RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Babylonia
which had the longest continuous existence. The highest estimates place the beginnings of this civilization between 8000 and 10000 B.C.; at a moderate reckoning it seems that evidences of culture are in sight dating from 5000 B.C. The Biblical interest centers about two facts: first, that in Genesis the origin of Abraham is traced
to Ur, one of the oldest cities in Baby-
i. Reasons Ionia; and, second, the fact that
for In- Babylonia was the land of Israel's
terest. exile and became to Israel a second
home, where many Israelites settled permanently. But there is a third reason for interest. One of the lessons a comparative study of history teaches is that Babylonia represents a principle very different from that which underlies Assyrian history. Assyria stood for Semitic materialism, for fighting ability, and conquest by force of arms. Babylonia, on the other ha,nd, represented culture, civilization, literature, and the all-controlling power of religion. Its force in this respect is notable especially for the way in which its civilization subdued even its conquerors. Its Elamitic, Kasshite, and even Assyrian masters came under the sway of its religious moods and its literary methods. Kasshite and Chaldean kings forgot to write of their wars and transmitted almost solely the accounts of the erection and adornment of temples and the making of canals.
II. The Land: Geologically, Babylonia is almost wholly alluvial. The thirty-fourth parallel of latitude cuts across the line of demarcation between the limestone and the alluvium, leaving in the northeast a slight stretch of the latter to the north of the parallel, and on the southwest a little region of limestone east of the Euphrates to the south. The alluvium on the west is nearly conterminous with the Euphrates, except in the extreme south; to the east the soil made by the
rivers stretches to the foothills of the i. Alluvial. Persian mountains. Its narrowest
part is where the rivers make their nearest approach to each other; from that point northward the alluvium is only between the rivers, while below it immediately widens beyond the Tigris eastward and thence to the Persian Gulf maintains its width. The account just given involves the statement that in prehistoric times the Persian Gulf stretched north to a point just beyond the thirty-fourth parallel, and that before the deposit of the rivers, its waters have receded a distance of 425 miles. The rate of this deposit is known for a part of this period. The town known as Spasmus Charax in the time of Alexander the Great was then one mile from the Gulf. In 1835 Mohammera, recognized as the site of the town just mentioned, was forty-seven miles away. Thus forty-six miles of land had been made in 2,160 years, or at the rate of over 110 feet a year. It is interesting that this ascertained rate, supposing it to have been uniform during the historic period, corroborates the chronology gained from other sources.
To the character of the land as alluvium, to its subtropical position, and to the elaborate system of irrigation and careful agriculture, and the abun-
dant moisture, was due its wonderful fertility, second only, if it were second, to that of the Nile valley. To these characteristics were due many important consequences, notable among them the structure and material of the buildings and the kind of governmental and popular activities. It was inevitable that an alluvial land, inundated by two rivers, the periods of overflow of which were not quite synchronous but in part successive (see Assyria), should abound in
2. Influence marshes; and that to relieve this on Life and condition, distribute the waters, and
Activities, drain the land, canals, and many of them, should be constructed. And the extent of country thus to be redeemed being large, the making of canals became a governmental function. Again, an alluvial district provides neither stone nor wood for building. The clay of the land must therefore be utilized as building material; and it is almost inevitable that most of the bricks be sun-dried, since fuel for burning them is scarce and expensive. Once more, it is evident that since the inundations were annual, some method of putting human habitations beyond the reach of the waters would be required, and it is found that the cities were built upon platforms of bricks. Thus Babylonia became a land of mounds and of canals, the construction of the latter being one of the chief activities of the rulers. The " rivers of Babylon " were a feature of the landscape, and the mounds are abundantly in evidence.
Of the fertility varying accounts have been transmitted. Herodotus (i, 193) gives the increase of cereals as 200 to 300 fold; Theophrastus (Hist, plantarum, viii, 7) as fifty to 100; Strabo (xvi) as by report 300 fold; and Pliny as 150 fold. Herodotus was notoriously credulous, Strabo and Pliny got their reports at second hand. The statement of Theophrastus is not beyond belief.
Knowledge of early climatic conditions is in part a matter of observation in modern times under conditions which differ greatly from earlier conditions, and in part of inference from known effects. The temperature reported by the excavators runs in June and July as high as 120° F. in the shade. And this heat is made more oppressive by the hot winds brought by the sandstorms of the desert. That the conditions were not so severe during the palmy days of
3. The Cli- Babylonia is almost certain, since mate, the abundant canals of flowing
Fauna, and water must have reduced the tempera- Flora, ture and so have modified the atmospheric depressions caused by rarefaction. The fauna and flora differed little from those of Assyria (q.v.). Of grains, wheat, barley, millet, sesamum, oats, and perhaps rice, were grown; wheat and barley were probably indig-^ enous. The gourd family was abundant, legu-" minous plants were in great variety, and the leeks numerous. Of trees the apple, fig, apricot, pistachio, almond, walnut, cypress, tamarisk, plane, acacia, and above all the palm, were cultivated. The waters abounded in fish, the carp being especially plentiful. The water fowl were naturally the most numerous, the swan, goose, duck, pelican,
Babylonia