Questions tagged [ancient-babylon]

Babylon was a Mesopotamian realm that existed between the 18th and 6th centuries BCE going through several periods of emergence and decay, including the Old period, the Middle period, the Assyrian perod, and the Neo-Babylonian period.

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Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?

The second law of the Code of Hammurabi states: 2 If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall ...
Mindwin Remember Monica's user avatar
34 votes
1 answer
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How do I find the sources which determined the year of the fall of Babylon?

I'm really asking a general question about the study of history. Allegedly, the Babylonian Empire fell to the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. All articles regarding this event simply take ...
Jackson Capper's user avatar
24 votes
1 answer
4k views

Was touching your nose a greeting in second millenium Mesopotamia?

I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format): "Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate ...
Flux's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
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What were the causes of decline of Babylonian numeric system?

Babylonia developed a numeric system advanced far ahead of its neighbors, and some might say even superior to our contemporary decimal. It was a 60-base system with convenient composition of factors ...
SF.'s user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
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What murals and decor might have been present in the earliest Sumerian temples?

So, for the sake of a production I'm working on a lot of digital artwork meant to represent a slightly-fantastic, but based in fact, representation of ancient Sumeria. Think 5000 years+ ago; dawn-of-...
Michael Macha's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
796 views

What was the point of the Babylonian captivity?

What was the point of the Babylonian captivity? I could understand if a few royalty or nobility were taken hostage, but why tens of thousands? I see no suggestion that they were taken into slavery. ...
Keith McClary's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
374 views

What was a cistern to the Babylonians?

I am working with Babylonian math and some word problems mention an object called a cistern. I looked this up and it seems it can be any tank of water. Some are cylindrical, others rectangular, and ...
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1 answer
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Was the Persian conquest of Tyre particularly easy, uneventful, or do we lack sources?

I'm reading the history of Tyre on Wikipedia, and noticing how some sieges were very difficult and get great details, giving the impression that Tyre was a really difficult to conquer city, whereas ...
Gabi's user avatar
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Is there any evidence that Assyrian or Babylonian kings ate their enemies?

Is there any evidence that Assyrian or Babylonian kings took their captive/conquered enemies and actually ate their bodies (dead or alive)? EDIT I apologize for not explaining where I am coming from ...
Reb Chaim HaQoton's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
442 views

Why wasn't Akkadian translated into other more common languages?

From what I have gathered I believe there are currently no examples of Akkadian literature, written on cuneiform tablets, being translated into other languages onto papyri outside the Mesopotamian ...
user329957's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
323 views

What materials would have been used in the ancient Mesopotamian crown?

To provide context, I'm working on a project involving artwork for the Enuma Elish, and I've gotten to a sort of crown initially on my portrayal of Absu. I know that gold was available to the ancient ...
Michael Macha's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
655 views

Is there a historical basis for the "day of the false King" described in The Egyptian?

In Book 6 of Mika Waltari's historical novel The Egyptian, Kaptah, Sinuhe's slave and companion, ascends to the throne of Babylon for a day: I was by now familiar with many customs in Babylon, yet I ...
yannis's user avatar
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Did Marduk-balassu-iqbi help Assur-Danin-Pal?

This is a question about Assur-Danin-Pal and his relationship to the Babylonian kings. First I need to introduce the characters: Shalmaneser III: King of Assyria (859-824) Assur-Danin-Pal: His son, ...
John Dee's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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When is the first time any variation of the name Misraim is used to refer to Egypt?

I asked a question here previously related to this, and I would like to be more specific in this question. There are numerous ancient records such as the Ugaritic tablets, the Assyrian & ...
eax_22's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
644 views

Why did Nebuchadnezzar keep King Jeconiah alive?

When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem he appointed Zedekiah as his puppet-king and took King Jeconiah and his sons home with him. For what reasons would the king of a large empire of antiquity, ...
Juicy's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
345 views

What methods did the Old Babylonian society use for solving equations?

According to the Wikipedia article on the Abacus, Ettore Carruccio stated in Mathematics and Logic In History and In Contemporary Thought that the Old Babylonians: may have used the abacus for the ...
called2voyage's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
132 views

How reliable is Herodotus' report on Babylonian sacred harlotry?

I'm looking for confirmation regarding Herodotus' report on sacred harlotry in Babylon: The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite ...
Dan Fefferman's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

Did the Babylonians know the Pythagorean Theorem before Pythagoras formulated it?

Came across a clip on TV from an (unidentified) BBC documentary showcasing the Plimpton 322 tablet, written in cuneiform c.1800 BC (1200 years before Pythagoras). The narrator says the tablet was ...
Samid's user avatar
  • 2,202
4 votes
2 answers
317 views

Were people in the Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid Empire aware of the empires before them?

The history of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia has been a complex one, with several empires spanning a couple of millennia. Were the people from latter empires, say Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid ...
taninamdar's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Babylonian handbags - meaning?

What is the meaning of “handbags” that Babylonian gods are often depicted carrying ? ![god with handbag]
AunAun's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
755 views

When did the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk reign?

According to Wikipedia, the reign of the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk (also known as Awil-Marduk and Evil-Merodach) was started in October 562 B.C.E. and was ended in August 560 B.C.E. So, it lasted ...
stkuser's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
173 views

What was the purpose of a tally stick?

I was recently reading a translation of "The debate between Sheep and Grain" Babylonian creation myth. It mentioned the following in lines 130-142: Every night your count is made and your tally-...
James Shewey's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

How did ancient cultures identify a new moon when it can never be seen?

