Government In The Babylonian Empire

The Babylonian Empire was one of the most powerful states in the entire ancient world. Its success lied within the government structure and agriculture. Babylonia was always a great center of culture and trade, where cultural diffusion occurred. Due to the prosperity of the empire, it attracted merchants and traders from afar to share their ideas and products. The Babylonian Empire’s government structure and the policies that the rulers put forth affected the culture, economy, and lifestyle of its people. The Babylonian Empire was very strong because of its firm and effective government. Although the rulers of Babylonia were emperors, they didn’t always acts like tyrants or dictators, but rather worked to preserve order and peace throughout

Many punishments involved death, which created more protection throughout the empire due to Hammurabi’s Code. The laws revolved around every aspect of society, including marriage, adoption, and commercial matters. These very specific laws were made so that nobody was taken advantage of and everything occurred swiftly during transactions. Also, the laws set out the nature of the relationship between Hammurabi, the gods, and the people being ruled (Jarus, 2017). The gods took part in Hammurabi’s Code because Hammurabi believed that the gods sent him to rule. Some of the laws have the gods determine the criminal’s fate, in order to make sure that the gods destroy the wicked. Hammurabi created this extensive and harsh code of laws so that everyone was protected from harm and unwanted problems, and that they had enjoyable lives. However, Hammurabi wasn’t the only Babylonian Emperor that took efforts to make Babylonia a better place. Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar worked hard to better their empire. According to The Cambridge Ancient History, “His letters, dealing with affairs on the northern borders, show that his duties as crown-prince entailed a share in the cares of government” (Page 61). Sennacherib cared about how he

A majority of Babylonian life revolved around agriculture because its geographic location, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, gave them a lot of fertile land. The key to wealth in the Babylonian Empire was through trade. Merchants were supported and great trading centers were built in the empire, so that the king would be able to gain wealth by taxing the foreign merchants (Bible History). Babylonians greatly succeeded in trade because of their agricultural surplus (Albright, Paragraph 23). They had more produce and access to goods that were scarce in other areas around them, so they had an advantage in trade. The agricultural surplus gave the Babylonians stability in their economy, which also made their empire stable (Bible History). They traded their agriculture for raw materials because that was rare in the Babylonian Empire (Albright, Paragraph 23). These raw materials were needed for daily life and used in the flourishing textile business. The raw materials were also used to create cabinet-making, gem-cutting, and metal-working industries in the empire that created jobs for the people (Bible History). All of this is credited to the protection offered by Hammurabi’s Code. Babylon was the place where all of this trade most likely occurred, since it was a political and religious capital of