The Babylon ruins, once the capital of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire, are among some of the world’s oldest and most magnificent cities. On a mild winter weekend, the sun pours down on the yellow archways of the reconstructed palace of King Nebuchadnezzar II at the site of the ancient city of Babylon. Nearly three millennia after Nebuchadnezzar’s[…]
In recent decades, the site of Babylon has suffered considerable damage from problematic reconstructions of ancient buildings. The city of Babylon lay on the River Euphrates in southern Mesopotamia, in what is today Iraq. Although it was not among the oldest cities in this part of the world (the earliest of which is normally considered[…]
Passing lion, brick panel from the Procession Way which ran from the Marduk temple to the Ishtar Gate and the Akitu Temple / Photo by Jastrow, Louvre Museum, Wikimedia Commons Gilgamesh, legendary ruler of Uruk, famous drinker, womanizer and battler against monsters, was a King Arthur of Mesopotamian antiquity. By Dr. Paul Kriwaczek British Historian Uruk[…]
The top of the Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi / Creative Commons Hammurabi ruled through provincial governors but also allowed cities to make local decisions and collect taxes by councils of elders. By Dr. Sanderson Beck Author and Historian As indicated by Rim-Sin’s rule from Larsa in the south and the extensive territory controlled[…]
Hammurabi (standing), depicted as receiving his royal insignia from Shamash. Hammurabi holds his hands over his mouth as a sign of prayer (relief on the upper part of the stele of Hammurabi’s code of laws). / Photo by MBZT, Louvre Museum, Paris, Wikimedia Commons According to his own inscriptions, letters and administrative documents from his reign, he sought[…]
Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 06.19.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Rise of Babylon The Emergence of the First Babylonian Dynasty After the collapse of the Akkadians, the Babylonian Empire flourished under Hammurabi, who conquered many surrounding peoples and empires, in addition to developing an extensive code of law and establishing Babylon as a “holy city” of[…]
The Plimpton 322 tablet. UNSW/Andrew Kelly, Creative Commons A 3,700-year old Babylonian clay tablet reveals an ancient method of constructing right-angled triangles that makes it the world’s oldest and most accurate trigonometric table. By Dr. Daniel Mansfield (left) and Dr. Norman Wilderberger (right) / 08.24.2017 Mansfield: Associate Lecturer in Mathematics Wilderberger: Associate Professor in Mathematics University of New South Wales The ancient Babylonians –[…]
Creative Commons By Dr. Michael Fowler / 06.12.2015 Maxine S. and Jesse W. Beams Professor of Physics , Physics Education,Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics University of Virginia The Earliest Written Language Sumer and Babylonia, located in present-day Iraq, were probably the first peoples to have a written language, beginning in Sumer in about 3100 BC. The language[…]