Babylonia's Focus on Wealth

Due to the records that we’re able to examine and study from ancient Mesopotamian history gives us the ability to observe the process of the development of society. The first book we read, Uruk, explained the significance of Barley to the ancient civilizations because it was a staple for their diet. Barley was of utmost importance because without it people would stare. However, in Age of Empires, we are able to see that people are no longer worried about mere staple foods, but are focused on how to make the most profit. The two most important crops in the Babylonian Empire were Barley and Dates. However, the most profitable crop was the Date. Therefore, everyone wanted to grow Dates instead of Barley so that they could become more wealthy.
Further developments applied to society and social structure that show how society was progressing. In particular, the role of slaves in society was changing. People no longer became slaves out of debt or sold their family members, but instead there was a constant slave labor. It was a bondage that they couldn’t get out of. Slaves were on the bottom of the social structure, and their duties consisted mainly of domestic chores and responsibility. The significance and rituals of marriage are defined clearly in the text as well. A woman’s family had to give a dowry to the future husband based on class rank and standard of the time, so families tried to marry within themselves in order to keep their money circulating within the family unit. This seems creepy for today’s standards, but it makes sense in terms of perpetuating and increasing wealth. Chapter 6 just shows how the focus of the people was on money and wealth at this point, and society was developing further to a money-minded culture as opposed to a survival culture.
It seems as though many traditions were gaining strength and significance, such as the roles of the men in the household and the passing on of family names and histories. These are still important concepts that society has engraved into us, but to watch them develop is so interesting. The mindset is clearly shifting from the here-and-now of survival and food to the wealth and prolonging of future generations and family lines.