THE BEQUEST OF THE GREEKS
C O N T E NTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 PART I LAND AND LAND USE 2 THE WORLD OF BABYLONIAN COUNTRYSIDES 13 3 LAND AND LAND USE THE MIDDLE EUPHRATES VALLEY 39 4 AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES 54 5 URBAN FORM IN THE RST MILLENNIUM BC 66 PART II MATERIAL CULTURE 6 ARCHITECTURE IN THE OLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD 81 7 BABYLONIAN SEALS 95 8 BABYLONIAN SOURCES OF EXOTIC RAW MATERIALS 124 9 CLOTH IN THE BABYLONIAN WORLD 141 10 THE BABYLONIAN VISUAL IMAGE 155 11 FOOD AND DRINK IN BABYLONIA 171 PART III ECONOMIC LIFE 12 ECONOMY OF ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA A GENERAL OUTLINE 187 13 THE OLD BABYLONIAN ECONOMY 198 14 ASPECTS OF SOCIETY AND ECONOMY IN THE LATER OLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD 210 15 THE BABYLONIAN ECONOMY IN THE RST MILLENNIUM BC 224 16 THE EGIBI FAMILY 236 PART IV SOCIETY AND POLITICS 17 SOCIAL CON GURATIONS IN EARLY DYNASTIC BABYLONIA C 2500 2334 BC 251 18 THE PALACE AND THE TEMPLE IN BABYLONIA 265 19 POWER ECONOMY AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION IN BABYLONIA 276 20 ARAMEANS AND CHALDEANS ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 288 21 WOMEN AND GENDER IN BABYLONIA 299 PART V RELIGION 22 THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF GODDESSES IN MESOPOTAMIA 319 23 INANNA AND ISHTAR IN THE BABYLONIAN WORLD 332 24 THE BABYLONIAN GOD MARDUK 348 25 DIVINATION CULTURE AND THE HANDLING OF THE FUTURE 361 26 WITCHCRAFT LITERATURE IN MESOPOTAMIA 373 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION I N THE BOOK OF GENESIS XI 9 THE ETYMOLOGY OF BABEL IS GIVEN AS CONFUSION THE RESULT OF DIVINE INTERVENTION IN ORDER TO PUNISH A PEOPLE FOR THEIR WISH TO MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES BY BUILDING A CITY AND A TOWER WHOSE TOP MAY REACH UNTO HEAVEN LANGUAGE OR INDEED THE PROLIFERATION OF LANGUAGES URBANISM IT IS THE RST MENTION OF A CITY IN THE BIBLE MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE AND HISTORICAL MEMORY ARE THUS ALL ASSOCIATED WITH THE TOPONYM BABEL IN THE LATER BIBLICAL BOOKS A GREAT DEAL MORE WILL BE SAID ABOUT BABYLON AND ITS KINGS WHO WAGED WAR AGAINST JUDAH WHILE IN THESE ACCOUNTS THE BABYLONIANS JUST LIKE OTHER POWERFUL AND REPRESSIVE NATIONS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST WERE TO BE DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION AND ANNIHILATION THE BIBLICAL WRITINGS DID KEEP THEIR MEMORY ALIVE UNTIL THE POST ENLIGHTENMENT EXPLORERS BROUGHT BACK TANGIBLE EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT WRITINGS MONUMENTS AND CITIES FOR THE LAST CENTURY AND A HALF THE BABYLONIANS HAVE ONCE MORE BECOME PART OF OUR MODERNITY CUNEIFORM DOCUMENTS ARE RELATIVELY ROBUST AND THEY SURVIVED THE SACKING OF CITIES HAVING BEEN BURIED IN THE SAND FOR MILLENNIA THEY NOW CONSTITUTE AN EVER GROWING DATA BANK COMPRISING MANY THOUSANDS OF TABLETS THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS IN IRAQ HOWEVER HAS A SERIOUS