istoryworld
Events relating to babylon
Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story, spreads in oral form
Babylon is a tiny region, about 50 miles across, when Amorites establish there the first Babylonian dynasty
Babylonian astronomers name many of the constellations and identify the planets
Priests in Babylon make loans from the temple treasure, introducing the concept of banking
Mathematicians in both Babylon and Egypt independently calculate Π to within 1% of the true value
The Babylonians introduce an important step in the story of arithmetic - the concept of place value in numbers, with digits on the left having greater value than those on the right
Hammurabi inherits the relatively minor kingdom of Babylon
Hammurabi begins a programme of conquest and coalition which will vastly extend the Babylonian empire
The Code of Hammurabi gives a detailed picture of Babylonian law and society
The Code of Hammurabi is the first surviving document to record the law relating to slaves
Hammurabi, in the process of winning control over the whole of Mesopotamia, conquers the northern territories of Mari and Ashur
Hammurabi destroys Mari (concealing for posterity an extraordinary cuneiform archive not discovered until 1933)
Babylon is destroyed by the Hittites, invaders from Anatolia, but reestablishes itself in subsequent centuries
The abacus is used as an everyday method of calculation by Phoenicians and Babylonians
The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, destroys with great brutality the city of Babylon
The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh is known in its complete form from texts in the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh
The Babylonians defeat an Egyptian army at Carchemish, but do not press on into Egypt
Nebuchadnezzar comes to the throne of Babylon, beginning a prosperous reign of more than forty years
After a long siege Jerusalem is taken by Nebuchadnezzar and the city, including Solomon's Temple, is destroyed
The Jews, taken into captivity in Babylon, form the first community of the Diaspora
The Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar II begins a siege of Tyre which lasts for thirteen years before the city capitulates
Nebuchadnezzar builds the hanging gardens of Babylon, supposedly to comfort a homesick wife
The synagogue, as a simple place of Jewish worship, develops during the Babylonian captivity
The optimistic concept of the Messiah is part of the Jewish response to captivity in Babylon
