Essay on The History of Babylonian Mathematics

Babylonian and Assyrian art are the more than just art there are encoded messages that can be seen and interpreted as messages of power. One of these examples is the Law Code of Hammurabi which is the first set of rules and order for a society. This example is more direct than encoded messages since it is written out. These set of rules shows how far society came from the Prehistoric era. People began to have consequences for their actions. On the other hand, Assyrians used art in a way to threaten other societies and enemies. They wanted to be seen and heard of the power they contained. Many paintings contained men riding horses with such grandeur and authority like encoded messages can be found. Assyrians wanted to control the nation and

For a while the Babylon ruled the entire south Mesopotamian region. The government and laws of Babylon were very similar to the laws of Sumer. To be sure the kings subjects followed the kings laws he had them written on stone tablets so no one would forget them. Most of their laws were originally Sumerian.

The Babylonians and Assyrians used a form of writing called cuneiform, one of the earliest known systems of writing, which was similar to the Egyptian hieroglyphics They used this picture writing system to record stories and historical events. Aside from literature achievements, they also made great leaps in science. They built bridges and irrigation system, recorded astronomical and meteorological observation, created the lunar calendar, and developed one of the first economic system. The lunar calendar was adopted by surrounding countries and their economic system helped keep Mesopotamia affluent.

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

Alexander the so-called ‘Great’ was a legendary conqueror who in his short lifetime was able to overthrow the Persian Empire, the most powerful kingdom at that time. He was born in 356 BCE to King Philip and Queen Olympia of Macedonia. Alexander’s warring career jumpstarted at the age of 20 in the year 336 BCE, due to the assassination of his father in which he inherited his father’s kingdom. Over the span of 11 years, Alexander and his small fleet of men of about 40,000 took over and ruthlessly conquered the Persian Empire. Sadly, this conquest was short-lived by Alexander’s sudden death in the year 323 BCE, in which his unstable kingdom with a lack of a structured governmental system quickly broke apart in the period of 10 years. Therefore, because of the cruel and the disorganized nature of the way Alexander the ‘Great’ conquered and maintained the Persian Empire, he does not deserve to be referred as ‘Great’.

The Kingdoms of Egypt and Babylon are arguably two of the most recognized and taught about kingdoms of the ancient world. Although, both kingdoms played major roles in biblical times and are written about extensively in the bible, this paper does not use the bible as part of the research process, simply due to the fact that outside of the religion of Christianity, the bible is thought of as an historical book filled with fables and mythology. The research reflected in this paper shows the similarities of the Egyptians and Babylonians in religious practices, social strata, and economies. The economies of both Egypt and Babylon are similar in that both kingdoms sit on the bank of a mighty river. There are also a great many similarities in religion, both kingdoms built temples, worshiped mythical gods, and offered sacrifices to the gods. The social structure of Egypt and Babylon are nearly identical, being comprised of a pharaoh or king, priest, government officials, the common populace, and

• Alexander (king and son of Philip, a.k.a. Alexander the Great) defeated the Persian King Darius Ⅲ.

Feminist scholars would be attracted since most beauty standards are to be skinny and have a hourglass figure. But in this sculpture it portrays a woman that is a bigger size and does not have a hourglass figure. So feminist scholars would think that during that time that was the beauty standard for the people.

Assyria is a major Mesopotamian East Semitic kingdom and empire of the Ancient Near East, existed as an independent state for a period of approximately nineteen centuries, from the 25th century BCE to the 6th century BCE, spanning the mid to Early Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age. (Humanities 26) “For a short time the Assyrians became the first people to rule both Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. As mentioned in class by (Mesner 08-28-2015) “the Make up a substantial part of the greater Mesopotamian "cradle of civilization," which included Sumer, Akkad and much later Babylonia, Assyria was at the height

Alexander advanced gradually and conquered territory by territory until Darius, the Great King of Persia, was forced to come out himself to face Alexander. Alexander was victorious in the two key battles at Issus and Gaugamela, and Darius was murdered by conspirators soon afterward. In the meantime, Alexander also conquered Phoenicia, Egypt, and Babylon, all of which proved to be valuable acquisitions.