IMPACT ON SCHOLARSHIP WITNESS THE DESTRUCTION OF SITES BY LOOTERS AND MILITARY ACTIVITIES THE DISPERSAL OF MATERIAL WITHOUT ESTABLISHED CONTEXT AND THE LOSS OF UNPUBLISHED ARTEFACTS FROM IRAQI MUSEUM COLLECTIONS SCIENTI CALLY CONDUCTED ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS HAVE ALMOST CEASED ACADEMIC LIFE IN IRAQI DEPARTMENTS HAS SUFFERED FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF LIBRARIES AND FACILITIES THE TRAUMA OF DISPLACEMENT WILL ECHO ACROSS THE ASSYRIOLOGICAL WORLD FOR SOME TIME BUT IT IS ALSO AFFECTED BY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ACADEMIC WORLD IN GENERAL CONSIDERABLE ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON UNIVERSITIES TO FOLLOW THE MARKET JEOPARDIZES MINORITY SUB JECTS SUCH AS ASSYRIOLOGY AND THIS HAS LED TO THE CLOSURE OF SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS AND HAS RESTRICTED RESEARCH FUNDING ON THE OTHER HAND ASSYRIOLOGY HAS SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD WITH INSTITUTES IN CHINA JAPAN LATIN AMERICA AND SOUTH AFRICA AND THE CURRENT VOLUME DOCUMENTS THE CONTINUING VITALITY OF THE SUBJECT AND THE COMMITMENT OF SCHOLARS FROM ALL CONTINENTS TO KEEP CONNECTED TO THE BABYLONIAN WORLD 1 BABYLONIA PART OF MESOPOTAMIA BABYLONIA CAN BE DE NED GEOGRAPHICALLY AS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF MESOPOTAMIA BEGINNING WHERE THE RIVERS TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES APPROACH EACH OTHER FORMING A STRIP OF LAND LIKE A PINCHED WAIST AT THE VERY SOUTH LIE THE MARSHES AND BEYOND THE WATERS OF THE PERSIAN GULF THE NORTHERN HALF OF MESOPOTAMIA WAS KNOWN AS ASSYRIA MOST OF THE ASSYRIAN CITIES WERE SITUATED ALONG THE TIGRIS THOSE OF BABYLONIA ALONG THE EUPHRATES A MAJOR TRADE ROUTE IN ITSELF OR ON THE INTERMEDIARY CANALS THE ZAGROS MOUNTAINS FORM A NATURAL BORDER TO THE EAST AS DOES THE GREAT ARABIAN DESERT TO THE WEST THE CLIMATE IS HOTTER AND DRIER IN SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA AGRICULTURE IS ONLY POSSIBLE THROUGH IRRIGATION AND THE LANDSCAPE IS MARKED BY A DENSE NETWORK OF CANALS LEVEES AND DAMS THE DATE PALM OURISHES ONLY SOUTH OF BAGHDAD AND THEIR GRACEFUL FRONDS MARKED THE BABYLONIAN SKYLINE FOR MILLENNIA BABYLONIAN HISTORY IS EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LONGUE DUR E OF MESOPOTAMIAN HISTORY BUT CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE EPONYMOUS CITY OF BABYLON LYING ON THE EUPHRATES SOME NINETY KILOMETRES SOUTH OF BAGHDAD THE CITY WAS FOUNDED SOMETIME IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM THE AKKADIAN KING SHAR KALI SHARRI PROVIDES THE RST HISTORICAL MENTION A REFERENCE TO ITS TEMPLES BABYLON WAS THUS PERHAPS ALWAYS A HOLY CITY THE ETYMOLOGY OF A POSSIBLY NON SEMITIC ORIGINAL NAME WAS INTERPRETED BY CUNEIFORM SCHOLARS AS BAB IL GATE OF THE GOD DURING THE TIME OF THE THIRD DYNASTY OF UR AROUND 2000 BC IT WAS A PROVINCIAL CAPITAL AND SOME HUNDRED YEARS LATER AFTER THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE UR EMPIRE IT BECAME THE SEAT OF A SMALL KINGDOM FOUNDED BY