The Society of Neo-Babylonia

Chapter 6 of The Age of Empires by Marc Van de Mieroop primarily discusses about the society and economy in Neo-Babylonia. There are many interesting characteristics that we could observe to continue on throughout history. The stratified structure of the society appears more and more solid as time progresses. The chapter could even categorize the people into different types of slaves, dependents, or urban notables. The economic trade and connection to other regions also seem to develop. The administration of trade became more organized, and jobs such as the businessmen or intermediaries emerged. There were also private operations. Altogether, it is fascinating to observe the ancient societies developing into the world that we live in today.

Also interesting are the social contracts Van de Mieroop puts at the end of the chapter in the document section. One of the contracts was a marriage contract, which gave us many characteristics of the society of the time. The society was highly of patriarchic values: for instance, the father’s inheritance went mostly to the male (especially eldest born) of the family. Another interesting aspect of the family in this period was the complexity of the family line. It can be observed that “family interweaving” was typical in families of Neo-Babylonia, as suggested by Van de Mieroop, to keep the “outsiders” away from the notable family lines. Granted that we now learn that marriage with close family members often results in deviant/incomplete development of the offspring, this concept seems to be oddly funny from the modern view because it was as if nature is punishing these noble families for being too exclusive.