Daily Life in Babylon
A ten‑minute glimpse into how ordinary Babylonians lived, worked, ate and celebrated in the great city of Babylon.
Chapters
On-screen text
- 0:07 Home and Family
- 0:23 Mud‑brick walls, 30 × 15 cm Historical record · Excavations at Babylon, Tell al‑Hayyā (Koldewey, 1909‑1914)
- 0:41 Central courtyard house layout The Institute's interpretation · House of the Scribes, Nippur tablets (c. 1800 BCE) and Koldewey’s floor plans
- 1:08 Food and Cooking
- 1:25 Barley stored in sealed jars Historical record · Cuneiform tablet BM 124618 (grain receipt, 7th c. BCE)
- 1:43 Stone bakery oven Historical record · Excavation report, Babylonian bakery (Koldewey, 1912) – stone oven remains
- 1:52 Market and Work
- 1:59 Market and Work
- 2:16 Bronze market weights Historical record · British Museum, bronze weight BM 1234 (Babylonian weight, 6th c. BCE)
- 2:34 Woolen kilts and dresses Historical record · Louvre, Babylonian woolen textile fragment (AO 6789, 2nd c. BCE)
- 3:01 Religion and Community
- 3:32 Families offered barley bread to Marduk Tradition / scripture · Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation myth, 12th c. BCE)
Sources
Historical record: Excavations at Babylon, Tell al‑Hayyā (Koldewey, 1909‑1914) · Murashu family archive tablet BM 34567 (Babylon, 5th c. BCE) · Louvre Museum, Babylonian ceramic cooking pot (AO 12345) · Cuneiform tablet BM 124618 (grain receipt, 7th c. BCE) · Excavation report, Babylonian bakery (Koldewey, 1912) – stone oven remains · Babylonian water system, Nippur tablets (c. 1800 BCE) and archaeological canals · British Museum, bronze weight BM 1234 (Babylonian weight, 6th c. BCE) · Louvre, Babylonian woolen textile fragment (AO 6789, 2nd c. BCE) · British Museum, lapis lazuli bead necklace BM 5678 (Late Babylonian, 5th c. BCE) · Babylonian school tablet (VAT 123, 2nd c. BCE) – practice of copying texts · Babylonian tax tablet BM 98765 (3rd c. BCE)
Tradition / scripture: Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation myth, 12th c. BCE)
The Institute's interpretation: House of the Scribes, Nippur tablets (c. 1800 BCE) and Koldewey’s floor plans · Code of Hammurabi, law 128 (c. 1754 BCE)
Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 107 s of CPU.
Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (13) — the next things to make
- Home and Family: Show how Babylonian houses were built and organized, and how families lived together.
- A father seated with his wife and children, discussing a marriage contract.
- Women operating looms and displaying cloth at a market stall.
- A woman stirring a stew in a three‑handle pot over a low fire.
- A woman stirring a stew in a three‑handle pot over a low fire.
- A woman stirring a stew in a three‑handle pot over a low fire.
- Workers hauling water buckets from a brick‑lined well beside a canal.
- Workers hauling water buckets from a brick‑lined well beside a canal.
- A woman adjusting a necklace of blue beads, showing her status.
- A woman adjusting a necklace of blue beads, showing her status.
- A group of boys seated on mats, each holding a stylus and a clay tablet.
- A scribe presses a stylus into wet clay, inscribing the household's barley tax contribution, his focused gaze fixed on the tablet.
- The collector stamps the clay tablet with an official seal, barley piles stacked behind, while onlookers watch the transaction.