In Praise Of Babylon

An archaeologist writes:
Ancient Mesopotamia and surrounding parts of the Middle East were the setting for some of the most momentous turning points in human history: the origins of farming, the invention of the first writing system, of mechanised transport, the birth of cities and centralised government, but also—and no less importantly—familiar ways of cooking food, consuming alcohol, branding commodities, and keeping our homes and bodies clean. That is what archaeologists and ancient historians mean when they talk (a little coyly, these days) about ‘the birth of civilization’, 5000 years ago, on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates.

It's common knowledge that the Mosaic code owes something to the laws of Hammurabi, the Genesis story owes something to Babylonian mythology, etc. Abraham is said to be of, ahem, Iraqi descent. The same question can be asked of modern Greeks as modern Iraqis: what the hell happened to you guys? As Greek civilization slipped away from the Greeks and moved to the Romans then Germans, Mesopotamian civilization slipped away from the Iraqis and moved to the Hebrews then Arabs. When the Middle East is united into a pan-Semitic federation, Babylon should be given place of pride.

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