Ancient Babylon

Ancient Babylon – Where is it?
Ancient Babylon was located in Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Today, the remains of the city are spread out over a cluster of mounds located on the Euphrates about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, Iraq. The river divided the city in two, with the old city to the east and a smaller new city to the west. The river then fed main canals that watered each half. During the rein of Sennacherib, the city was destroyed by the Assyrians. Once the city was rebuilt, the name was changed to Babylonia. Later, the city became the internment site for the Hebrew captives who were marched into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century, BCE.

The ground is very fertile and produces wild barley, chickpea, and sesame. The marshlands produce an edible root that is equal in nutrition to barley. The land is also rich with dates, apples, and other fruit as well as fish and birds.

The name Babylon is somewhat of a mystery. The Hebrews of the Bible traced its origins to a word in their own language that means “confusion,” deriving the name from “The Tower of Babel,” which was also located there. In the biblical story, God placed confusion of speech upon the builders so they could no longer communicate and complete their work. In the Semitic language, which the Babylonians spoke, the name of the city may have meant “Gate of God” or “Gate of the Gods.”

Ancient Babylon – Who Did They Worship?
There a number of gods in which the ancient Babylonians worshipped:

An or Anu – the god of Heaven
Enlil – The god of the air and storms. He normally was portrayed in human form, but also appears as a snake to the human eye
Enki – The god of water and the fertile earth
Ki – The mother-goddess representing the earth
Ashur – Main god of Assyria (sky god)
Ninlil or Nillina – The goddess of air (possibly the south wind) and wife of Enlil
Inanna – The goddess of love and war
Ea – The god of Wisdom
Marduk – Originally Ea’s son and god of light. He was the main god of Babylon and the sender of the Babylonian king
Nanna – The god of the moon
Utu or Shamash – The god of the sun, as well as god of justice
Ninurta – a solar deity
Ancient Babylon – What Was Their Culture?
The most famous innovation of ancient Babylonian culture was astronomy, which began as a study of astrology. They created stellar catalogues and a nearly perfect calendar, of which the Jews later copied. They were able to predict eclipses, which they believed announced dangerous and evil times. Eclipses were predicted through two mathematical systems they developed. These systems were the scientific basis of the mathematical and astronomic legacy of ancient Babylonia.

Ancient Babylon still figures in the future of the world. Many of the religious ideas of the Babylonians are still taught in many of today’s religions. Astrology was held in high esteem in Babylonian society, much as it is today. Perhaps the most important legacy that Babylon gave us was its role in the lives of the Jewish people. The Lord used Babylon as a tool to punish His people when they turned from Him. The Bible also tells us that in the future, the Lord will punish Babylon, just as He did in the past.

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US frets at Cuba oil exploration
By Marc Frank in Havana
A huge oil drilling platform will sink deepwater wells off Cuba next week in a move that has caused angst in the US at the prospect of significant oil discoveries that could alter Cuba’s economic future and Havana’s relations with Washington.
Cuba’s largely unexplored share of the Gulf of Mexico is thought to contain billions of barrels of oil and gas equivalent and has already drawn more foreign investment than any other sector of the economy.
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“The discovery of even modest amounts of oil would be significant for Cuba,” said Ricardo Torres Perez, deputy director of Havana University’s Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy.
“Cuba would become less energy dependent and might eventually become an energy exporter; new credit and foreign investment would materialise, along with refining and service jobs.”
A significant discovery would almost certainly buy time for President Raúl Castro, as he works to reform the Soviet-style economy. In addition to environmental worries – as the drilling would unfold about 70 miles from Florida’s coast – this possibility has prompted vehement criticism from some US conservatives.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House foreign relations committee, has sought to introduce legislation that would place sanctions on participating foreign companies.
“A state sponsor of terrorism is poised to achieve a tremendous economic boon by entering the oil business and endangering US waters to boot,” the Republican congresswoman said this month.
“It is deeply disappointing that the Obama administration appears content to just watch that happen,” she added. Adding extra piquancy to the controversy is its timing: the Republican party’s Florida primary election take place on January 31.
The $750m platform is owned by Italian oil giant Eni’s offshore unit Saipem and assembled in China using less than 10 per cent of US technology to accommodate sanctions that also bar US companies from participating. It is contracted for at least six months.
A first consortium grouping Spain’s Repsol, Norway’s Norsk Hydro and India’s ONGC Videsh will drill two wells. A second consortium, made up of Malaysia’s Petronas and Russia’s Gazprom, will drill subsequent wells.
Despite the sanctions, Washington has engaged both with these foreign companies and the Cuban government after the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling recommended such co-operation to protect “fisheries, coastal tourism and other valuable US natural resources”.
US officials inspected the rig in Trinidad and Tobago this month before it left for Cuban waters, and in December held talks with Cuba, Mexico and the Bahamas in Nassau on emergency planning in the gulf. A second round of talks is scheduled for February.
Experts are divided on whether significant oil discoveries would spur or slow Cuban economic reforms.
“With or without oil, the Cuban economy sorely needs an environment in which businesses and individuals feel confident to invest,” said Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban academic at the University of Denver.
But most agree the prospect has brought Havana and Washington closer as they look to safeguard their mutual economic and environmental interests.
“The meeting between US and Cuban officials on environmental co-operation … is an example of new bridges of communication, which if it wasn’t for oil and gas development would not have happened,” said Jorge Piñón, former president of Amoco Corporate Development Company Latin America and now a research fellow at Florida International University.
Just as “ping-pong diplomacy brought the US and China together, oil might very well bring Cuba and the US together”.

Convicted Jamaican drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke is now to be sentenced on February 28.

The sentencing hearing is set for 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Coke was originally set to be sentenced on December 8, but it was postponed to today.

And last Wednesday his lawyers were granted another postponement.

Coke was extradited to the United States to stand trial on drugs and gun running charges.

He later made a plea agreement with US prosecutors and avoided going to trial.
According to court documents, Coke pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine in the US as well as receiving firearms in relation to his narcotics trafficking activity.

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