Babylon - C7-Game/pedia GitHub Wiki

Traits: Scientific & Religious

Starting Technologies: Bronze Working & Ceremonial Burial

Unique Unit: Bowman

For over two thousand years, Babylon was the center of the civilized world. Babylon was made rich through the organized management of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers’ irrigation systems; producing food surpluses for export and taxing the lucrative trade routes that connected Egypt and the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.

Many different ethnic groups came to call themselves Babylonian. The Amorites are given credit for establishing the city as the capital of Mesopotamia in the late nineteenth century BC. Predating the Amorite invasion, some scholars speculate Sargon of Akkad founded Babylon as his capital six centuries earlier. The lost city of Agade could be buried deep beneath the ancient ruins, but there is no concrete evidence to suggest this beyond ancient fables.

Following the sack of Babylon by the Hittites and a brief dark age, the invading Kassites revived the city and re-established Babylon as a capital of religious, commercial, and political significance in the sixteenth century BC. For six hundred years, the Kassites solidified and protected the region of Babylonia, that is central and southern Mesopotamia. They eventually fell to new nomadic invaders, the Arameans, Suteans, and Chaldeans in the eleventh century BC. They were themselves, absorbed into the rich and ancient culture of Babylon and integrated into the local customs and language of the region.

From the late tenth century until the cusp of the sixth century BC, Babylon was restored and destroyed many times under Assyrian domination. For centuries, Babylon was caught in an impossible situation as a city too important of a holy and commercial center to remain a ruin but too proud and culturally rich to remain an Assyrian vassal. Whereas the Assyrians were destroyed by a rising Media, never to rise again, an emerging Neo-Babylonian state under the leadership of Nabopolassar broke away from Assyria, joined the Meds, and put to the sword their Assyrian overlords. The Final chapter of an Independent Babylon established the city’s final and greatest reach for Imperial ambition.

The Chaldean Kings, who renovated the City, also expanded it significantly. Under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Hanging Gardens were constructed, many great temples were built, and cities within the empire underwent expanded urbanization throughout all of Mesopotamia. Riches poured into Babylon and the average standard of living increased throughout the kingdom as the final great energetic burst of Babylonian culture and innovation brought the city to the head of a mighty empire stretching from Gaza to Susa.

The Babylonians were absorbed into the mighty Achaemenid Persian Empire in the fourth century BC. The city retained a role as a second capital within Persia, the Persian's system of governance, extracting troops and taxes preferably over direct rule, being the antidote to the issue of proud Babylon that plagued the Assyrians. Alexander the Great famously died in the city, having the ambition to make the city the capital of his new Greco-Persian Empire. The Hellenistic Era saw the stagnation of the city and a transition into a regional center of trade and learning. By the time of the Muslim conquests, Babylon became a brickyard, scavenging for building materials as the Muslim Empires rose to dominate the Near East.

Can you lead Babylon throughout the millennium of ancient history into the modern age? Can you manage your aggressive neighbors, the fire of warring nomads, and keep the sapphire of brilliance that rests within the crown of civilization shining? Can you build a civilization that can stand the test of time?