Ritik Malhotra
Near Eastern Studies R1B Lecture 4
Response Paper: The Age of Empires (Ch6)
The Capitalistic System Designed in the Babylonian Empire
In the continuation of Joannes’ Age of Empires, Joannes outlines the socio-economic policies and regulation present in the neo-Babylonian period in chapter six of his text. The Babylonian period is known to be an age of development, producing novel ways to govern and operate the society. Ranging from the Code of Hammurabi to the novel ways of operation, the Babylonian empire continued to innovate the way things were circulated, which eventually led to a new economic system of operation. The Babylonian economy was operated largely similar to the modern-day economy schema, a notion that I corroborate in this paper.
The Babylonian economy was “agricultural and relied on a carefully regulated practice of irrigating the land” (Joannes 143), requiring lots of attention and a strong and dedicated workforce to operate, similar to what is required right now. The reliance on agriculture was so great back in the Babylonian period that it was essential for the operation of other services in the empire, making it a highly valued task to complete. This highly dependent service in the economy is similar to the dependency of oil that we see in our economy today.
Moreover, growers were forced to “adopt diversified strategies in order to ensure maximum profitability” (ibid.) indicating that there was a large division of capital existing between the people, similar to the capitalistic system used today in the United States. During this time, private individuals formed “commercial companies” and sent “their businessmen as far afield as the Mediterranean west” (ibid.) implementing a version of outsourcing that is practiced in today’s economy. It is clear that the system of capital distribution and division of labor was seen as effective back in the Babylonian empire, which makes it no wonder that it is still implemented and used widely today.
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