= Economy = (2)

Explore the economy of Babylonia in Age of Empires IV, from irrigation and agriculture to trade routes controlling Phoenicia, Syria, and the Levant.

The basic economy of Babylonia was typical for Mesopotamia at the time. Irrigation and dikes controlled the waters of the Euphrates River, providing bountiful harvests of grain, vegetables, and fruit in normal years. These foods were supplemented by herds of sheep and some cattle.

The Babylonians traded food surpluses for raw materials like copper, gold, and wood, which they used to manufacture weapons, household objects, jewelry, and other items that could be traded.

The fabulous wealth of the New Empire (626 to 539 B.C.) derived from controlling the east-west and north-south trade, primarily thanks to control of Phoenicia, Syria, and the other Levant ports. This area had been the nexus of civilized trade for over a thousand years, and, for that reason, the prize for every empire and pseudo-empire of the age. Not long after the end of the Babylonian New Empire, the shift of much trade to the central and western Mediterranean reduced the importance of this area.