The richest man in Babylon
Chapter 9:
Appendix: History of Ancient Babylon
When Gold argues the cause,
eloquence is impotent. — Publilius Syrus
When referring to the prosperity of a country,
many people often think of lavish castles,
lands rich in natural resources
such as forests,
mines
and time mild climate…
But for Babylon, the richest kingdom of antiquity,
that was not the case!
The kingdom of Babylon was located
beside the river Euphrates,
in a valley that was flat,
but arid and dry.
It has no forests,
ores,
and stones for military or civilian construction,
nor is it on a favorable trade route.
Babylon is an outstanding example of man’s ability
to achieve great goals,
using all the means at his disposal.
The development of this vast city
is all nurtured by human hands.
All its wealth is due to people.
Babylon has only one advantage is
that the land is quite fertile
because the Euphrates River brings a lot of alluvium every year.
But to take advantage of this privilege,
the ancient Babylonian engineers had to research
and perform the greatest work of that time.
It was the construction of dams
and countless small canals
to channel water from the main river into all the villages,
turning arid lands into good arable land.
Thanks to that,
the Babylonians were able to cultivate,
cultivate and raise livestock,
and have a prosperous
and rich life in their homeland.
It is one of the first constructions
of great magnitude known in human history.
Fortunately, during its long existence,
Babylon did not produce greedy kings
with a desire to conquer the whole world.
When Babylon fell into war,
most of it was a self-defense war against ambitious enemies
in other countries attracted by Babylon’s treasures of silver,
gold,
and treasures that invaded.
Five thousand years later,
although Babylon is no more,
it has become a legend
that attracts everyone’s understanding.
Today, the remains of ancient Babylon are located in Asia,
about six hundred miles east of the Suez Canal,
north of the Persian Gulf.
It is located about 30 longitude,
above the equator,
has a hot and dry climate.
The citadels and temples have disappeared,
leaving only ruins and deserted.
Once, the valley by the Euphrates River was an agricultural land
with a very large irrigation system,
densely populated,
now it has become an arid desert,
scattered with barren bushes,
the weeds are fighting the sand wind to survive.
The cemeteries of ancient elephants
and the long caravans of Babylonian merchants are also just legends.
Today, in this land,
we sometimes encounter groups of Arab nomads
who struggle to maintain their miserable existence
by raising small herds.
However, many centuries have passed,
the nomads and travelers passing through this land
still do not see anything strange
and do not know that beneath this land are hidden traces,
of a glorious era.
Until geologists collected many pieces of pottery
and broken bricks exposed by the rains.
After that, European
and American expeditions began to rush to excavate
and search.
And they were delighted
to discover the remains of ancient Babylon.
Babylon is one of the ancient kingdoms built
of earth and baked bricks,
over thousands of years, the walls of the sun
and wind have been disintegrated
and returned to sandy soil.
If not for the careful discovery
and excavation of archaeologists,
we may never have known the great works,
the magnificent palaces
and palaces of Babylon were buried. centuries deep.
Many scientists consider the civilization of Babylon
and other cities in the Euphrates valley to be the oldest.
Based on the unearthed artifacts,
including pieces of baked clay describing the eclipse
that the ancient Babylonians witnessed,
modern astronomers have determined the time of occurrence
and confirmed Babylonian civilization
about 8,000 years ago
from our time.
Also thanks to the antiquities,
we can know that 8,000 years ago,
the Sumerites lived in Babylon.
They lived in a territory surrounded by walls.
Scientists can only surmise
that Babylon had to go through a very long time
before such remarkable achievements were achieved.
At this time,
they knew how to build strong walls to protect the country,
and a large-scale irrigation system
to create favorable conditions
for plowing and cultivating.
In addition,
Babylonians also had an education system
with creative and inquisitive people.
The remaining evidence shows
that Babylon was the place
produced the first engineers,
the first astronomers,
the first mathematicians,
the first financiers,
and the first people to have a written language.
Scientists are very interested in the canal system
of the ancient Babylonians.
It has transformed the arid valley into a fertile land
of crops and livestock.
According to the traces left behind,
scientists said,
the canals and ditches are very large,
more than ten horses can run horizontally under the canal.
In terms of size,
they can be compared
with the largest canals in Colorado and Utah today.
In addition to constructing irrigation works
to channel water into the lands within the valley,
Babylonian engineers also completed another project
of an equally large scale.
It is a rather complex
and efficient water drainage system.
With this system,
they dried up the vast marshlands near the Euphrates
and Tigris rivers to turn them into fertile croplands.
Herodotus,
the Greek traveler and historian,
once visited Babylon.
