Page 18 - Advanced Bible Geography ebook

The capital of Babylonia was Babylon. It has been estimated that
Babylon was the largest city in the world from around 1770
BC to 1670 BC; and then again between 612 BC and 320 BC. It was
perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.

The Babylonian civilization achieved much during the time of its
supremacy. They developed the first ever positional number
system in which the value of a digit depends on both the digit and its
position. The positional system greatly simplified arithmetic and
helped the Babylonians to make great advances in mathematics. It has now been established
that Greek and Hellenistic mathematicians borrowed heavily from the Babylonians.

Babylonia also contributed significantly to Mesopotamian art and architecture; they built massive and
marvelous structures like Etemenanki and the Ishtar Gate (pictured previous page). Nebuchadnezzar
built the 47 feet tall gate for the purpose of making the Jews taken in the Jerusalem siege pass through
it into Babylon. The gate was dedicated to the pagan goddess
Ishtar and forcing the Jews to walk through such a gate added
great insult to their defeated condition.

The Babylonian civilization occupies a pivotal place in the history of
modern scientific astronomy and it laid the basis for all western
astronomy. They also laid the foundation for Western astrology.

Hammurabi’s famous
law code

Besides Hammurabi’s famous law code, he focused on improving irrigation and control of water
resources, building massive temples and engaging in public works such as enlarging the double walls of
the city.

Hammurabi’s empire lasted only his lifetime. The control he had established over Mesopotamia
dwindled away until the city itself was sacked in 1595 B.C. by the Hittites. Kassites, a mountain people
from Iran, later took the city and conquered the rest of Mesopotamia as well. Under the Kassite dynasty,
Babylon became a great cultural center of learning, producing texts on mathematics, medicine and

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