Unlike today, the recipes for these dishes were not presented alongside colorful photos in a hardbound book, but rather were impressed into the surface of clay tablets using reed styluses. Not unlike today’s chefs, the ancient Babylonians favored recipes of stews filled with savory meats, herbaceous herbs, and earthy vegetables. Click here for our comprehensive article on ancient Mesopotamia.Even ancient Babylonian chefs knew the value of a good cookbook. This article is part of our larger resource on Mesopotamian culture, society, economics, and warfare. The city was taken by the Parthians in 141 B.C., then back to the Persians and finally became part of the Muslim world in the mid-7th century A.D. Babylon retained its glory as a center of learning and culture as a province of the Persian Empire.Īlexander the Great conquered the city in 331 B.C., dying there in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in 323 B.C. when the Persian army under Cyrus the Great conquered the city in the Battle of Opis. Scholars, however, dispute whether the Hanging Gardens existed in Babylon or in the Assyrian city of Ninevah.īabylonian rule of Babylon ended in 539 B.C. He rebuilt the Etemenanki ziggurat (also known as the Tower of Bable), the magnificent Ishtar Gate and is credited with creating the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon became one of the wonders of the world. King Nebuchadnezzar II, his son, began renovating and building on a grand scale in Babylon until it covered 2,200 acres with a population perhaps reaching 200,000. King Nabopolassar used diplomacy and alliances to build the Neo-Babylonian Empire out of the remains of the fallen Assyrian empire. They then proceeded to rebuild Babylon.Ī Chaldean king took control of Babylon after the fall of the Assyrian Empire circa 612 B.C. This act shocked the religious peoples of Mesopotamia, and his sons murdered Sennacherib to atone for his sin. Sennacherib destroyed the city, razing its walls, temples and palaces to the ground. Under the Assyian king, Sennacherib, Babylon rebelled. Kassite control of the city lasted 435 years, with periodic episodes of Assyrian or Elamite conquests.Īssyrians controlled Babylon from 911 to 608 B.C. The Kassites called Babylon by the name Karanduniash. Under the Kassite dynasty, Babylon became a great cultural center of learning, producing texts on mathematics, medicine and astrology.
Kassites, a mountain people from Iran, later took the city and conquered the rest of Mesopotamia as well. The control he had established over Mesopotamia dwindled away until the city itself was sacked in 1595 B.C.
Hammurabi’s empire lasted only his lifetime.
We discuss his life and law code a separate article. Besides Hammurabi’s famous law code, he focused on improving irrigation and control of water resources, building massive temples and engaging in public works such as enlarging the double walls of the city.