Who founded the Kingdom of Babylon?

The builder was Sumu Abu, one of the leaders of the Amorites.

This hanging garden was built by King Nebuchadnezzar II of new Babylon around 600 BC. Queen Semirami, the owner of the Hanging Garden, was married by Nebuchadnezzar from the kingdom of Mittai.

First, the rise of the kingdom of Babylon

The demise of the third Ur dynasty marked the end of Sumerians in the political arena of Mesopotamia. For quite some time after that, Mesopotamia was in a multinational period. Among these countries, the most important ones are Ishin and Larsa in the south, and Eshuna, Mali and Assyria in the north, which have existed for two centuries. Yixin dynasty was founded in 20 17 BC, and its founder was Ishby Ira. The Larsa Dynasty was founded in 2025 BC by Napoleon, the first Amorite who established rule in Babylonia.

In the first year of the reign of King Sumerian El of Larsa, namely 1894 BC, Sumerian Abu, one of the leaders of the Amorites, established another important kingdom. He chose a city on the left bank of the Euphrates River, a few miles west of Kish, as his capital. This city has an important strategic position in the history of Mesopotamia, and it has become a world-famous city of Babylon. (1) he established the kingdom of Babylon, or the first dynasty of Babylon. The long-term campaign of Yixin and Larsa objectively created external conditions for the development of the ancient Babylonian kingdom. The first five kings of Babylon spent nearly sixty years accumulating strength and gradually controlled the whole Akkad area. In BC 1792, an outstanding politician-Hammurabi appeared in Babylon (BC 1792- 1750).

Hammurabi inherited from his father Sin Mubatnari only a small country about 80 miles long and 20 miles wide. Its territory is only between Szipal and Malarde, surrounded by powerful enemies. First, he devoted himself to consolidating the internal affairs, developing the economy, and after accumulating certain strength, he began to expand abroad. He adopted the strategy of attacking far and defending near. Assyria's rule was first recognized, and it allied with Mali in the north and Larsa in the south, thus destroying Yixin, a neighboring country in the south. Then, he continued to make peace with Mali and prepared to attack Larsa. He helped Mali get rid of the control of Assyria, and defeated Eshuna, the old enemy who often invaded Mali, in BC 1764. The following year, Hammurabi defeated Larsa. Then he sent troops north to conquer Mali and razed this once prosperous city to the ground in BC 1757. At this time, Hammurabi's strong enemies were only Assyria and Eshona. He defeated Assyria and its allies many times and occupied its southern territory, but failed to conquer it. In the thirty-eighth year of his reign, Usher Nongna was destroyed. At this point, Hammurabi established a slave power from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, and the two river basins were unprecedentedly unified. Hammurabi claimed to be "the king of power, the king of Babylon, the king of Amur, the king of Sumer and Akkad, and the king of the four corners of the world."

Second, the rule of Hammurabi.

During the reign of Hammurabi, the king had absolute authority, and every detail had to be asked by himself. In a city that enjoys a certain degree of autonomy, the king carries out his will through the city administrative organs, and the central government keeps in touch with the city through correspondence with local administrators and sending royal officials or the king's personal representatives. Hammurabi has an efficient bureaucratic system, and all kinds of officials are appointed and removed by the king himself. One of the important responsibilities of the governors of provinces and cities (most of the existing materials are letters involving Chamah Hasil, Governor of Larsa, and another person named Xin Yidingnan who is higher than him) is to manage the royal land; Protect the legally occupied land and confiscate the illegally occupied land; (1) Lease royal land and collect all kinds of land rent. For example, in a letter to Chamakh Hasil, Hammurabi wrote: "The land of enlil Shadushu that you obtained before and still have in your hands ... If you haven't rented it all, please record his previous salary field of 20 Burr and inform me ... If you have rented it all, record the existing 20 Burr irrigation fields in your hand and inform me." Another example is that Hammurabi ordered Xinyidinan to send two merchant leaders to Babylon, each with 1000 Kurdish barley and some silver. In addition, they are also responsible for digging, repairing and dredging canals to ensure the smooth irrigation. Hammurabi and the central government exercised strict supervision and control over local officials, and the king's envoys spread all over the country, reporting the local situation to the king and the central government in time. If local officials misbehave, the victims can directly complain to the central government or even the king himself. For example, a man named Ish Miani wrote to Hammurabi, accusing Chamakh Hasil of depriving his father of his land and giving it to another person. Hammurabi immediately wrote to Chamakh Hasil: "When can the permanent property be confiscated? Check this matter. If Ish Miani really got the land from his father, he should return it to him! " At present, little is known about Hammurabi's central government organization. Judging from the materials, Hammurabi is surrounded by some people who hold important positions (the specific positions are unknown), and they form the core of the central government. One of the more famous is Lu. He is not only in charge of royal affairs, but also in charge of commune affairs. He not only carries out the king's orders, but also has independent decision-making power in some aspects. If someone is wronged locally, he can write directly to. Sometimes he makes a final decision directly, and sometimes he gives it to the local administrative organ, which will handle it according to his instructions and report the result to him. The local governor obeys him directly (for example, he often writes letters criticizing Chamakh Hasil's mistakes in his work); He participated in the formulation of the king's policies, and Hammurabi often solicited and adopted his opinions on the handling of some issues. Whether it is a member of the royal dependent people or a free commune, if they are treated unfairly, they can directly petition the king or the central government (such as Lu) to seek a just solution. There are three ways to solve the case appealed to the king: first, the king (or the king's judge) personally hears the case and makes a final ruling. Under normal circumstances, the witness will go to Babylon to appear in court; Second, the king gave instructions and then handed them over to the local authorities for execution. The king wanted to hear the final result. Third, the king handed the whole case to the local judge and finally listened to the result. The king or the central government supervises and controls the local courts.

