Reading!

I’ve read 919 pages since the beginning of the school until September. I’ve read 1,250 from November until December. My goal is to read 2,000 pages by the end of this year but I’ll probably pass that up before May.

My Neo-Babylonian Empire Project!!!

The Neo-Babylonian Empire is and was not very well known. Infact before I wrote this I didn’t know what the Neo-Babylonian Empire was. The Neo-Babylonian Empire was the final period of Babylonia. Neo- means new so really this empire should be called New Babylonia.  This empire I think is a civilization because an empire is usually stable.

    Government was very important to everyone and still is everywhere today. Government controls the safety of a lot of people. In the Neo-Babylonian Empire there was a monarchy. That means they had a kingdom instead of government officials. Their most famous king was Nebuchadnezzar II. He was a ruthless and mean military ruler. He reigned from 605 to 562 B.C.E. In 539 B.C.E Cyrus came in and ruled from the Persian Empire. Their government was small and was invaded so it was stable until then.

    The Neo-Babylonian Empire had some art but the art wasn’t very famous. In 612 B.C.E there was a final event of Mesopotamian culture in southern Iraq under the last dynasty of Babylonian kings, during the reigns of Nabopolassar (625-605 b.c.e) there was a lot of building activity. Temples and ziggurats were repaired or rebuilt in almost all of the old cities. Babylon was built bigger and had towered and moated fortress walls. There is a famous piece of art in Neo-Babylon it’s called the Ishtar gate it was made for Ishtar the goddess and rebuilt because it fell apart. Art was famous in cities like Paris but I’ve never heard of art come from “Neo-Babylon before.

 Religion is important in every civilization, everyone believes in something. In Neo-Babylon the people were very polytheistic. They believed in thousands of gods, but only twenty were worshiped more than the other nine hundred and eighty. Anu, Enlil, and Ea were patron deities of Sumer and each had some of the universe to share. Anu was god of the heavens and patron god for Uruk. Enlil was god of the earth; Ea was the lord of water and the god of craftsmen. Astral deities included Shamash the sun-god, Sin the moon-god, and Ishtar the morning and evening star goddess. Adad was the god of storms, and Ninurta was the god of war and hunting; Enuma Elish was the most important. The Neo-Babylonian Empire had gods like Rome; there were tons of them and were all important.

 Writing is something that everyone learns to do, everyone writes differently and writing started back in the ancient times. The people of Neo-Babylon wrote in cuneiform they got that from Mesopotamia, Akkadia, and Sumer. Their writing and language came from those bordering countries around it. The citizens of the Neo-Babylonian Empire used waxed writing boards to write on. Neo-Babylonian people spoke the Akkadian language which leads to their handwriting. Other things they wrote on were clay tablets along with the Mesopotamians. Writing was important then and still is today all over the world.

 A stable food supply is important in every civilization if you don’t have enough food the people that don’t get food will die. The people got their water from canals and irrigation systems all over the empire. There were farmers throughout the empire they grow corn, wheat, and vegetables. The people also picked berries and hunted for animals so they could have meat. The famous hanging gardens were kept up by the help of irrigation systems. Food supply has to be good in civilizations in modern day United States or our country would have a lot more problems.

 Technology is helpful all over the world especially in the United States because all of the new electronics that can help us get things done faster. The technology back then wasn’t as great as ours is now. Some things they had were Iron Age pots, huge ziggurats, siege towers, and steles. There technology included building supplies and buildings ours are electronics and power tools. It’s a lot different now than it was and I can’t believe how great my generation is. Their technology helps them have shelter and other things because I don’t think that the Neo-Babylonian Empire was a very poor empire. Technology affects everyone now and then because it’s just that important.

 The social structure in every country is important so there can be security. Social structure in the Neo-Babylonian Empire was fairly normal for its time. The social pyramid included gods, kings, generals, farmers/workers, and peasants. The kings helped out all of the people and didn’t reign for long periods of time. Generals made sure the empire wasn’t invaded by enemies. The workers made money and helped out the society. The peasants were safe and secure because of the kings and generals. All of them are important and were well protected.

 The Neo-Babylonian Empire is a lot different from the United States. That is probably because there is such a time difference and we’re halfway across the world from each other. Their social structure was a success and I was happy to find that out otherwise I would have had to start over. This project was time consuming but I’m glad that I’m finally finished. The Neo-Babylonian Empire was a strong successful country until the Persian Empire took over. The Neo-Babylonian Empire was hard to do research on considering the fact it’s not very famous. I have never hears of the Neo-Babylonian Empire before so I was surprised to get it.