Babylon

The Hittite king Mursili sacked Babyon in 1595 B.C.; however, the Hittites never occupied Babylon.

The Babylonians used cuneiform to write the Akkadian and Babylonian Languages. Cuneiform tablets were written by pressing reed styluses to clay blocks and then left to harden.

Accounts indicate that the garden was built by King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC (There is an alternative story that the gardens were built by the Assyrian Queen Semiramis during her five year reign starting in 810 BC). This was the height of the city's power and influence and King Nebuchadnezzar is known to have constructed an astonishing array of temples, streets, palaces and walls. According to accounts, the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar's homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the two nations. The land she came from, though, was green, rugged and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked terrain of Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to relieve her depression by recreating her homeland through the building of an artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.

As a matter of fact, Babylon came after Mesopotamia and he was the sixth king of Babylon.

The code was written for and in the Babylonian Empire and were found in Iran.

Some of the translations of the Code of Hammurabi:

1. If any one ensnares another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sinks in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, is put to death.

4. If he satisfies the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the action produces.

5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement.

6. If any one steals the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.

7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death.

8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirty fold therefore; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.

9. If any one lose an article, and find it in the possession of another: if the person in whose possession the thing is found say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses," and if the owner of the thing say, "I will bring witnesses who know my property," then shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him, and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witnesses who can identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony--both of the witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses who identify the lost article on oath. The merchant is then proved to be a thief and shall be put to death. The owner of the lost article receives his property, and he who bought it receives the money he paid from the estate of the merchant.

10. If the purchaser does not bring the merchant and the witnesses before whom he bought the article, but its owner bring witnesses who identify it, then the buyer is the thief and shall be put to death, and the owner receives the lost article.

11. If the owners do not bring witnesses to identify the lost article, he is an evil-doer; he has traduced, and shall be put to death.

12. If the witnesses be not at hand, then shall the judge set a limit, at the expiration of six months, if his witnesses have not appeared within the six months, he is an evil-doer, and shall bear the fine of the pending case.

14. If any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

15. If any one takes a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death.

16. If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to death.

17. If any one find runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.

18. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the finder shall bring him to the palace; a further investigation must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his master.

19. if he holds the slaves in his house, and they are caught there, he shall be put to death

20. If the slave that he caught run away from him, then shall he swear to the owners of the slave, and he are free of all blame.

21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.

22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death

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23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community, and . . . on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.

24. If persons are stolen, then shall the community and . . . pay one mina of silver to their relatives.

25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.

26. If a chieftain or a man (common soldier), who has been ordered to go upon the king's highway for war does not go, but hires a mercenary, if he withholds the compensation, then shall this officer or man be put to death, and he who represented him shall take possession of his house.

27. If a chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of the king (captured in battle), and if his fields and garden be given to another and he take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field and garden shall be returned to him, he shall take it over again.

28. If a chieftain or a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, if his son is able to enter into possession, then the field and garden shall be given to him, he shall take over the fee of his father.

29. If his son is still young, and can not take possession, a third of the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and she shall bring him up.

30. If a chieftain or a man leave his house, garden, and field and hires it out, and some one else takes possession of his house, garden, and field and uses it for three years: if the first owner return and claims his house, garden, and field, it shall not be given to him, but he who has taken possession of it and used it shall continue to use it.

31. If he hires it out for one year and then return, the house, garden, and field shall be given back to him, and he shall take it over again.

32. If a chieftain or a man is captured on the "Way of the King" (in war), and a merchant buy him free, and bring him back to his place; if he have the means in his house to buy his freedom, he shall buy himself free: if he have nothing in his house with which to buy himself free, he shall be bought free by the temple of his community; if there be nothing in the temple with which to buy him free, the court shall buy his freedom. His field, garden, and house shall not be given for the purchase of his freedom.

33. If a . . . or a . . . enter him self as withdrawn from the "Way of the King," and send a mercenary as substitute, but withdraw him, then the . . . or . . . shall be put to death.

34. If a . . . or a . . . harm the property of a captain, injure the captain, or take away from the captain a gift presented to him by the king, then the . . . or . . . shall be put to death.

35. If any one buys the cattle or sheep which the king has given to chieftains from him, he loses his money.

36. the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, of a man, or of one subject to quit-rent, can not be sold.

37. If any one buys the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet of sale shall be broken (declared invalid) and he loses his money. The field, garden, and house return to their owners.

38. a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent can not assign his tenure of field, house, and garden to his wife or daughter, nor can he assign it for a debt.

39. He may, however, assign a field, garden, or house which h

e has bought, and holds as property, to his wife or daughter or give it for debt.

40. If any one fence in the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, furnishing the palings therefore; if the chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent return to field, garden, and house, the palings which were given to him become his property.

41. If any one takes over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest there from, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his

Neighbor rose, to the owner of the field.

