Babylonian Research Paper

Many people originating from two major civilizations populated Babylon: the nomadic Sumerians and the strange and secretive Semitic. The Sumerians were the first people to settle in Babylon, after leaving their homeland of Sumeria, however slowly united with the Semitic. The Sumerians made the land into a great farm. They raised livestock, built swamps, and irrigated canals. These lessons taught by the Sumerians allowed themselves to assimilate in to Babylonian life. The Babylonians understood the technological advancements of the Sumerians in irrigation and agriculture. Maintaining the system of canals dikes, weirs, and reservoirs once used by their predecessors required a vast amount of engineering knowledge and skill. All of the tools and preparations the Sumerians used were introduced to Babylonian history.

Due to Babylon's location, farming was a methodical occupation needing great foresight, diligence, and skill. As in The Ancient Babylonian, a Sumerian document, but used as a textbook in the Babylon schools as an authentic farmer's almanac. It has a sequence of instructions and directions to direct farmers in their activities from the watering of the fields, to the separating of the harvested crops. Babylon's culture is quite surprising. Law and justice were essential concepts in the Babylon way of life. At the head of the political structure was the king, a more or less absolute monarch who exercised legislative and judicial as well as executive powers.

Justice was decided by the courts, each of which consisted of from one to four judges. Often the elders of a town put together a tribunal. The judges could not change or take back their decisions for any reason, but appeals from their verdicts could be made to the king. Evidence consisted of either statements from witnesses or of written documents. Babylonian legal ideas and practices have been inherited, in one form or another, by many civilizations throughout the world. Babylonian art and