Voices of Babylon (Empires Universe)

Voices of Babylon is the second serie of Empires TV Universe and  is based on the story of the Babylonian Empire's development during the age of the kings, ruled by Hammurabi, Nabopolasar, and Nebuchadnezzar I.

Episode 1: Holy Man

The serie begin in Mesopotamia in 1760 BC. The small city state of Babylon is growing under the energetic leadership of its new king, Hammurabi.

Mesopatamia had been ruled by the ancient inhabitants of Sumer, downriver from Babylon. However, with the decline of this civilization, a new people to the north, called the Akkadians, rose the prominence. Their king, Sargon, conquered the entire region and united the Sumerians and Akkadians, creating the first great empire in Mesopotamia around 2350 BC. This empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to Anatolia, but crumbled by 2250 B due to internal rebellions and the invasions of Gutian tribesmen from the Zagros Mountains to the east, and semi-nomadic Amorites from the northwest. To what extent Sargon's empire was an actual empire is still debated. Sources mention trade routes with India and the Arabian Peninsula, and expeditions to Syria and the Levant; but it seems that most cities in Mesopotamia enjoyed a large amount of autonomy, and that military expeditions were issued with the objective of securing trade and extending the Akkadian sphere of influence, rather than full-on conquest.'' ''After the fall of Sargon's empire, Mesopotamia came under the influence of the Gutians and Amorites. Nevertheless, the city state of Ur managed to resist them, and its leaders became the kings of Sumer and Akkad, founding the dynasty of Ur. The Gutians disappeared as a power, but the AMmorites, on the other hand, were persistent and slowly displaced the local rulers. The dynsaty of Ur started to decline and was replaced by small Amorite and Akkadians states.'' '' Hammurabi inherited the city-state of Babylon, one of these smaller Amorite states, in 1792 BC. At that time, Babylon only consisted of the city and its farmlands, and was surrounded by similarly small kingdoms centered on other minor cities. Hammurabi's first act was to unite all the cities and city-states of southern Mesopotamia, forming one large kingdom, ruled from mighty Babylon. The main character, Nebo have been sent down river to bring some enclaves of Sumerians and Akkadians into the fold.

Nebo is a priest with a high capacity of persuasion. Hw walk in a north easterly direction, following the river Euphrates, until he meets a swamp that allows him to cross to the other side of the river.

He see a akkadian city. He can convince some people to join to the rulership of Hammurabi, take a mining stone, and they used the stones to build a fortress near of the city. The villagers begin to collect resources to develop the fortrees while the villager return to akkadian village to covert more people. Days later, the fortress have a granary and barracks, and some villagers become clubmen, attacking the barracks of the akkadian city. An akkadian priest is killing by the soldiers. The akkadian city surrender to Babylon.

The fortress is attacked by sumerians, but is too too strong. Nebo leads the converted akkadians to the sumerian city and desstroy it.  This action with other campaigns of Hammurabi reestablishe a great part of Sargon's old empire. With Babylonian rule extended to the other city states, Nebo bring the new Hammurabi's law code to them and ensure further peace and stability in the empire. However, arrive rumur about the people in the Zagros mountains are restless and threaten the peace, and Hammurabi has called upon his services once again to deal with them.

Episode 2: Tigris Valley

The addition of the Sumerian and Akkadian cities to the rising Babylonian Empire pleases Hammurabi greatly. Now, he sets a more difficult task for Nebo now. One of the frontier cities was recently sacked and important treasures, including a copy of Hammurabi's law code engraved in stone, were carried off the Tigris Valley. Nebo is sended to chase the raiders to where the treasures were taken and build up a force to recover them.