THE AMORITE CHIEF SUMU ABUM HIS GRANDSON HAMMURABI MANAGED TO UNITE ALL OF SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA AS WELL AS MUCH OF THE MIDDLE EUPHRATES REGION ALTHOUGH THIS FIRST DYNASTY OF BABYLON COULD NOT HOLD ALL THESE LANDS TOGETHER FOR LONG ITS RULERS BROUGHT A DEGREE OF CULTURAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE UNIFORMITY TO BABYLONIA WHICH IS DOCUMENTED BY ABUNDANT TEXTUAL SOURCES THE CITY OF BABYLON AS THE SEAT OF KING SHIP WAS LAVISHLY ENDOWED WITH TEMPLES AND PALACES SO SPLENDID DID THE CITY BECOME THAT IT ATTRACTED THE CUPIDITY OF A FAR DISTANT RULER THE HITTITE KING MURSILI WHO SWEPT DOWN THE EUPHRATES TO ATTACK THE CITY AND PLUNDER ITS RICHES THE AMORITE CHIEFS WHO HAD FOUNDED THE FIRST DYNASTY WERE PART OF A SEMITIC PEOPLE WHO HAD MIGRATED INTO MESOPOTAMIA FROM THE WEST IN SEARCH OF PASTURE AND NEW STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL THOSE WHO ADOPTED THE SETTLED AND URBAN WAY OF LIFE BECAME ACCULTURATED TO THE BABYLONIAN WAYS WHICH CAN BE SEEN CLEARLY IN PERSONAL NAMES WHICH RE ECT AN ACCEPTANCE OF THE ESTABLISHED RELIGIOUS PRACTICES THEIR LANGUAGE OLD BABYLONIAN REPLACED THE PREVIOUSLY SPOKEN SUMERIAN AND ONLY THE MOST LEARNED OF SCHOLARS WERE FAMILIAR WITH WRITTEN SUMERIAN THE ASSIMILATIVE POWERS OF BABYLONIAN CULTURE BECAME AGAIN APPARENT WHEN ANOTHER GROUP OF IMMIGRANTS THIS TIME ARRIVING FROM THE EAST AND KNOWN AS THE KASSITES TOOK POLITICAL CONTROL THEIR RST KINGS STILL BORE OUTLANDISH KASSITE NAMES THE LATER ONES ADOPTED GOOD BABYLONIAN NAMES AND TITLES THEY CONTINUED TO EXERCISE THEIR DUTIES TOWARDS BABYLONIAN GODS AND THEIR TEMPLES AND THOUGH THEY BUILT A NEW CAPITAL BABYLON REMAINED THE CEREMONIAL AND RELIGIOUS CENTRE OF THE COUNTRY WHICH CAME TO BE KNOWN AS KARDUNIASH THE KASSITE KINGS ESTABLISHED THE RST PROPERLY UNI ED STATE SYSTEM IN BABYLONIA AND DURING THEIR LONG REIGN ALMOST 500 YEARS BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION CRYSTALLIZED IT WAS A RELATIVELY STABLE PERIOD IN WHICH MUCH WEALTH WAS GENERATED THROUGH TRADE IN LUXURY GOODS AND A STRONG RURAL AGRICULTURAL BASE IN THE 2 THE BEQUEST OF THE GREEKS MID SECOND MILLENNIUM BABYLONIAN BECAME THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF DIPLOMACY UTILIZED BY THE COURT SCRIBES OF ALL MAJOR POWERS THE EGYPTIANS HITTITES MITANNI AS WELL IN VARIOUS LEVANTINE STATES UNLIKE MOST OF THE MAJOR PLAYERS AT THE TIME BABYLONIA AVOIDED GETTING DRAWN INTO MILITARY CON ICTS HOWEVER THE WAVE OF DISRUP TION AND VIOLENCE THAT AFFECTED ESPECIALLY THE WESTERN PART OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY EVENTUALLY TRIGGERED MASSIVE DISPLACEMENTS OF POPULATIONS WHICH DESTABILIZED BABYLONIA TOO THE END OF THE SECOND MILLENNIUM IS POORLY DOCUMENTED ONE SHORT LIVED DYNASTY FOLLOWED ANOTHER AS VARIOUS TRIBAL GROUPINGS FOUGHT FOR CONTROL OF THE MAIN CITIES BABYLONIA S FATE IN THE RST MILLENNIUM WAS INITIALLY DETERMINED BY THE RISE OF ASSYRIA AS THE MOST POWERFUL STATE IN THE REGION WHILE ASSYRIAN MONARCHS ACKNOW LEDGED THE RELIGIOUS AND SCHOLARLY STATUS OF