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10 - Hellenistic Babylonia

from Part II - Regional Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2022

Sitta von Reden
Affiliation:
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
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Summary

Babylonia held a crucial position in a network of overland and naval routes, connecting Arabia, India, and the Graeco-Bactrian empire with the Levant, Syria, and Anatolia via the Fertile Crescent in the west. This network enabled the royal administration to combine the functions of trade and communication with settlement politics, the melioration of agriculture, and the supply of war zones. In this latter role, the Babylonian economy might have played an important part in Seleucid warfare, despite Babylonians never being actively involved in military campaigns. A new Graeco-Babylonian elite with particular demands, the dynamic development of settlements, the network of trade routes, communication, mobility connecting the western parts of the empire in the Aegean with the east, and increased monetization may have provided the conditions for some economic growth in Hellenistic Babylonia. Nevertheless, Babylonia had already been a very productive and economically dynamic region in the Achaemenid period. There were certainly great continuities from the Persian and Seleucid empires, and one may wonder whether the efforts of the early Seleucid kings to improve lines of communication, temple economies, and monetary exchange aimed at regaining the levels of prosperity that had already been achieved before Alexander’s conquests.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Hellenistic Babylonia
  • Edited by Sitta von Reden, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108265249.010
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  • Hellenistic Babylonia
  • Edited by Sitta von Reden, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108265249.010
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Hellenistic Babylonia
  • Edited by Sitta von Reden, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108265249.010
Available formats
×