Why did the Babylonians "deport" people from the countries they conquered and then resettle them in Babylon?

by drunkmelissa

I am reading a book on Middle East history and I found this whole thing a bit confusing. It states that the Babylonians would deport the conquered from their home countries but would frequently resettle them in Babylon. It seemed that they were accepted into larger Babylonian society and even could rise in the ranks.

What was the point of this?

Was it practiced by other countries around the same time?

Thank you so much for any and all information!

Trevor_Culley

I recently wrote about this in the context of the most famous Babylonian deportation: the Judahites. I believe that answer should cover most of your questions. For a brief summary:

  • Wealthy captives served as an insurance policy for their relatives in their homelands.
  • Poor and merchant deportees in the imperial heartland could serve as a labor force to enrich the home province.
  • Moving rebellious or resisting peoples away from their homeland made them less likely/able to rebel.
  • Moving different people around the empire facilitated the transfer of information across great distances while accomplishing the above goals.
  • Both of the major Near Eastern Empires before and after the Babylonians did this. The Assyrians did it in a very similar fashion to the Babylonians (deporting people to Assur and Nineveh) while the Persians canceled the Babylonian deportations and deported their own enemies to the fringes of their empire.