Essay on Egyptian and Babylonian Empires

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Traveling back in time there were two of histories well known empires, One being the New Kingdom of Egypt and the other was the Babylonian Empire. Both Egypt and Babylon flourished during their time, one empire had many great leaders who lead them into a new era and a single great leader with harsh laws governed the other. They were socially equal with the different levels of class and hierarchy, yet one prospered more economically then the other. Both empires believed in and worshipped many gods acting as co-laborers with their gods for different religious beliefs, as well as their likenesses in their culture both empires had strong military forces with minor differences. Though there are many similarities with these empires, there are also many differences that may seem minor but are actually what made them who they are. To start off let’s take a look at their politics, Egypt was lead by many pharaohs and some of those pharaohs’ reigns lasted longer then others. King Ahmose 1 came about in 1570 B.C.E, and established the New Kingdom of Egypt by over coming the previous ruler Hyksos. During this time the pharaohs were able to rebuild Egypt’s prosperous empire again, how ever it was short lived. Throughout the reign of Hatshepsut she tried to maintain and shape the domestic and commercial environments in her empire, mean while trying to protect her borders. Many pharaohs followed suite by trying to maintain an order, and protect their lands. Babylon on the other hand only ever had one great leader, Hammurabi, whose reign lasted for 60 years. Hammurabi was a harsh ruler who’s law code most know for the “eye for an eye” system, though harsh as he was Hammurabi established a great empire. Like in many other empires there are different levels of hierarchy, usually it went from the highest being kings to the lowest being slaves. The Egyptians level of hierarchy was just that, with the highest being the gods, and the lowest being the slaves and servants. Babylon too had different levels of class, but unlike Egypt, the Babylonian empire broke it down into 3 classes. The first class was that of upper class, kings, nobles, free citizens, and military. Then came the slaves as the second class, and the third class was that of a free person of lower class. Though with the many different levels of hierarchy, each class played a part in building their economy. The Egyptians brought in most of their wealth from farming, and fishing, “Thanks to the yearly inundations the soil remained fertile. But agricultural techniques were not very efficient. Improvements were rare, implements remained primitive and the breeding of better livestock was haphazard” (Author unknown). Another source of wealth was the products that they manufactured, such as linen, beer, and wine. They would also mine for metals such as copper, bronze, and iron, they would use these metals to not only sell but to make tools as well. Now the Babylonian empire brought in most of their wealth through their good crops and plentiful herds of sheep and cattle. They used their sources for trading to obtain materials such as copper, gold, and wood. They would then use these materials to produce other products and would sell on the market. Both empires had one major thing in common their cultures worshiped their gods, as they believed they would have better crops, and good weather. The Babylonians worshipped many gods but only had one principal god, Marduk. Marduk was considered the god of the city and was represented by a dragon, which was placed in the center of the city. Each year they would hold a new years festival
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