Hammurabi established a strict military system, and the supreme commander of the army was called General (VGVLA. MARTU), appointed by the king. The amorites are the core of their army. Hammurabi practiced a military service system in which land was linked with military service obligations, that is, the royal family provided all military service personnel with corresponding land (including fields and houses), and the property of military personnel was protected. Hammurabi was in charge of the army himself, and he could deploy the army at will. For example, he ordered Xin Yidingnan to merge an army of 240 people under his control into an army led by another person without delay. In another letter to Xin Yidingham, Hammurabi ordered him to "transfer 90 soldiers from city of ur" and send them to a ship.

Hammurabi also strengthened his control over the domestic economy. He completely incorporated the temple economy into the royal economy and made it a part of the royal economy. Before Hammurabi, temple officials called themselves "temple servants", or servants of the man of God. Starting from Hammurabi, they changed their names to "servants of the king". Hammurabi also controls the income of local temples. For example, he ordered Xin Yidingnan to urge some temple officials to go to Babylon quickly to report to the king. Irrigation agriculture plays an important role in the economy of the two river basins, so Hammurabi attaches great importance to the construction and management of water conservancy projects. The 8th, 9th, 24th and 33rd years of Hammurabi's rule were the years when canals were dug and water conservancy was built, especially the "Anu and enlil's favorite Hammurabi" canal rebuilt in the 33rd year. Hammurabi controls a large number of labor and is engaged in public works construction. He often writes to Xin Qiji, asking him to organize the labor force.

Hammurabi tried to deify himself. He claimed to be "the favorite of Anu God and Land God Enlil", "the shepherd appointed by enlil", "the cousin of the god of war Sabababa" and "the king of the gods". His power was granted by Marduk, who enjoyed the power to rule all mankind. In order to meet the needs of centralized system, he raised the position of Marduk, the main god of Babylon, above the gods, and built or rebuilt temples for the gods of cities in order to gain the spiritual attachment of the residents in the conquered areas.

Three. Code of hammurabi and the society it reflects.

Ancient Mesopotamia has a long tradition of legislation. After the reunification of the two river basins, Hammurabi followed the example of his predecessors and formulated the famous code of hammurabi.

The code of Hammurabi stone tablet was discovered by the French archaeological team led by Ding Morgan in 190 1 12 to 1902 at the Sosa site in the ancient capital of Elam. The stone tablet consists of three black basalts, 2.25 meters high, with an upper circumference of 1.65 meters and a lower circumference of 1.90 meters ... The upper part of the stone tablet is engraved with the relief of the title granted to King Hammurabi by Chamak, the god of justice, and the lower part is written in Akkadian cuneiform, with a total of 3,500 lines. This stone tablet is now in the Louvre in Paris.

Code of hammurabi consists of three parts: preface, text and conclusion. The preface includes three aspects: first, deify the royal power and publicize that its power comes from heaven; The second is to show off his great achievements, and the third is to show his legislative purpose, that is, "to promote human justice and eliminate lawless people so that the strong will not bully the weak." In the conclusion, Hammurabi mainly preached the "fairness" and "justice" of his code, hoping that it would exist forever, and cursed those who dared to destroy it. Text ***282, involving litigation procedures, theft handling, land management, tenancy, employment, usury, debt, slave trading, partnership, marriage and family, inheritance, medical practice, construction and other skilled labor.

Land system The most basic mode of land system in Hammurabi era was the coexistence of royal land and private land. In the process of conquest, Hammurabi kept the land in the conquered area under the ownership of the royal family, so the royal family occupied a lot of land. Royal land can be roughly divided into the following three parts:

The first category is the land directly enjoyed by the royal family (eqlut ekallim or eqlumsaresekallim ukallu), including royal estates, royal pastures and gardens.