Stairways and porticos, trail off into the bustling streets of Persepolis, a divine center of trade and culture, throughout the Persian Empire. Now, it is but rubble and rock, a former remnant of itś glory(Odyssey, Why Darius Built Persepolis 26). “In Persian eyes, Alexander, is far from great” (Ali Ansari 1). As well as being a brilliant strategist, Alexander also was brutal to many of the cultures he conquered, such as the Persian Empire. First, he destroyed the Persian capital of that era, killing many innocent lives, and destroying the center of culture in the Middle East. All artifacts, all technologies, all conveniences available to the people of Persepolis, all the people themselves, were destroyed by a merciless fire, which was homogenous to Alexander, because of it’s cunning skill, and ruthless attitude to consume anything in it’s path(Ali Ansari 1-2). A whole city, lost quicker than it took all the Kings of Persia to build, a civilization destroyed by one man, Alexander the Great. This shows that Alexander was merciless enough to burn tons of people and their homes, to destroy their life that they have worked so hard to fabricate, just to retaliate at Persia for what they had done 200 years ago to Athens. But, Egypt, just as Persia did, believed itself protected from Alexanderś army, because a seemingly invincible city, called Gaza, stood in itś path. Alexander crushed the city, as though it was a fly in the hand of a frenetic child. And the free people of Gaza were slaughtered, with the rest sold into lives of slavery, with little hope of leading a happy life ever again. In addition to this, Alexander also killed Batis, the governor of Gaza. He was killed by having himself dragged from a chariot,

During the course of his life and reign, Alexander had fought and won many battles and wars, defeating many kings and warlords throughout the ancient world. Perhaps his most recognized conquest was of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and its ‘King of Kings’ Darius III during the Battle of Issus 1. After defeating the Persians at the Battle

For the next few years he would lay siege and conquer many cities and countries and gains control of a vast majority of Asia Minor and Egypt. After Alexander had conquered Babylon he set his sights on Persia. He took Susa, one of the capitals and Persepolis the ceremonial capital. Alexander had set his sights on taking Darius III and pursed him into Media then Parthia. In the year 330BC, Darius was taken prisoner by the Bactrian Satrap Bessus who had Darius stabbed as Alexander approached, He declared himself the new king under the name of Artaxerxes V. Alexander gave Darius a proper burial next to his Achaemenid ancestors and proclaims himself the rightful successor. Though Bessus proclaims himself as King of the Empire, he had no relations to anyone of the royal family, therefore it is generally accepted that the death of Darius the III marked the end of Achaemenid Empire. Much of the remaining Empire falls to Alexander or gains independence for themselves. Alexander succeeded in conquering the Achaemenid Empire because of his great tactical prowess on the battlefield making him and his army a formidable enemy for the generals of the Empire. He conquers many cities and state swiftly, many were willing to submit after seeing what they had done to other armies. In conquering the cities he began to merge Greek language, Greek Culture and Greek population with these conquered areas making the original culture of Persia decline.

Babylonian civilization is considered as one of the most important civilizations in the ancient world. The Babylonians took and developed everything after the Sumerians civilization especially in the spiritual realm and in the field of building an integrated civilization. The earlier civilizations had big role in the Babylonians civilization period when Babylonians took all the cuneiform writing, mathematical and astronomical knowledge, in addition to that the method of building cities, dams and etc. they improved all of them. The development of knowledge continued by Babylonian where the Sumerians stop, and the Babylonian built an empire for themselves on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the southern part of Sumer (Iraq). "The first Amuriyahian family has ruled over Babylon in the period (1830- 1530 BC), when Babylon was a mini-states at the time." Then the greatest king of Babylonian Hammurabi appeared in the seventeenth century BC. He established a famous group of laws known by (Hammurabi code).Also he was the king who united this petty States and achieved an important architectural movement in the city of Babylon.

When one thinks of art and religion, one may think of gender role defiance and non-conformism. While this may be generally true in present times, it was not always this way. Women and men have had distinctly different places in society, these places often being unequal. Generally most well-known works throughout the ages have adhered to and represented what society regarded as the proper gender roles for men and women. This is represented in three works of art which will be discussed: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Courtier: Book 3 by Baldassare Castiglione, and Luncheon on the Grass by Eduoard Manet. While these three forms of art come from different times and are of different mediums, they are connected in that they follow and represent the gender roles of their time.