Compare and contrast the Babylonian Empire to the Hittite Empire
Babylonian empire was located in what is known as the Iraq region, and was established before Sargon of Akkad’s reign whose rule spanned from 2334-2279 BC and is credited with building of Babylon temples. It was founded after the collapse of Ur’s Third Dynasty (Vacín, 2008). The political system was closely linked to the religion of this ancient city. There was early urban civilization in the empire whose endurance lasted from 18th century to about 6th century BC. The urbanization in character and its basis was agriculture rather than trade. Kingship was the major leadership style at the top of the empires political system. The rise of this system resulted from the unification of Old Babylonian City states to the Babylonian City States, while primitive population centers in the lower part of the Tigro-Euphrates valley made contact among them to give rise to the Babylonian culture (International History, 2004). The King was at the centre of the religion, and was considered closer to gods, while there were subordinates some of whom presided over the states. The government established in the empire involved a large bureaucracy which served to bring to the attention of the king all information. The rule of the empire was the guardian of justice and he was involved in settling land disputes, contact disputes and other legal matters. The king’s will was the law while officials depended on the king. The religion practices also involved a priest who served as mediator between the gods and the people, with the deity’s favor being the at most desire of the people. The role of the religion was indispensible and inseparable to the life of Babylonians, while there various ritual restrictions whose violation would result to disaster to the people (Vacín, 2008).
Agriculture was the major economic activity even though industry and trade had been highly developed like in Babylonia. There existed taxation systems that helped to protect revenues including offerings to the temples, customs duties and land taxes. There was a differentiation of labor with names of workers indicating the kind of occupation they were involved in. In addition, the Babylonian empire had a well differentiated society based on economic activity and leadership. Slave population formed the lowest class and who were employed in farms and temples (International History, 2004). The slaves were protected from the rich class who owned land or property by the law that ensured there were no injury, were paid wages and against separation of children from parents. The slaves were followed by free laborers in the social class, and then peasant farmers and the wealth merchants. There were various contracts or agreement that ensured that the relationships among farmers, free laborers and merchants were maintained. The society had become organized in towns which were protected by thick and high walls to protect against invasion by enemies. Family formed a very important part of the society (Vacín, 2008).
Unlike Babylonian empire, Hittite Empire emerged from occupation of various places like central Anatolia and making Hattusa their capital. Early kings consolidated the control of the Old Kingdom (1650-1620 BC) after conquest of other places Anatolia and Babylon (Cohen, Gilan, Miller & Singer, 2010). The political system was organized around Kingship with the king wielding complete authority. The Hittite King like the Babylonia King was the chief and military leader, a supreme judge and closed to the storm god on earth. Unlike the Babylonian king, the Hittite king was said to become a god upon his death (Guisepi, 2003). The society of Hittite Empire was fundamentally agrarian and feudal, and the common people were either slaves, or artisans. This formed the major economic activity of the people, given that Anatolia had a lot of metals majorly iron and silver (Guisepi, 2003). This can relate to their good skills in developing or building chariots and using them in battles.
While Babylonian formed strong trade and commerce culture, the Hittites industry concentrated on iron-working technology which helped to initiate the Stone Age. The religion of this empire was different from Babylonian religion in that it was polytheism involving not only deities but also divinities of Hurrians and Syrians (Guisepi, 2003). Like the Babylonians, the religion formed an essential aspect of the social life with women particularly being part of it. The King and the queen were high priest or priestesses even though their sister carried out certain religious ceremonies. As mentioned, the Hittites seems to have adopted these religious from the deities of the peoples they conquered. The empire also involved a mixed art culture with composite of other cultures like Assyrian, Syrian, Phoenicians and Egyptian influences and motif (Guisepi, 2003). In addition, their culture placed a lot of importance to the family unit which was a basic part of the society.
The major similarities between the Babylonians and Hittites can be seen in their political organizations and social structures where kings had absolute authority while society was organized into hierarchical classes. The major differences are observed in economic activities and religious activities where Babylonians extended to trade and commerce while Hittites were experienced in iron-working.
References
Vacín, L. (2008). The Babylonian world–Edited by Gwendolyn Leick. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 14(4), 897-898.
Cohen, Y., Gilan, A., Miller, J. L., & Singer, I. (2010). Pax Hethitica: Studies on the Hittites and their neighbours in honour of Itamar Singer. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 70-76
International History, (2004). Babylonia, A history of ancient Babylon (Babylonia) including its cities, laws, kings and legacy to civilization. Retrieved from: http://history-world.org/babylonia.htm
Guisepi,R. (2003). A history of the Hittites including their cities, kings, art and contributions to civilization. Retrieved from: http://history-world.org/hittites.htm