The second category is the land allocated to those who serve the royal family, which is called "ilkum-land" or "eqlum Kurumatum or sukū sum". Anyone who undertakes certain obligations for the royal family can enjoy a piece of land equivalent to his obligations as his reward. These people include priests, businessmen, soldiers, officials and all kinds of people who use their skills to serve the royal family, such as scribes, fortune tellers, singers, goldsmiths, engravers, jewelers, carpenters, masons, weavers, porters, fishermen, shepherds and chefs. The ownership of this kind of land belongs to the royal family, and the serviceman has the right to use and control. Generally speaking, the content and duration of the service and the corresponding land share are clearly defined. Servicemen can enjoy their land for a long time, even for 20 or 40 years, as long as they insist on their obligations. This kind of land is divided into two situations. A kind of land can be conditionally transferred and sold, including the shares of priests and businessmen, provided that the buyer must bear the corresponding obligations attached to the land when purchasing the land (see Article 40 of the Code). Another kind of land that is forbidden to buy, sell and transfer is the land of soldiers (Hongum and Baium). Soldiers are not allowed to sell or bequeath rural houses related to their obligations to their wives and daughters and pay off debts, but the rural houses they buy are not subject to this restriction (see Articles 36-39 of the Code). If a soldier is captured in the war, his son can serve instead of his father, and he can inherit his father's land; If the son is too young to perform military service on behalf of his father, then only one-third of the land is reserved for his wife to raise his young son. Those who serve instead of the captured can enjoy their land, and the captured can still get their land back when they come back; If a soldier leaves his post and abandons his land, others occupy his land and serve him for more than three years, even if he comes back, he can't get his original land back (see Article 27-3 1 of the Code).

The third category is eqel biltim. The royal family rents this land to collect rent tax, which is one of the main sources of income for the royal family. The person who rents this land is called nā i biltim. This kind of land cannot be sold or transferred. Usually, Neigong people give half or one third of the harvest of rented land to the royal family, and they leave the other half or two thirds. This kind of land is directly managed by the royal family and is responsible for organizing and arranging the cultivation of this kind of land.

Private ownership of land was common in ancient Babylon. As can be seen from code of hammurabi, ordinary citizens (members of urban communes) own their own land, which can be transferred, mortgaged and traded (see Articles 39, 49, 50, 137, 150, 165, 198, etc.). ). There are quite a lot of documents about buying and selling land in this period, which reflects that the private economy is more active. The state recognizes the sale and transfer of private land and protects private land. For example, in a land dispute, one person claimed to have bought a piece of land from another person. Hammurabi ordered Chamach Hasil to investigate the matter and awarded the land to the buyer.

As can be seen from code of hammurabi, the inhabitants of ancient Babylonian society are obviously divided into three classes: Awilum, Mu kēnum and slaves (Wardum for male slaves and Amatum for female slaves). It is generally believed that (1) Avilu is a full citizen, occupying land, enjoying all the rights of the commune and being under the jurisdiction of the commune. Owning land in the commune is a necessary prerequisite for maintaining citizenship and status. Once the commune land is lost, the identity or citizenship of the Avilu people will also be lost. In Avilu, the upper class is composed of a few royal families, high officials, senior priests and big businessmen, while the lower class is mainly composed of small landlords, yeomen and free craftsmen with small plots of land. Businessman Tamuka and senior priest undoubtedly belong to Avilu. In many materials, Tamuka is directly called "Avilu of a certain city", such as "Avilu of Shpar City".

Muxichinu is a free citizen without citizenship. They have no land of their own, and the royal family is not a unified class that serves the royal family. There are also differences between the rich and the poor within them. A few rich people in Nu, Muhic have a certain private economy, even slaves, while most people are poor and their status is deteriorating. The upper class of Avilu and the upper class of Muhic Nu constitute the ruling class, and the lower class becomes the ruled and exploited class. Slaves are at the bottom of society. Like livestock, they are regarded as the property of slave owners and can be bought, sold, transferred, exchanged, leased and given away at will. According to code of hammurabi, the price of slaves is generally 20 shekels. Most of the slaves were controlled by the royal family, temples, big officials and big businessmen, and the number of freemen was about three or five, not more than a dozen. The legal status of people at three levels is obviously different. For example, if you hurt Avilu's eyes or bones, you must be punished the same; If you hurt Muhixinu's eyes or bones, you only need to pay a dime (505 grams); If you hurt a slave's eyes or bones, you only need to compensate the slave owner for half the value of the slave.

