 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | H. W. F. Saggs |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subjects | Babylonia |
| Publisher | Sidgwick & Jackson |
Publication date | 1962 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 562 (first edition) |
The Greatness That Was Babylon (1962; second edition 1988) is a book about Babylonia by the Assyriologist H. W. F. Saggs.
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2019) |
Saggs, writing for the "general reader", describes the ancient Babylonians before and during the ancient Assyrian Empire. Topics discussed include cuneiform writing. [1]
The Greatness That Was Babylon was first published in 1962 by Sidgwick & Jackson. [2] In 1988, the book was reissued in a revised and updated edition. [3] Excavations in Mesopotamia have revealed a large amount of new information relevant to the study of Babylonian civilization, presented here as a revised and rewritten account of the book first published in 1962. The roots of much of western civilization lie in Babylonia the ancient civilization of south Iraq. Alexander the Great recognized the importance of its heritage and planned to make Babylon his world capital. The splendors and supposed wickedness of Babylon lived on in a tradition transmitted through the Bible and classical writers. The author aims here to reconstruct all aspects of this lost culture, presenting the Babylonians as living people - showing their eating and drinking habits, their worship, their relationships and lifestyle and so present an integrated picture.
The Greatness That Was Babylon received a positive review from the archaeologist Richard David Barnett in The Times Literary Supplement . Barnett commended the book for its "breadth and detail". However, he criticised Saggs's comparisons of the behaviour of the Babylonians with that of the Hebrews as described in the Old Testament. He also believed that Saggs had less mastery of archaeological material than of cuneiform studies. [4]
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia occupies modern Iraq. In the broader sense, the historical region included present-day Iraq and parts of present-day Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey.
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia. It emerged as an Akkadian populated but Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was retrospectively called "the country of Akkad", a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the older ethno-linguistically related state of Assyria in the north of Mesopotamia and Elam to the east in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted to a small kingdom centered around the city of Babylon.
Sippar was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its tell is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, some 69 km (43 mi) north of Babylon and 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Baghdad. The city's ancient name, Sippar, could also refer to its sister city, Sippar-Amnanum ; a more specific designation for the city here referred to as Sippar was Sippar-Yahrurum.
The Kassites were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC.
The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to c. 1894–1595 BC, and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babylonia is debated, since there is a Babylonian King List A and also a Babylonian King List B. In this chronology, the regnal years of List A are used due to their wide usage. The reign lengths given in List B are longer, generally speaking.
Assyriology, also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers Pre Dynastic Mesopotamia, Sumer, the early Sumero-Akkadian city-states, the Akkadian Empire, Ebla, the Akkadian and Imperial Aramaic speaking states of Assyria, Babylonia and the Sealand Dynasty, the migrant foreign dynasties of southern Mesopotamia, including the Gutians, Amorites, Kassites, Arameans, Suteans and Chaldeans. Assyriology can be included to cover Neolithic pre Dynastic cultures dating to as far back as 8000 BC through to the Islamic Conquest of the 7th century AD. The topic is significantly wider than that implied by the root "Assyria" within the name.
Samsu-ditāna, inscribed phonetically in cuneiform sa-am-su-di-ta-na in the seals of his servants, the 11th and last king of the Amorite or First Dynasty of Babylon, reigned for 31 years, 1625 – 1595 BC or 1562 – 1531 BC. His reign is best known for its demise with the sudden fall of Babylon at the hands of the Hittites.
The Babylonian Chronicles are a loosely-defined series of about 45 tablets recording major events in Babylonian history.
Babylonian religion is the religious practice of Babylonia. Babylonia's mythology was greatly influenced by its Sumerian counterparts and was written on clay tablets inscribed with the cuneiform script derived from Sumerian cuneiform. The myths were usually either written in Sumerian or Akkadian. Some Babylonian texts were translations into Akkadian from Sumerian of earlier texts, but the names of some deities were changed.
The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing in the late 4th millennium BC, an increasing amount of historical sources. While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, for which reason it is often called a cradle of civilization.
Nebuchadnezzar IV, alternatively spelled Nebuchadrezzar IV and also known by his original name Arakha, was a nobleman of Urartian (Armenian) descent who in 521 BC seized power in Babylon, becoming the city's king and leading a revolt against the Persian Achaemenid Empire. His revolt began less than a year after the unsuccessful revolt of Nebuchadnezzar III and like his predecessor, Arakha assumed the name Nebuchadnezzar and claimed to be a son of Nabonidus, Babylon's last independent king.
Henry William Frederick Saggs was an English classicist and orientalist.
The Battle of Opis was the last major military engagement between the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which took place in September 539 BC, during the Persian invasion of Mesopotamia. At the time, Babylonia was the last major power in Western Asia that was not yet under Persian control. The battle was fought in or near the strategic riverside city of Opis, located north of the capital city of Babylon in modern-day Iraq, and resulted in a decisive victory for Persia. Shortly afterwards, the Babylonian city of Sippar surrendered to Persian forces, who then supposedly entered Babylon without facing any further resistance. The Persian king Cyrus the Great was subsequently proclaimed as the king of Babylonia and its subject territories, thus ending its independence and incorporating the entirety of the fallen Neo-Babylonian Empire into the greater Achaemenid Empire.
The fall of Babylon was the decisive event that marked the total defeat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 539 BCE.
Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Iraq. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia, with its rulers establishing two important empires in antiquity, namely the 19th-16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the city would also be used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East until its decline during the Hellenistic period.
Nebuchadnezzar III, alternatively spelled Nebuchadrezzar III and also known by his original name Nidintu-Bêl, was a rebel king of Babylon in late 522 BC who attempted to restore Babylonia as an independent kingdom and end the rule of the Persian Achaemenid Empire in Mesopotamia. A Babylonian noble of the Zazakku family and the son of a man by the name of Mukīn-zēri or Kîn-Zêr, Nidintu-Bêl took the regnal name Nebuchadnezzar upon his accession to the Babylonian throne and claimed to be a son of Nabonidus, Babylon's last independent king.
The Kingdom of Khana or Kingdom of Hana was the Syrian kingdom from Hana Land in the middle Euphrates region north of Mari, which included the ancient city of Terqa. The kingdom emerged during the decline of the First Babylonian Dynasty. A newer view is that only the initial six rulers lived during that time and that after an interregnum, Khana re-emerged in the Middle Babylonian period under the last six kings. The Low Chronology dating scheme for Hana has gained much support. The kingdom was located in the middle Euphrates close to the junction of Khabur River. Its capital was the town of Terqa.
The term Puqudu or Piqudu refers to a prominent Aramean tribe and its associated region in southern or eastern Babylonia. They lived along the eastern edge of Elam and in the area near Uruk and the Tigris. Their tribal name is sometimes spelled with an accent mark as Puqūdu, and the members of the tribe are sometimes referred to as Puqūdian, Puqūdians, or Puqudaeans. Some older publications use Pukud.
 | This article about an archaeology-related book is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This Assyrian-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This article about a non-fiction book on the Ancient Near East is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