BABYLONIA IT DID NOT STOP THEM FROM IMPOSING DIRECT RULE WHICH WAS TO LAST FOR NEARLY TWO CENTURIES AND WHICH WAS ERCELY RESISTED A COALITION WITH THE NEIGHBOURS IN THE EAST RST ELAM AND THEN THE MEDES STRENGTHENED BABYLONIAN EFFORTS TO END ASSYRIAN DOMINATION WHICH SUCCEEDED IN 612 WITH THE FALL OF NINEVEH UNDER THE RULE OF MILITARY LEADERS SUCH AS NEBUKADREZZAR II BABYLONIA CLAIMED A GOOD PORTION OF ASSYRIA S WEALTH BOOSTED BY THE CONQUEST OF THE OLD ENEMY S DEPENDENCIES THE MONEY WAS PLOUGHED INTO MAKING BABYLON THE MOST FABULOUS OF CITIES WITH ITS MASSIVE RAMPARTS DAZZLING CEREMONIAL STREETS THE TOWERING ZIGGURAT AND VAST TEMPLE COMPLEXES BABYLONIAN LEARNING REACHED ITS ZENITH AT THIS PERIOD ESPECIALLY IN ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICS THE END OF BABYLONIAN POLIT ICAL INDEPENDENCE CAUSED BY THE INTEGRATION OF THE COUNTRY INTO THE PERSIAN EMPIRE BROUGHT LITTLE CHANGE TO BABYLONIAN SOCIETY AND BUSINESS THOUGH NO LONGER A CENTRE OF POLITICAL POWER BABYLON AS WELL AS MANY OTHER OF THE ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIAN CITIES RETAINED ITS RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL IMPORTANCE IT WAS ONLY WHEN THE BALANCE OF IN UENCE DECIDEDLY SHIFTED TO THE WEST IN THE LONG HELLENISTIC AFTERMATH OF ALEXANDER S CONQUESTS THAT MESOPOTAMIA BECAME MARGINAL A MARCH BETWEEN THE EAST DOMINATED BY PERSIAN KINGS AND THE WEST UNDER THE RULE OF ROME THE PRESENT VOLUME WE CAN ONLY EXPERIENCE THE REMOTE PAST IN A TENTATIVE AND FRAGMENTARY WAY AND THROUGH THE LENS OF OUR CONTEMPORARY PATTERNS OF THOUGHT HOW WE THINK ABOUT HISTORY ALWAYS RE ECTS OUR CURRENT PREOCCUPATIONS THE BABYLONIAN WORLD SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF THE LEADING SPECIALISTS IN THE ELD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM AD BRINGS INTO FOCUS AREAS OF CONCERN TYPICAL FOR OUR TIME ECOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY POWER RELATIONS ECONOMICS EPISTEMOLOGY SCIENTIFIC PARADIGMS COMPLEXITY THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE VOLUME PROCEEDS FROM THE GENERAL HARD FACTS GEOGRAPHY ECOLOGY MATERIAL CULTURE TO THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED PRIMARILY BY CUNEIFORM TABLETS OUR RICHEST SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND AT A TIME WHEN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN IRAQ CONTINUES TO BE PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE THE ONLY CURRENT OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW INSIGHTS THE MAJORITY OF THE ARTICLES ARE BASED ON PRIMARY EPIGRAPHIC RESEARCH SOME SUBJECTS INVITE A LONGER PERSPECTIVE OF TIME AND MORE OF AN OVERVIEW THAN OTHERS WHERE THE FOCUS IS MORE NARROWLY DE NED I DID NOT WISH TO ENFORCE A COMMON APPROACH AND MANNER OF WRITING IN ORDER TO ALLOW FOR VARIATION OF VOICES AND ACCENTS AND ATTITUDES THERE ARE OVERLAPS AND OCCASIONALLY THE SAME SUBJECT IS TREATED SEVERAL TIMES BUT WITH DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES THIS HELPS TO GIVE A AVOUR OF THE CONTEMPORARY 3 THE BEQUEST OF THE GREEKS