Babylon

 

 

            After the death of Sargon I the separate city-states became powerful.  At about 1800 B. C., group called the Amorites entered the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and constructed their own cities.  One of the cities was Babylon.  Babylon's king, Hammurabi, conquered Akkad and Sumer and became the emperor of a great empire. 

            Babylon's people took as their own the culture of their conquered people.  They took over the language of the city-states.  They worshipped the Sumerian gods but gave them Babylonian names. 

            Hammurabi was a great conqueror.  His rule extended to the Mediterranean Sea.  As a ruler, he brought many changes.  Hammurabi improved the irrigation systems already in place.  He raised the god of Babylon over all other gods.  When people worshipped the god of Babylon as well as their own god, they became more united.  Hammurabi reorganized the tax system and began a government-housing program. 

            Hammurabi's most famous reform was Hammurabi's Code, an early form of a constitution.  Each city-state had its own code.  Hammurabi took the best laws from each city-state and combined them to make Hammurabi's code.  Hammurabi wanted to make sure that his code was carried out fairly and justly.  To do this, he appointed royal judges.  Dishonest judges were punished.

            Hammurabi's code covered almost everything in daily life.  A thing such as a person is innocent until proven guilty, which was unorthodox for the time, was in Hammurabi's code.  Punishment ranged from fines to life sentences.  There were no prison sentences.  In Hammurabi's society, members of the upper class were generally punished more severely than those of the middle and lower classes.

            During Hammurabi's rule, Babylon was an important center of trade.  Babylonians exchanged their surplus products for money and goods. People from as far away as India and China came to trade.  They paid the Babylonians in gold and silver.

            Hammurabi ruled for 40 years.  His reign is known as the Golden Age of Babylon.  After his death, the Babylonian Empire declined, and Mesopotamia was divided into independent city-states again.