How Did Babylon Change Society

Besides the ingenious inventions of the Mesopotamians regarding irrigation, there is another invention which is also allocated to them which radically changed the organisation of society: writing. The Babylonians spoke and wrote Akkadian. This language appeared around 3500 BCE. It is the oldest Semitic language for which records exist. Akkadian cuneiform is a writing system which uses wedge shaped characters. The Akkadian language was the international language of the time. It was the common diplomatic language in the Middle East. That is at the origin of the myth of a unique language at the origin of humanity, which is found in the Bible: the history of the Tower of Babel (Babel being of course a deformation of Babylon and the tower itself

Babylon was less durable than the Egyptian Kingdom. However, Babylon extended its cultural influence well-beyond its borders unlike Egypt which was isolated geographically and culturally, and rarely extended beyond its borders.

As we have seen, during the Bronze Age, the archives of the Egyptian capital, Amarna, revealed letters exchanged directly between the Pharaoh and the Babylonian King; but also with Mitanni, Hatti at Assyria. Contacts between Egypt and Babylon appeared and developed when the Pharaoh Thutmose I (1506-1493 BCE) campaigned up to the Euphrates in Syria during the middle of the second millennium BCE.

When the Egyptians were in Syria, Assyria and Babylonia were aware of the Egyptian’s power. They sent many gifts to the Pharaoh when he crossed the Euphrates . The Babylonians and Assyrians were encouraging Thutmose I to continue his campaign. Indeed, Assyria and Babylonia had motivations to do so. Throughout the 15th and 14th centuries, the Babylonians were acquired power, while Assyria sought to be recognized as a powerful nation. In addition, Assyria was in competition with Mitanni and Babylon. Thus, the Assyrians sought recognition and support from Egypt. Their gifts began when the Egyptians arrived in Syria and they kept sending gifts even after Thutmose III (1479-1425 BCE) reached the Orontes. On the other side,

the period between 1445 BCE after the Euphrates campaign, to the death of Amenhotep III 1353), the Egyptians tried to keep their conquests in the Orontes Valley. The Mitanni being threatened by the Hittites, the Syrian princes allied with Egypt; after that the balance of powers changed in the Middle East. The Babylonians benefited from these changes. The Egyptians were fighting against the Hittites and the Assyrians with the Mitanni and the Syrians. Thus, the Babylonians were free to expand and to continue to put pressure on the Kingdom of Elam. Subsequently, they conquered the city of Susa in Elam. It is this change of the balance of powers in the Middle East which enabled Ramses II (1279-1213 BCE) to establish a process of peace with the Hittites, despite the defeat of the battle of Kadesh (1274 BCE).

The Egyptians had a period of peace until the arrival of the Peoples of the Sea (mentioned in an inscription the "Kadesh registration" in 1275 BCE). Subsequently, the Levant and the Egyptians were occupied with the People of the Sea (especially from the reign of Merneptah, 1213-1203 BCE). Egypt gradually abandoned Palestine and Nubia. Thus, the people of Elam were free to sack