Socio-economic development The socio-economic development in the Babylonian period was great compared with before. In agriculture, bronze tools have been widely used. Besides Battier plough and Jin Shu plough, there are narrow axes, pickaxes and rakes to level the land. Irrigation technology has also reached a fairly high level, and the management and use of irrigation networks have been incorporated into national legislation. During this period, farmers have learned to sum up their long-term farming experience, and a farmer's almanac written in Sumerian appeared, which is the earliest known farmer's almanac in the world. The almanac describes the process from irrigation, cultivation to harvest, and puts forward the problems that should be paid attention to in each link. The royal handicraft workshops and private workshops have been developed to varying degrees. In code of hammurabi alone, more than a dozen craftsmen are mentioned, such as brickmakers, weavers, sculptors, jewelers, metallurgists, leather workers, carpenters, shipbuilders and builders.

The commodity economy was relatively developed during this period. In addition to commercial trade controlled and organized by the state and temples, private commercial activities are also very active. Some commercial centers have appeared, such as Babylon, Ur, Szipal and Larsa, among which Babylon and Ur are the most famous. Many merchant ships gathered in the docks of Babylon and became the distribution center of commerce and trade. Most of these business activities are private. The foreign trade of ancient Babylon has the following characteristics: first, businessmen often pay taxes to temples and countries after their business ends; Secondly, businessmen often take the form of partnership. (1) Third, most commercial capital comes from the private sector. Generally, a loan contract has 5-8 witnesses, with their seals; Finally, during this period, a big businessman specializing in a certain commodity appeared.

Code of hammurabi mentioned two major businessmen, one is the "big businessman" (AB. GAL) Tamkārum, and the other is "small businessman" (AB. TUR) shamaru (arnall m). Tammuka's activities include: engaging in commercial trade, usury (there are more than 30 articles in the code related to Tammuka's lending activities), selling slaves and collecting taxes for the country, so Tammuka enjoys royal land. (1) Shamaru is not only Tammuka's agent, but also his business partner (see article 100- 107 of the Code). He engaged in some commercial activities to sell goods for Tammuka, and Tammuka paid his salary; Some cooperate with Tamuka to participate in sharing. Shamaru's social and economic status is not as good as Tamuka's, but he may be rich and basically an independent private businessman, not a royal official.

Code of hammurabi is a relatively complete code in the ancient world. The code legally affirmed the new social and economic order in the two river basins since the demise of the third Ur dynasty, which was conducive to consolidating the foundation of slave economy and promoting the rapid development of private ownership and slave economy.

Fourth, the decline of the kingdom of Babylon.

The prosperity of the ancient Babylonian kingdom depended largely on the strength of Hammurabi, and its internal foundation was not stable. After the death of Hammurabi in BC 1750, his son Sam Suyluna succeeded to the throne (BC 1749- 17 12), and the kingdom began to fall into internal and external troubles. In the early days of his rule, there was a riot in the border area of Elam. The leader called himself Lin Xin (the name of the last king of Larsa Dynasty), and persisted in fighting for more than two years, and was finally suppressed. Around BC 1740, a man named Iruma Iru raised the flag of independence in Sumer. He pretended to be the heir of the last king of the Iraqi dynasty, became the master of the whole area south of Nipur, and established the so-called third Babylonian dynasty or maritime dynasty. While coping with internal rebellion, Sam Suluna also faces the pressure of foreign invasion. In the ninth year of its reign, Kashti in the northeast mountainous area began to invade Babylon. Although it was repelled this time, it gradually threatened Babylon. At the end of his reign, the territory developed by his father had been completely lost, and the territory of the kingdom had shrunk back to the territory before Hammurabi, which was limited to Akkad.

Sam Suluna's four successors lasted only another century. During this period, the internal contradictions in Babylonian society were extremely acute, and the problem of resisting rent and debt was very serious. The king of Babylon had to often write to local city officials, ordering them to pay the rent in arrears, including grain, livestock and taxes; At the same time, the "Mi arum" decree, the so-called "Babylonian Relief Order", was promulgated continuously, announcing debt relief.

External threats have also increased. During the reign of Abishu, the son of Sam Suluna (BC171-kloc-0/684), the Kaxites launched the second attack on Babylon. Although this attack failed like the first attack, many Kaxiti people settled in Babylonia and became farmers who cultivated the land. In addition, Kashti Leish I, the leader of the Caxites, established a stronghold in Hana on the Euphrates River, only 200 miles from Babylon. Abishu also tried to drive away the sea dynasty that ruled Sumer, but failed. BC 1595, the Hittites invaded Babylon, and the city of Babylon was looted. The statues of Marduk and his wife were taken away as trophies by invaders, and the kingdom of Babylon perished. After the Hittites retreated, the Kaksi began to rule Mesopotamia.