Nickname: Opal Class Number:1006

Mesopotamia Analysis & Evaluation

With the first unit being Mesopotamia eras and empires, 1006 was tasked with a group
project regarding presentations about their respected periods with mine being the
Babylonia period.
In order to make a good comparison, first I must explain the different topics regarding
my period as well as the differences and similarities according to other periods and
eras.

To begin with, the Babylonian follows the empire of Babylonia which was founded
around 2000 B.C. Right after the fall of the Sumerians, the Mesopotamia region divided
itself into two main cities, The Akkadians which will later be conquered by the Assyrians
in the north and the Babylonians in the south. Since both of these civilizations are the
successors of the Sumerians, they share a lot of similarities such as religions and social
structure with a few tweaks being the different gods that the people worship and the
jobs available based on the geography here and there. The civilization that came the
closest to Babylonia has to be the Neo-Babylonia because it is the successor right after
Babylonia fell in power. The people of Neo-Babylonia uses a lot of tools and knowledge
the the Babylonians used, this includes the social structure and how the people worship
their kings.

In contrast, The region which has the most difference to Babylonia is their Assyrians
counterpart. These two civilizations rise to power at almost the same time, thus there
are many wars between these two. While in Babylonia, the king can be denied by the
wise mens that the people chose. This wasn’t the case in Assyria. The king of Assyria
has absolute power over the region and can demand any and every command to any
laws or wars that can happen. Other than the government, the languages are also
different. Though the Assyrian took over the Akkadians, they didn’t take over the
Akkadian language. Instead, they modified the language and made their own language
called the Sureth, or the Assyrian Neo-Aramic language. Babylonia on the other hand,
adopted the Akkadian language into their own nation and used it as the main tools of
communication.

In summary, almost all of the said civilizations are identical to each other because they
all developed from the Sumerians, with the differences being the different tweaks in
language, the government and the geographic values of each empire. The
Neo-Babylonians are the closest to the Babylonians in terms of culture and language
Nickname: Opal Class Number:1006

because they are the true successors of the Babylonian after the empire went weak and
fell down. The region with the most differences to Babylonia, however, was the
Assyrians because these two nations regularly fight against each other. Their language
was different, their governing system were different and the way they classified their
social structures are different.

Government
It is safe to say that Babylonia used monarchy government with the main power focused
around the kings and nobles. However, this is not entirely true, there are also wise men
elected by citizens which holded the power to deny certain laws that the king ordered or
up to certain wars.
In fact, every other period also went by a similar government. Neo-babylonain,
Akkadians and Sumerians used a monarchy system with the king as the main power.
The Akkadians though using monarchy, were a little bit different from others because
the actual system of government during the Akkadian period was hierarchy, where
people who own a lot of resources will gain a lot of power especially water. This is why
the Akkadians are classified as a hydraulic empire.
Sumerians also divide the smaller power into states which have their own priests and
nobles.
Social Structure
In Babylonia,with the exception of the king, the social structure is divided into three main
categories, The Awilu (Nobles,Aristocrats), The Mushkenu (The artisans and the
commoners) and the Wardu (The slaves). With the Neo-Babylonians being a direct
successor to Babylonia, they have pretty much the same system.
The other eras also have a very similar social structure. Due to how similar the cities
were governed, the three rankings of power don't differ much with the most differences
being the Sumerians that have an upper class as land owners other than nobles or
royalty. All of the middle classes consisted of merchants, farmers and scribes (people
who copied documents). And the lower classes are slaves or war prisoners that were
owned by the higher classes.
Religion
The Babylonian religion was heavily influenced by the Sumerians. Since the Babylonian
religion was heavily influenced by the Sumerians, they also shared the belief that there
was a higher power behind events that they couldn’t explain. Babylonians consider their
god statues to be sacred and that the gods’ spirits live inside those statues. There were
ceremonies of washing the mouth of those statues. Other empires such as the
Akkadians,Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians also has a religion that was heavily
Nickname: Opal Class Number:1006

influenced by the Sumerian religion as well, with almost all of the myth being passed
down by storytelling and oral explaining, some of the legends might not be as accurate
until the Babylonians started writing those legends onto clay tablets with cuneiform.
These people also believe in multiple gods (Polytheisthic).
Economy
The economy in early Mesopotamia was heavily based on agriculture and trading plants
and animal products. People raise cattles and sheeps to use as food or for selling.
However, there are some differences between these economic behaviors as well for
example, The Sumerians and the Neo-Babylonians also have people that sell services
such as scribes, masons or renting farmlands.