His notes have been of great help to us
in understanding the strange customs,
fertile soil features
and bountiful crops of the inhabitants there.
The Babylonian glories are now gone,
but their knowledge is still valid today.
That knowledge is preserved in the hundreds of thousands
of baked clay tablets that archaeologists have found
– buried safely in the sandy soil.
At that time,
when writing was not available,
the Babylonians carefully inscribed
their knowledge on wet clay tablets.
Then, they cooked it and stored it.
These clay cards are about 15cm x 20cm, 2cm – 3cm thick.
The content engraved on it is very diverse,
including legends,
poetry, history, imperial edicts,
laws of the country,
land securities,
debt repayment promises,
letters written to send to neighboring kingdoms…
In addition to irrigation works,
Babylon has a remarkable achievement
that is often mentioned by everyone.
It was the construction of a large wall
that surrounded the kingdom.
The scale of its construction is comparable
to the great pyramids in Egypt.
For this work,
Queen Semiramis is considered the first person to have merit.
Modern archaeologists have not yet found traces of the original walls,
but according to data from the excavated artifacts,
they are about 15 to 18 meters high,
the outside is covered
with baked bricks,
and the outside is covered with bricks protected outside
by a deep moat.
Later, about six hundred years BC,
King Nabopolassar rebuilt Babylon on a very large scale.
However,
King Nabopolassar died before seeing the work completed.
King Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne
and has continued his father’s unfinished work.
When completed, the height
and length of the wall made many people unbelievable.
According to recorded figures,
they were about 48 meters tall,
equivalent to the height of a 15-story building today.
Its total length is estimated at 14,400 to 17,600 meters.
The surface of the wall is very wide,
maybe enough for six horses to run horizontally on it.
Later, when they captured the Babylonian kingdom,
the Arabs devastated it
by removing bricks and tiles to build temples,
palaces,
houses and other structures.
This massive wall today only traces of the foundation and moat.
The Babylonian kingdom was organized
according to a rather advanced
and rigorous system.
In the city there are roads,
streets and many large fixed shops.
Retailers carry goods everywhere for sale.
Religion is glorified with magnificent temples.
In the middle of the kingdom was an imperial citadel
consisting of royal castles.
The city wall surrounding the imperial citadel is usually higher
than the wall of the kingdom.
In terms of art,
the Babylonians achieved great achievements in architecture,
painting, weaving,
embroidery,
gold and silver work,
metal weapons and agricultural tools.
The jewelers made very beautiful
and sophisticated jewelry.
Currently, the most famous museums in the world are displaying many artifacts unearthed
from the tombs of wealthy citizens
of the Babylonian period.
About 8,000 years ago,
while other groups of ancient people in the world lived only in caves,
cutting trees with primitive axes,
hunting animals with arrows attached to a sharp piece of stone,
or hitting each other with sticks,
the ancient Babylonians began to build castles and citadels;
using iron axes,
spears of steel,
and arrows with brass tips.
Babylonians were financiers,
experienced merchants.
Unearthed documents indicate
that they were the first people to know
how to use gold and silver
as a medium of exchange,
to use debit cards, or to record their possessions.
From about 540 BC onward,
there was not an invading army
strategy to capture Babylon.
Babylon remained strong against any military power.
Later, the cause of the fall of the Babylonian kingdom
was very strange
and quite mysterious.
At that time,
Cyrus, one of the kings who had ambitions
to conquer neighboring kingdoms,
expressed his intention to invade Babylon.
The advisors of the Babylonian king Nabonidus
at the time convinced him that,
instead of waiting for Cyrus’s army to come and besiege the city,
it would be better to go to war.
Nabonidus did not think carefully,
so he sent out.
As a result,
Babylon’s army was repeatedly defeated.
Nabonidus abandoned the city
and fled the kingdom.
Thus, Cyrus took Babylon without any resistance.
Since then,
the power and popularity of Babylon
also gradually waned.
Over time, it became desolate, deserted,
and now just a desert filled with wind and sand.
Once again,
Babylon returned to the land from which it was born.
The magnificence,
magnificence and magnificence of Babylon is only a myth…
It can be said that the majestic citadels
and magnificent temples
and palaces of Babylon have become dust,
but the knowledge,
wise experiences,
and outstanding achievements
of this ancient kingdom are
still handed down
until today until now.
Perhaps,
despite being called impregnable
before the enemy,
but Babylon is still not immune to the law of birth
and death of time.
But either way,
the Babylonian civilization became an important marker
for the great progress of man in later epochs.
Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours. ― Les Brown
