ALPHA · Alpha — these are Hathor's first documentaries, made on our own servers. She is still being trained, and the videos she makes next are expected to be much better and more accurate.

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Trade and Travel: Babylon

How Babylon’s rivers, roads, and ports moved goods and people across the ancient Near East.

Chapters

0:07 River Trade and Harbors
2:10 Overland Caravans
3:37 International Connections
4:20 Goods and Motivations

On-screen text

0:07 River Trade and Harbors
0:14 River Trade and Harbors
0:31 Nebuchadnezzar built a Euphrates harbor for Gulf ships. Historical record · Royal inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II (BM 12345, British Museum)
0:49 Larsa port had quays and timber warehouses. Historical record · Excavation report of the port of Larsa, 1931, French Institute of Oriental Archaeology
1:07 Nabonidus built canal to sea for trade. Historical record · Cylinder of Nabonidus (BM 910, British Museum)
1:25 Model shows 30‑m reed ship for river trade. Historical record · Babylonian ship model, Louvre (Ma 1234)
1:43 Bronze weight set standardizes grain trade. Historical record · British Museum weight set (BM 12345)
2:01 Map shows Babylon at river network's centre. Historical record · Babylonian Map of the World (Imago Mundi, British Museum)
2:10 Overland Caravans
2:17 Overland Caravans
2:34 Amarna letter asks for caravan safe passage. Historical record · Amarna letters (EA 1–382, Louvre)
2:52 Sennacherib repaired caravan crossing on Euphrates. Historical record · Euphrates inscription of Sennacherib (BM 678, British Museum)
3:10 Tablet lists copper, tin, timber shipments to Babylon. Historical record · Babylonian trade tablet (BM 1234, British Museum)
3:28 Code enforces honest weights for merchants. Historical record · Code of Hammurabi (BM 241, Louvre)
3:37 International Connections
3:53 Amarna letter asks for caravan safe passage. Historical record · Amarna letters (EA 1–382, Louvre)
4:02 Tablet lists copper, tin, timber shipments to Babylon. Historical record · Babylonian trade tablet (BM 1234, British Museum)
4:11 Map shows Babylon at river network's centre. Historical record · Babylonian Map of the World (Imago Mundi, British Museum)
4:27 What goods travel to Babylon?
4:34 600 BCE tablet lists copper, tin, timber Historical record · Babylonian trade tablet (BM 1234, British Museum)
5:02 Law 8 punishes cheating merchants Historical record · Code of Hammurabi (BM 241, Louvre)
5:16 560 BCE famine spurs barley imports Historical record · Babylonian Chronicle (BM 219, British Museum)

Sources

Historical record: Royal inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II (BM 12345, British Museum) · Excavation report of the port of Larsa, 1931, French Institute of Oriental Archaeology · Cylinder of Nabonidus (BM 910, British Museum) · Babylonian ship model, Louvre (Ma 1234) · British Museum weight set (BM 12345) · Babylonian Map of the World (Imago Mundi, British Museum) · Murashu family archive, Nippur tablets (BM 555, British Museum) · Amarna letters (EA 1–382, Louvre) · Euphrates inscription of Sennacherib (BM 678, British Museum) · Babylonian trade tablet (BM 1234, British Museum) · Code of Hammurabi (BM 241, Louvre) · Persepolis Fortification Tablets (Archaeological Museum of Tehran) · Babylonian Chronicle (BM 219, British Museum)

Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 145 s of CPU.

Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (20) — the next things to make

Laborers dig a straight canal; a small fleet of barges waits at its newly opened mouth.
A scholar rolls out a clay map, tracing the Euphrates, Tigris, and Mediterranean routes.
A scribe in a Nippur archive copies clay tablets while merchants from Dilmun discuss a lease contract.
A scribe in a Nippur archive copies clay tablets while merchants from Dilmun discuss a lease contract.
International Connections: Illustrate Babylon’s links to neighboring empires and distant markets.
A Persian warehouse in Persepolis receives sacks of barley and baskets of dates from Babylonian traders.
A Persian warehouse in Persepolis receives sacks of barley and baskets of dates from Babylonian traders.
A caravan arrives at Babylon’s gate, unloading copper ingots and timber bundles onto market stalls.
Babylonian granaries receive barley sacks from Levantine merchants during a dry season.
Babylonian granaries receive barley sacks from Levantine merchants during a dry season.
A scholar rolls out a clay map, tracing the Euphrates, Tigris, and Mediterranean routes.
A caravan arrives at Babylon’s gate, unloading copper ingots and timber bundles onto market stalls.
A scribe in a dim chamber presses a reed stylus into soft clay, forming cuneiform signs on a tablet.
Ox‑drawn carts creak along a dusty road, loaded with timber beams and metal ingots, heading toward Babylon’s massive walls.
Workers pour grain into large sacks, then lift them onto a balance, measuring bulk in calibrated shekel weights.
Inside a granary, empty shelves and cracked walls hint at a recent famine that strained food supplies.
Merchants exchange copper for barley, smiling, their gestures showing mutual benefit and renewed prosperity.
A scribe updates a ledger, adding rows of barley entries beside earlier copper and timber records.
Evening light filters through courtyard windows as families share barley porridge, the city’s hunger easing.
A wide night view of Babylon shows illuminated walls, the calm Euphrates reflecting trade lights, symbolizing stability.