Some ancient cultures used a Lunar calendar and the "New Moon" is considered the first of the month. In ancient Semitic cultures, Assyria, Persia, Akkadia, Israel, etc - how was the new moon ...
elika kohen's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
3k views

What were the types of currency used in ancient Mesopotamia?

I noticed there were several types of currency mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. Shekel, Gur, Gerah, Ka, Mina. When you take into account that some of them could be weight measurements and could be ...
Mindwin Remember Monica's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
991 views

How much did food cost in Babylon?

I read recently some limited information about Babylon, and it doesn't sound right to me, so I thought I'd ask. I saw from one source that the wages for one year of unskilled labor may have been about ...
Patrick O'Brien's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Did the Babylonian priesthood flee to Pergamum?

I'm reading Brent Winters' The Excellence of the Common Law right now, which relies heavily on the idea that the priesthood of Babylon fled to Pergamum when Babylon was conquered in 539 BC. The ...
jstaab's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
476 views

Was Nebuchadnezzar made King in a year other than 605 BC?

According to a Babylonian astronomy observation text, there was a lunar eclipse in Nebuchadnezzar's 32nd year. This eclipse has been placed at 568 BC. I'm assuming we can then affirm that ...
user329957's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
202 views

Gold coin vs Silver coin exchange rate fluctuations in antiquity

Commodity prices fluctuate based on many factors (mostly use and availability). How much the exchange rate between gold and silver coins may fluctuate in a month or a year? Place: Judea & Bavel. ...
sds's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
146 views

Why does the Uruk King List say Antiochus I Soter ruled for 22 years?

Livius.org describes the Uruk King List, translating it and also listing what years those kings are believed to have ruled (from other sources). In the list, it says Antiochus I Soter ruled for 22 ...
A L's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
314 views

Dating of Hammurabi discrepancy

I have multiple sources regarding the code of Hammurabi/Hammurapi and they have two conflicting dates of origin. Some give a date of compilation at near 1795-1750 B.C and some date it at 2250 B.C. ...
William D.'s user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
251 views

When did this shipment of Babylonian painted tiles for the Louvre sink?

In her 1887 textbook "History of Art for Beginners and Students" Clara Erskine Clement wrote: A whole cargo of fragments of Babylonish tile-paintings was once collected for the gallery of ...
Mikhail Batcer's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
149 views

What is the oldest example of complaints against wealth being due to closeness to the ruler?

Consider the sentence “The king is the one at whose side wealth walks”. It is taken from the Babylonian Theodicy, a poem which was written somewhere between 1500 B.C. and 1100 B.C. and which is ...
José Carlos Santos's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
755 views

Why did Babylonians/Persians use the ascension year method?

[12] Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner....
Hello's user avatar
  • 83
2 votes
0 answers
294 views

When did Cyrus II release the captives of Babylon?

The text below are bits I want to discuss that are taken from the Cyrus Cylinder — dated 539–530 BCE. "I am Cyrus, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king ...
Hello's user avatar
  • 83
1 vote
1 answer
137 views

What is the difference between OBV & SBV, in Babylonian texts translated to English?

What is the difference between OBV (Old Babylonian Version) and SBV (Standard Babylonian Version), in Babylonian texts translated to English ? Is SVB a standardized translation or standardized form of ...
Neel's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
404 views

When was Sura in the Roman Empire?

I am curious about this statement: Sura was under Roman control in the time of Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) and Ptolemy (c. 100-170 CE) but was conquered by the Sasanian king Shapur I in 253 CE. ...
John Dee's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
224 views

Are there any theories of Tiglath Pileser III's origins?

Most histories gloss over the low point of Assyria from 800-745. I have become interested in the period because of Shammuramat, the Babylonian regent, and her sons, who struggled for power with an ...
John Dee's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
144 views

Did Nebuchadnezzar And The Medes Ever Go To War After Their Alliance Against Assyria?

I know this is not a biblical group but there is history in the bible so I was curious about something. I was reading Jeremiah 25 which, to summarize, says that the nations will serve the king of ...
Servant's user avatar
  • 117
0 votes
1 answer
180 views

What Evidence Do We Have For Samaritans Living In Babylon in the 6th or 5th Century BC?

Does anybody have any sources to show a Samaritan population in Babylon during the 6th or 5th Century BCE? 2 Kings 17 records the deporting of five different nations into the cities of Samaria And ...
Servant's user avatar
  • 117
-1 votes
2 answers
264 views

Are there any Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, or any foreign account of the demise of the Hittites?

The Hittite Empire collapsed due to a civil war inside the capital (ignoring the territorial losses that occurred earlier). Are there any foreign accounts of that era (non-Hittite) that describe ...
Samid's user avatar
  • 2,202
-2 votes
1 answer
238 views

Was there a biblical prophet whos position was validated by the fall of Egypt? [closed]

I thought that there was a prophet who was particularly opposed to allying with Egypt. Egypt subsequently fell and his position became validated. The Judeans lasted a little longer and then came under ...
John Dee's user avatar
  • 3,338
-2 votes
1 answer
313 views

Kingdom of Judah under Babylonian rule

I'm writing some work about the kingdom of Judah under the Babylonian rule (604-539 BC). I am looking for the reasons that led to the instability of Judah under the Babylonian rule. I would ...
Jordan's user avatar
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