WHAT DID THE BABYLONIANS EVER DO FOR US?

Professor Marc Van De Mieroop discusses the legacy of ancient Babylon, from cuneiform to culture

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How advanced and sophisticated was the Babylonian civilisation compared to other ancient societies?

Comparing how advanced civilisations are assumes that history is progress, which is no longer a sentiment many historians, and other academics, share. But if we take the appearance of certain human innovations and inventions as markers of civilisation, we can say that the Babylonians or, better, the people who lived in the region of southern Iraq which we call Babylonia, were ahead of others in many respects.

For example, they were the first in world history to invent writing, slightly before the ancient Egyptians; they formed political entities we categorise as states; they created genres of literature, such as epics. Many other aspects of culture are first attested in the Babylonian world.

Cuneiform is considered the earliest known system of writing, can you tell us a little about its origins?

The invention of the cuneiform script happened sometime in the last centuries of the fourth millennium BCE. From all the evidence we have today it was accomplished by people from the city of Uruk in the very south of modern Iraq, perhaps even a single person. Because Uruk was the first city in world history [predating the city of Babylon, but later becoming part of the Babylonian state], its economic transactions were so complex that they required some system of accounting that would enable people not present to know what had happened.