The Cradle of Civilization

Iraq was once the seat of the Babylonian Empire, and is largely accepted as the cradle of modern civilization, the garden of life nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. I got a great piece of trivia the other day, made especially appropriate by the recent action in Iraq.

The piece of interesting trivia related to a marriage tradition accepted by the Babylonians:

“It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month we know today as the honeymoon.”

Think about that: this term survived 4,000 years of history in a country subjected to countless invading hordes with different languages, cultures and religions. And yet it still survived.

Meanwhile, the physical artifacts of the same period are not faring so well, as the rash of looting in Baghdad last week extended to Iraq’s national museum. Though it is understandable that a people with so little would move to try to capture something for themselves in the vacuum created by the exit of the regime, it’s sad to think that they might be selling off a greater tie to their past and possibly their future, than money can provide.