Pre-Islamic Semetic Tribe the History

Pre-Islamic Semetic Tribe

The history of the world has sometimes rather untraceable origins and there are many situations in which certain elements or historical evolutions cannot be accounted for. However, at the same time, history also gives the possibility of discovering the miracles and mysteries of civilizations long gone. Through such a process, one can see that in fact ancient civilizations all have followers that have defined the world we live today. Therefore, their history is in fact the process of evolution and acculturation which in the end defines their identity and the one of the succeeding civilizations.

The Babylonian civilization is a worthy example in this sense. It offered the precise cultural, political, and economic background for the creation of a grand culture along the banks of the Tigris, and, at the same time, through its constant contacts with other civilizations, it influenced the evolution of the peoples that would later on establish themselves on the former Babylonian land.

The Babylonian civilization can widely be perceived as the one belonging to the actual city of Babylon, one of the most representative elements of the Mesopotamian culture. Its placement varies in the Mesopotamian region, between the Euphrates and the Tigris. The history of the city, according to most historians, is strictly connected with a large part of the Mesopotamian history. In this sense, it is marked in its pre-Christian period by a succession of dynasties. However, taking into account the fact that the time period was limited in any means of accounting history, there are few actual sources that can present a correct account of the dynasties and their evolution. However, "the documents concerned are known as 'king lists'. The oldest one, the Sumerian King List, of which some twenty more or less complete copies survive, was compiled around 1800 BC by a Babylonian scholar. It begins with a section that lists eight kings who ruled for phenomenally lengthy periods of time, followed by the post-deluvian age 'after the flood had swept over (the land) and kingship descended from heaven (again)'. In the scheme of the Sumerian King List sovereignty was always exercised by one particular city at any one time and thus kingship passes from one Sumerian city to the next, beginning with Kish, then Uruk, Ur and Awan, then Uruk again, and so it goes on, sometimes for as long as the reign of a single king, sometimes for several" (Leick, 2003, 24-26). Therefore it can be said that the history of this small political entity was determined and influence by the rulers it possessed.

In these circumstances one of the most important of its rulers was Hammurabi, the one that considered the essential need for the rule of law and established the Code of Law that would become one of the most remarkable proofs of the ancient civilization (History World, n.d.)

The society of the Babylonian city was completely destroyed by the Hittites and soon by the Assyrians. These constant pressures exercised by subsequent powers in the region made the Babylonians fear their neighbors but at the same time increase the value of their defense and their culture. It can be said that from this point-of-view the clashes that took place in the early days of our world enabled cities and cultures to establish themselves according to the threats they had to face. This was indeed an important means of defining one's culture and establishing it as the strongest or weakest in the region.

In the seventh century BC the Babylonians gave birth to a new dynasty and ruler that would eventually offer a new perspective to Babylonian history. In this sense, "Nebuchadnezzar, in a reign of more than forty years, gives Babylon its period of greatest fame. He is prominent in the Bible as the ruler who destroys Jerusalem and carries off the Jews into their Babylonian captivity. And he features in the list of the Seven Wonders of the World, as the creator of the hanging gardens of Babylon" (History World, n.d.). Taking into account this evolution it can be said that the leaders of the Babylonian city played an essential role in promoting and advancing the image and the historical conduct of the city. The issue of the great wonders of the world and the placement of the Hanged Gardens of Babylon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World only come to point out the importance of the evolution of the cultural life of the city.

Another aspect must be pointed out. In relation to the evolution of the Babylonian culture it can be said that the development of the cultural aspect and especially in terms of the civilization background is largely determined by the outside influences exercised by various factors. Therefore, for instance, the conquest of the Babylonians gave birth at a certain point to a different and improved cultural life, one that would leave a mark in the history of the world.