No rome was not the first Empire in the worldalexander the great had an empire before rome, Xerse had a empire, Egypt was an empire. All of these were before rome

He was a just king but his assistants made bad assessments in a few occasions. When he was convinced of their bad assessments, he threw them in the lions den.

If you want good information on the topic, the best place is the Catholic version of the book of Daniel.

Perhaps the most remarkable and influential creation of its time, Hammurabi's code is the oldest set of laws known to exist. Hammurabi, king and chief priest of Babylonia from 1792-1750 B.C., expanded his empire greatly before focusing his energies toward wealth and justice for his people. He created a code protecting all classes of Babylonian society, including women and slaves. He sought protection of the weak from the powerful and the poor from the rich. The carving on the stone on which the code is written depicts Hammurabi receiving the divine laws from the sun god, the god most often associated with justice. This stone was unearthed by French archaeologists at Susa, Iraq (ancient Elam), in 1901-02. The black diorite rock is 2.4 m high and had been broken into three pieces.

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Hammurabi's Code is 44 columns of text, 28 paragraphs of which contain the actual code. There are 282 laws (possibly more have been rubbed off) that probably amend common Babylonian law rather than define it. It describes regulations for legal procedure, fixes rates on services performed in most branches of commerce and describes property rights, personal injury, and penalties for false testimony and accusations. It has no laws regarding religion.

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The Code of Hammurabi is significant because its creation allowed men, women, slaves, and all others to read and understand the laws that governed their lives in Babylon. It is unique in that laws of other civilizations were not written down, and thus could be manipulated to suite the rulers that dictated them. The Code is particularly just for its time. Although it follows the practice of "an eye for an eye", it does not allow for vigilante justice, but rather demands a trial by judges. It also glorifies acts of peace and justice done during Hammurabi's rule.

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It symbolizes not only the emergence of justice in the minds of men, but also man's rise above ignorance and barbarism toward the peaceful and just societies still pursued today. In the words of Hammurabi as carved on the stone, "Let any oppressed man who has a cause come into the presence of my statue as king of justice, and have the inscription on my stele read out, and hear my precious words, that my stele may make the case clear to him; may he understand his cause, and may his heart be set at ease!"

Hammurabi was a very strict ruler. He may have even been cruel. However, he made the first list of laws and punishments that was created. He believed in an eye for an eye philosophy. If someone chopped someones arm off, their arm was also chopped off. However, Hammurabi's Code, as the list of laws and punishments was called, unified and gave order to Babylon.

it treated everyone equally

It treated all non-slaves equally. A word that could describe Hammurabi's codified law could be "fair" or "non-discriminating."

Yes

Man has always struggled to keep accurate track of the time. The origins of the hourglass are not exactly certain. They might have been used as early as the 11th century CE, although we do not have assured evidence of their existence until the 14th century. Another early developed timekeeping device was the water clock. Its exact origins are unknown, but water clocks have been found dating as far back as 1500 BCE in ancient Egypt. The device works by allowing water to pass through a small aperture of the clock at a certain rate. By watching this flow of water you will be able to tell what time it is, even at night as it was not based upon the Sun. Water does not always flow at a consistent rate, however, so this device was not perfectly accurate. The water clock was well used in Mesopotamia.

Nebuchadnezzar's wife, Amytis, missed her green homeland, Medes. Since he did not want her to leave (like any good husband would) build her the hanging gardens in Babylon. They were also regarded as one of the ancient wonders of the world.

Hammurabi's laws were established to be the "laws of Justice" intended to clarify the rights of any "oppressed man." Mesopotamia society under the Hammurabi code was one of strict penalties for criminal offenses with punishment severe and varied according to the wealth of the individual.

He was the sixht King of Mesopotamia who noted short life of cruel Kings. The Code's importance as a reflection of Babylonian society is indisputable. Hammurabi's laws were established to be the "laws of Justice" intended to clarify the rights of any "oppressed man." Mesopotamia society under the Hammurabi code was one of strict penalties for criminal offenses with punishment severe and varied according to the wealth of the individual. Hammurabi's rigidly centralized ruling system prospered from tribute and taxes, which he used to both compensate state dependents and finance extensive state irrigation and building projects. The code also gives us a clear sense of the ways ancient Babylonians invested divine authority in their secular leaders.

Well, first off, he had an army of hundreds when others didn't.

Hammurabi had 539 laws based on these two phrases: Innocent until proven guilty, and an Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth. A sample law from his law code is if a child slaps his father, the child's hand is cut off.

he had over 100 wifes

The Babylonian took the Jews captive, destroyed the temple and plundered the temple of all the gold and silver. Set fire to the city and the Jews were held slaves till king Cyrus released them.

Along the Tigres and Euphrates rivers. Sumer and Akkad being the two main territories, the Sumerians and Akkadians being the two main ethnic groups in what is now Iraq. There were many seminomadic groups within the region and Babylon did not become the true centre of the region until the end of the era. The most powerful city-state at the beginning of the reign was Isin until Hammurabi made Babylon the centre of activity for the region.