Babylon city and legend: the rise and fall of one civilization's great city.

* OBJECTIVE

Students should understand

* how Babylon, the capital city of two Mesopotamian kingdoms, played a crucial role in the ancient world.

* the importance of Mesopotamia in the story of human civilization.

* WORD TO KNOW

civilization: an advanced state of a people's intellectual, cultural, and material development, marked by the extensive use of writing and record-keeping, the appearance of complex political and social institutions, and progress in the arts and sciences.

* TEACHING STRATEGY

Ask: "What do you know about the ancient city of Babylon? What really happened there?"

* BACKGROUND

Historians differ over the timing of what we think of as civilization. Many peoples wandered in and out of Mesopotamia before the Sumerians established what is generally considered the first civilization, around 3500 B.C. About 12 city-states had risen up in Sumer by the third millennium B.C., including Ur, home of the Jewish patriarch Abraham. Ancient Sumerian texts speak of the creation of the world, an initial paradise, and a terrible flood that engulfed the Earth as the result of a king's sin.

* CRITICAL THINKING

COMPREHENSION: The ancient city of Babylon once stood near the site of what present-day capitol? (Baghdad, Iraq)

MAKING INFERENCES: Why was the Code of Hammurabi an important step in the development of civilization? (A codified system o flaws establishes civic order by setting standards for people's behavior and for how violations are punished.)

* ACTIVITY

MAKING A MAP: Have students create a map of Iraq and surrounding countries, overlaying the sites of cities and kingdoms of Mesopotamia.

STANDARDS

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* Time, continuity, and change: How ancient Babylonians contributed to the rise of Western civilization (such as setting up the first legal code).

* Science, technology, and society: How the Babylonians' interest in predicting the future by the stars led to the science of astronomy.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* Mehta-Jones, Shilpa, Life in Ancient Mesopotamia (Crabtree, 2004). Grades 6 & up.

* Schomp, Virginia, Ancient Mesopotamia (Scholastic Inc., 2005). Grades 6 & up.

WEB SITES

* Babylon (& related links) infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0805624.html

* British Museum: Mesopotamia www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html

For centuries, it has been a symbol of great glory, and even greater evil. Today, when U.S. tanks rumble over the sands south of Baghdad, Iraq, they raise dust from its ruins--and destroy its precious artifacts. It is Babylon, the once-magnificent city of Mesopotamia (see map).

Mesopotamia was in the "Fertile Crescent" region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Historians often call it the "cradle of civilization" because farming and animal herding developed there earlier than anywhere else--nearly 8,000 years ago.

The first important societies of Mesopotamia, called city-states, were constantly at war. About 1792 B.C., a king named Hammurabi seized control of southern Mesopotamia. His capital was a city on the Euphrates River called Babylon.

Under Hammurabi, Babylon became one of the ancient world's great centers of culture, trade, religion, and law. The famous Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest and most influential systems of laws.

Soon after Hammurabi's death in 1750 B.C., the kingdom of Babylonia began to fall to invaders. But Mesopotamians remembered the former greatness of Babylon, the city. Then, around 605 B.C., a new ruler claimed its heritage. He called himself Nebuchadnezzar (nehb-uh-/euhd-NEHZ-uhr) II.

City on the Plain

Nebuchadnezzar was a man in a hurry. Conquering his neighbors, he seized control of important trade routes from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. With the wealth of this second Babylonian Empire, he built the Babylon of legend.

"In magnificence there is no other city that approaches it," wrote Herodotus (hih-ROD-uh-tuhs), the great Greek historian. Herodotus described a fortress of towers, temples, palaces, and grand avenues designed for gods and wealthy citizens. Rising dramatically above the plain of Mesopotamia were walls thick enough, Herodotus claimed, for a four-horse chariot to turn around on top of them.

Inside the walls, a huge ziggurat dominated the skyline. Scholars believe that it served as the model for the Bible's Tower of Babel. The city's many other marvels of engineering included the multilevel "Hanging Gardens." Water for the gardens was pulled up from the Euphrates by an ingenious pump system. The Greeks called the Hanging Gardens one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Babylon was also the source of much of the ancient world's advanced learning. The Babylonians were obsessed with predicting the future by the stars. This passion led to some of the first maps of constellations and the foundations of modern astronomy (study of the stars and the universe). Babylonian mathematicians helped introduce the 60-minute hour, the 4-week month, and the 360-degree circle.

By the Rivers of Babylon

In 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish kingdom of Judah. Thousands of Jews were deported (expelled) to Babylon as slaves. The result was a historical period of great significance--the Babylonian captivity of the Jews.

The Bible has much to say about Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar. The stories of Daniel and the prophesies (predictions) of Jeremiah came from those dark days. To the captive Jews, Babylon was a wicked city that worshipped false gods. One of the most famous Psalms describes the sorrow and shame of the imprisonment:

"By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion."

The Jews were finally freed after the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. When they returned home, however, they took the influence of Babylon with them. The Bible's accounts of the creation and the flood were probably influenced by Mesopotamian myths. Other important cultural developments, including Hebrew script and the Jewish calendar, were developed as a result of the captivity.

Most important, according to H. G. Wells, historian and author of The War of the Worlds, Babylon was where the Jews first started to develop their own traditions. "The people who came back to Jerusalem ... were a very different people," Wells wrote. "They had learned civilization."

A Great City Falls

Nebuchadnezzar died in 561 B.C., after ruling for 44 years. That was the beginning of the end for Babylon. Bitter rivalries divided the people of the city. In 539 B.C., Cyrus the Great of Persia captured Babylon without a struggle.

Throughout the ages, historians, dreamers, and tyrants have preserved the legend of Babylon. Alexander the Great planned to base his empire there, and died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in 323 B.C. Twenty-three centuries later, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein installed a huge portrait of himself and Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to Babylon's ruins.

Time and the desert sands have taken their toll on the once-mighty city. Yet its legend has refused to die. In the cradle of civilization, a battle for the soul of Iraq continues to rage.

Words to Know

* artifacts: objects of historical significance that were produced by humans.

* Mesopotomia (MESS-uh-push-TAY-mee-uh); a region of Asia that included present-day Iraq and parts of Syria and Turkey. Its name means "between rivers."

* ziggurat: a tower built in stair-step stages.

* Zion: a symbol of Jerusalem and the Jewish homeland.

WORD MATCH

1. artifact   A. study of the stars
2. ziggurat   B. prediction
3. astronomy  C. expel
4. deport     D. tower
5. prophecy   E. significant object

Word Match, p. 14 1. E; 2. D; 3. A; 4. C; 5. B

THINK ABOUT IT

Where did the culture of the Babylonians come from? How did it spread?

* Use a word or phrase from this list to correctly complete each sentence.

Alexander the Great, Baghdad, Cyrus the Great, Daniel, Hammurabi, Hanging Gardens, Herodotus, Iran, Ishtar Gate, Greece, Jeremiah, Mesopotamia, Nebuchadnezzar II, Red Sea, Tower of Babel, ziggurat

16. Western civilization began in--an area whose name means "between rivers."

17. Babylonia's King--established one of the earliest codes of law.

18. King--of the second Babylonian Empire conquered the Jewish kingdom of Judah.

19. Babylon's--was said to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

20. In 539 B.C., a weakened Babylon was easily captured by--of Persia.

16. Mesopotamia

17. Hammurabi

18. Nebuchadnezzar II

19. Hanging Gardens

20. Cyrus the Great