COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.--The Babylonians were a commercial and
luxurious people; the Assyrians were pre-eminently warlike. The position
of the great city of Babylon on the Lower Euphrates, near to the Persian
Gulf, made it a great emporium for the trade between India and eastern
Asia and western Asia, with the nearest parts of Africa and Europe. From
Ceylon came ivory, cinnamon and ebony; spices from the eastern islands;
myrrh and frankincense from Arabia; cotton, pearls, and valuable timber,
both for ship-building and ornament, from the islands in the Persian
Gulf. There was also a great caravan trade with northern India and
adjacent lands, whence came gold, dyes, jewels, and fine wool.
MANUFACTURES.--The wealth of Babylon became prodigious and proverbial,
and her commerce was, in large measure, due to ingenious and splendid
manufactures. Carpets, curtains, and fine muslins, skilfully woven and
brilliantly dyed, of elegant pattern and varied hue, were famous
wherever luxury was known. The Babylonian gems in the British Museum
display art of the highest order in cutting precious stones.
GOVERNMENT AND LEARNING.--The system of government was a pure despotism,
with viceroys ruling the provinces under the monarch, who dwelt in
luxurious seclusion from his people. The priests and learned men of
Babylon were mainly Chaldæans.
There were astronomers or, more properly, astrologers, in several of the
cities; and the towers, such as that of Babel, were probably both
temples and observatories. The clearness of the sky and the levelness of
the horizon on all sides favored the study of the stars, which was more
closely connected with religion than any form of science. The Chaldæans
worshipped the heavenly bodies. When Babylon was taken by Alexander the
Great, in 331 B. C., there was found in the city a series of
observations of the stars dating from 2234 B. C.
ARCHITECTURE AND ART.--Assyrian art must be considered great in
architecture and sculpture. The emblematic figures of the gods show
dignity and grandeur. The scenes from real life, of war, and of the
chase, are bold and vivid; and in succeeding ages marked progress is
shown in the acquirement of a more free, natural, life-like and varied
execution, though the artists never learned perspective and proportion.
The Assyrians constructed arches, tunnels, and aqueducts; were skilled
in engraving gems, and in the arts of enamelling and inlaying; made
porcelain, transparent and colored glass, and even lenses; ornaments of
bronze and ivory, bells, and golden bracelets and earrings of good
design and workmanship, were all produced. In mechanics, and for
measuring time, they used the pulley, the lever, the water-clock, and
the sun-dial.
IMPLEMENTS AND METHOD OF WARFARE.--The implements and methods used in
war, as the monuments show, included swords, spears, maces, and bows and
arrows, as weapons of offence; cavalry and chariots for charging;
movable towers and battering-rams for sieges; and circular intrenched
camps as quarters for a military force.
RELIGION.--In common with all Semites, the Babylonians were exceedingly
religious, and were consequently greatly in the power of their priests,
through whom tithes and offerings to their numerous gods were made.
Their earliest chief divinity was apparently the god _Ea_, lord of the
deep, possessor of unsearchable wisdom, and creator of all things. When,
however, Babylon became the chief of the city states of Babylonia,
_Merodach_, the god of that city, assumed the first place. He was a
reflection of the sun, or the light of day, and was worshiped as he who
constantly sought to do good to mankind. His chief title was _Bel_,
(Baal of the Bible) “the Lord”; and his vast temples were maintained by
the Babylonian kings with pride. The priests attached to this temple
were richly endowed, and the maintenance of the worship involved a great
outlay. The impression made by this temple and its worship on the Jews
during their captivity is reflected in the account of Bel and the Dragon
in the Old Testament.
The other gods of Babylonia would seem to have been the same as those of
Assyria, which borrowed its religion, as well as its other culture, from
Babylonia. _Asshur_ was the chief god, and is always named first in the
invocations of the kings. _Sin_ was the moon-god, _Shamash_ the sun-god,
_Anum_ the god of the sky, _Bel_ the god of the earth, and _Ea_ the god
of the abyss and of profound wisdom. _Rammanu_ (the Biblical Rimmon) was
the ruler of the weather, _Ishtar_ (the Biblical Ashtoreth) the goddess
of love, _Nebo_ the god of learning, and _Nergal_ the god of war and
hunting. The Assyrian temples always contained statues of the gods or
goddesses, and sometimes a particular statue was held in special
veneration, as the _Ihstar_ of Nineveh, or the Ihstar of Arbela; only
two statues of a god have been discovered in modern times, namely the
two limestone figures of Nebo, disinterred in a temple at Nimrud, and
dating from the eighth century B. C. With regard to public worship, we
know that constant sacrifices and libations were offered to the gods,
images were carried in procession, and a highly organized and richly
endowed priesthood existed. The building and maintenance of temples were
among the chief functions of the king, who himself boasted of the title
of high priest.
[Illustration: =JERUSALEM, THE HOLY CITY OF THE JEWS=]