Chapter 4
Chapter 4 of One Thousand and One Questions and Answers on General History. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. One Thousand and One Questions and Answers on General History by Benjamin Hathaway.
Babylonia 1. Where was the Babylonian Empire? In southwestern Asia, along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. 2.
By what name is it known at present? The province of Baghdad. 3. What other names have been given to the same territory? The plains of Shinar, Genesis 10, 10, the plain of the sea, etc.
4. What is the source of the richness of the soil? The overflow of the Euphrates and Tigris. 5. What is said of their alluvial deposit?
It was marvelously fertile. In it wheat grew so rank that people mowed it twice to make it ear. The field was from fifty to a hundred fold. 6. What is the Euphrates sometimes called?
The Nile of Babylon. 7. What was another name for Babylonia? Chaldea. 8.
What is known of the antiquity of Chaldea? Recent archaeological discoveries point to the remote date of 3800 BC for a king Sargon I who built palaces and temples and founded libraries. 9. What is known of the history of Chaldea?
The people were conquered by their northern neighbors, the Assyrians, in the 13th century BC, and they remained in servitude for several hundred years. 10. What was the capital of Assyria? Nineveh.
11. What was the chief city of the empire? Babylon. 12. How did the Chaldeans become masters of Babylon?
They captured Nineveh in 606 BC and Babylon after the ruin of its rival again became the capital of the east. 13. Who were the Chaldeans? They were the highest caste in Babylonia.
14. What were their national powers? They decided politics, commanded the armies, and held the chief offices. 15. What may be said of the education of the Chaldeans?
They were highly educated. Astronomical calculations taken by them as far back as 2000 BC were found to be correct. They were also astrologists. They interpreted dreams and omens, gave instruction in the arts of magic, and conducted pompous religious ceremonies.
16. When did they lose their power? When Babylon was destroyed by Cyrus, 538 BC. 17. What was the location of Babylon?
On the river Euphrates, 300 miles from its junction with the Tigris. 18. What is the modern name? The city Hilla, which was built out of its ruins and near the ancient site of Babylon in the year 1101.
19. What was used for building material in the empire? Brick made of the native clay. 20. What was the Metian Wall?
A great wall built of brick on the northern boundary of the empire from the Euphrates to the Tigris. 21. What may be said of the canals? The country was an entire network of canals used to convey the water to the already rich
fields and gardens. 22. What are these canals called in biblical literature? The rivers of Babylon, where the captive Jews hung their harps on the willows along their banks and wept over the desolation of Zion.
23. What was the size of the city? 15 miles square. It was larger than any modern city of the world. 24.
What was the most important building of Babylon? The palace of Nabucad-Nezhar. 25. When was it built? 600 years BC.
26. What was the size of the palace? Six miles in circumference. 27. What great structure was considered a wonder of the world?
The Hanging Gardens. 28. Why were they built? For the gratification of the queen who longed for mountain scenery. 29.
How were they built? An artificial mountain was made, 400 feet high, and terraced on all sides. These terraces were sustained by piers, the whole being bound together by a wall 22 feet thick. 30.
What were planted on these terraces? Large trees and flowers. 31. How were the plants watered? Here was drawn by machinery from the river Euphrates.
32. Who was the queen for whom all this was built? Amethyst, the queen of Nabucad-Nezhar. 33. Did Nabucad-Nezhar extend his territory?
He did from Persia on the east to Egypt on the west. 34. What captivity occurred in his reign? The captivity of the Jews. 35.
Who was the last king of Babylon? Belshazzar. 36. How was Belshazzar's reign brought to a close? By the invasion of Cyrus and the destruction of the city 538 BC.
37. What country governed the Babylonian Empire subsequent to the year 538 BC? It passed into the control of the Mado-Persian Empire. 38. What was the writing of the Chaldeans?
Wedge-shaped characters. 39. What are they called? Cuneiform letters from Cuneus, a wedge. 40.
Upon what were they made? Clay tablets as there was no stone in Chaldea. 41. How many characters have been deciphered? 300, now large numbers still remain unknown.
42. Describe a Babylonian book. It consisted of several flat square clay tablets written on both sides and piled one upon another in order. 43.
What is said of the Chaldean account of the creation and the deluge? They are like the narrative in Genesis, though written hundreds of years before Moses was born. 44. How did the early Chaldeans bury their dead?
In large clay jars or in dish-covered tombs. 45. What is told of some of the industries of Babylonia? Their carpets were celebrated throughout the ancient world and the elaborate designs of their embroideries served as models for the earliest Grecian urns.
