In addition, the Jews placed an even greater emphasis on spreading the Torah and its teachings in an attempt to maintain their Jewish identity in a foreign society and culture. They took extra pains to safeguard their writings, which were preserved by the soferim.
The Jewish people have historically found difficulty in maintaining prosperous, religious self-government. During the two Temple periods, whether under the leadership of the Davidic, Israelite, or Hasmonean dynasties, corruption regularly surfaced. The kings themselves were often at the forefront of idolatrous behavior during the First Temple era, and helped to foster the spread of Hellenistic ideals during the time of the Second Temple.
In contrast, the trademark of most Jewish life in exile has been a striking sense of religious zeal and spiritual clarity. The challenge of exile has forced Jews to reach deep down within themselves for something extra, enabling them to combat alien forces with a recharged sense of purpose.
As Jews would in later periods of banishment, those in Babylonia created a culture of insular restraint that ensured Jewish identity and communal purpose.
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Babylonia possessed far more than a dominant military force. It was also a leading influence in terms of culture and civilization.
Some of the world’s most impressive architecture and structural design was Babylonian. Capturing the essence of Babylonian design was the capital city of Babylon. The Greek historian Herodotus describes it as having been built in the form of a massive square, surrounded by a brick wall of tremendous dimension.
Connected to this wall stood eight massive gates, the most famous of which was named after the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, which led to the inner city and 100 smaller brass gates. Encircling the city was a wide and deep moat for protection. Through its heart flowed the Euphrates River, which lent a distinctive character to this sprawling metropolis.
The city contained many grand edifices, the most splendid of which was Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, which Herodotus considered to be the most magnificent building ever constructed. In addition to the palace’s tremendous size it was home to the “hanging gardens,” which were counted among the seven wonders of the ancient world. They consisted of a mountain-like series of multiple terraces, each of which was three meters high. The garden’s total height measured 80 feet. It was watered directly from the Euphrates by the use of hydraulic pumps.
Numerous pagan temples were built in Babylon as well. The most grandiose of these was the towering Temple of Marduk, the Babylonian god. Some 180 altars to Ishtar were also constructed there.
Babylonian culture was revolutionary for its time, with a stress on universal education and literacy. There were libraries in most of the towns and temples. Women as well as men learned to read and write. They developed a form of writing based on cuneiform symbols. Their language, Aramaic, is closely related to Hebrew, and would become the spoken Jewish language even after the return of the Jews to the land of Israel. Aramaic is the language in which most of the Talmud is written.
For centuries the Babylonians excelled in astronomy and mathematics. Many priests became astronomers, scientists who observed and recorded the movements of the stars and planets. Others delved into the world of mathematics and created an advanced number system. Together, they formulated a calendar system that closely resembled the lunar-based system employed by the Jewish people. The fact that the Jews came to adopt the Babylonian names for months indicates a close kinship between the two methods of counting.
(Originally the Jewish calendar utilized a number system for the counting months. The Torah, for example, refers to the month in which Pesach occurred as “the first month” and the period in which Rosh Hashanah fell out as “the seventh month.”)
