In order to defend the country against hostile at- tacks from its neighbors, northward from Babylonia, between the two rivers, a wall was built, which is known under the name of the Median Wall (Xen. Anab. ii, 4, 12). — The Babylonians were famous fcr the manufacture of cloth and carpets; they also ex- ec lied in making perfumes, in carving in wood, and in working in precious stones. They were a commercial a< well as manufacturing people, and carried on a very extensive trade alike by land and by sea. Babylon was indeed a commercial depot between the Eastern and the Western worlds (Ezek. xvii, 4 ; Isa. xliii, 14). See Commerce. Thus favored by nature and aided by art, Babylonia became the first abode of social order and the cradle of civilization. Here first arose a pow- erful empire — here astronomy was first cultivated — here moasures and weights were first employed. He-
BABYLONIA
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BABYLONIA
rodotus has noticed the Chaldaeans as a tribe of priests (i, 28); Diodorus (i, 28) as a separate caste under Belus, an Egyptian priest ; while the book of Daniel re- fers to them as astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers ; but there can be little doubt, as laid down by Gesenius (Jesa. xxiii, 13), that it was the name of a distinct na- tion, if not, as Heeren {Manual ofAnc. Hist. p. 28) has maintained, the name of the northern nomades in gen- eral. In connection with Babylonia, the Chaldreans are to be regarded as a conquering nation as well as a learned people ; they introduced a correct method of reckoning time, and began their reign with Nabonas- sar, B.C. 747. There is a scriptural reference to the proud period in the history of the Chaldees when learned men filled the streets and the temples of Nine- veh and Babel : " Behold the land of the Chahh-eans ; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin" (Isa. xxiii, 13). Babylonia, during this period, was " the land of the Chaldaeans," the same as that into which the children of Judah were carried away captive (Jer. xxiv, 5). — Kitto, s. v. See Captivity.
II. Tlktovy of the Babyhnian Empire. — The history of Babylon itself mounts up to a time not very much later than the Flood. See Babel. The native his- torian seems to have possessed authentic records of his country for above 2000 years before the conquest by Alexander (Berosus, Fragm. 11) ; and Scripture rep- resents the " beginning of the kingdom" as belonging to the time of Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, and the great-grandson of Noah (Gen. x, G 10). Of Nimrod no trace has been found in the Babylonian remains, unless he is identical with the god Bel of the Baby- lonian Pantheon, and so with the G.-eek Belus, tin hero-founder of the city. This identity is possible, and at any rate the most ancient inscriptions appear to show that the primitive inhabitants of the country were really Cushite, i. e. identical in race with the early inhabitants of Southern Arabia and of Ethiopia. The seat of government at this early time was, as h is been stated, in lower Babylonia, Erech (Warkci) and Ur (Mvghrir) being the capitals, and Babylon (if built) bein.c a place of no consequence. The country was called Shinar ClSSS?), and the people the Alhad'm (comp. Accad of Gen. x, 10). Of the art of this period we have specimens in the ruins of Mugheir and Warka, the remains of which date from at least the 20th cen- tury before our era. We find the use of kiln-baked as well as of sun-dried bricks already begun; we find writing practised, for the bricks are stamped with the names and titles of the kings ; we find buttresses em- ployed to support buildings, and we have probable in- dications of the system of erecting lofty buildings in stages. On the other hand, mortar is unknown, and the bricks are laid either in clay or in bitumen (comp. Gen. xi, 3) ; they are rudely moulded, and of various shapes and sizes; sun-dried bricks predominate, and some large buildings are composed entirely of them ; in these reed-matting occurs at intervals/apparently used to protect the mass from disintegration. There is no trace of ornament in the erections of this date, which were imposing merely by their size and solidity.
The first important change which we are able to trace in the external condition of Babylon is its sub- jection, at a time anterior to Abraham", by the neigh- boring kingdom of Elam or Susiana. Berosus spoke of a first Chaldsean dynasty consisting of eleven kings, whom ho probably represented as reigning from B.C. 2231 to B.C. 1070." At the last mentioned date he said there was a change, and a new dynasty succeeded, consisting of 19 kin^s, who reigned -158 years (from B.C. 1976 to B.C. 1518). It is thought that this tran- sition may mark the invasion of Babylonia from the East, and the establishment of Ehunitic influence in