements and domesticated animals. Not all were farmers though even a good amount of the population were. They had doctors, astrologers, and builders.
Religon and Rituals
The Babylonians were a polytheistic group believing in gods and goddesses. Anu was the Babylonian deity who was the sky god, he was said to be the controller of heaven, storm, winds, and waves. Anu was credited with creating the universe and all the gods, goddesses and people. They had many rituals to praise there gods. They would have feasts to feed the gods and sacrifices, one example of a ritual is when a king would be in danger they would put a substitute king for a 100 days. This way if any harm came it would come towards the substituted king. At the end of thee 100 days the whole family of the substituted king would die.
Goverment
King Hammurabi created the code of Hammurabi. The Babylonians were one of the first to have any type of law or rule created to keep the civilization in check. The laws were about property, family, mortality and states the punishments on it to. At the beginning of the code of Hammurabi it states that god will punish future rulers who don't maintain these laws. This way all the kings who followed would have to follow this rule also.
System of Writing
Babylonians wrote in cuneiform, cuneiform is pictographic writing on clay tablets. Cuneiform writings were learned by scribes which were like modern day doctors and lawyers. They would learn on things called study tablets. Learning how to write cuneiform was a very long and difficult process. They had to learn hundreds of letters and as time past the writing became more symbolic and writing left to right were as before it was from top to bottom in vertical rows. Even at this time women were literate and learned to read and write also.
Contributions
The Babylonians were the first great practitioners of medical science of the time. At the time they were called magicians because it was like they could work miracles and fix someone. These magicians were scientists of the day. They would actually study certain illnesses to learn how to treat them and fix them. Another thing that Babylonians studied were the stars and the moon phases. They would use the phases to foreshadow evil or good omens. Lastly they were huge in mathematics they knew a circle was 360 degrees to quadratic equations and the Pythagorean theorem. Babylonians were big on astronomy they would say the phases of the moons would predict what would happen good or bad.
Conclusion
The Babylonian society was a very important civilization. They were a very advanced civilization and the first to have a set government with laws. They had math and a written language which proves how intelligent they were. Overall they were a very effective society which affected the rest of history with there culture.