The Client Priesthood

One of the First Dynasty's main concerns was maintaining the good graces of the priests and paying homage to Marduk, Babylon's most revered god, when they weren't trying to extend the empire or, more frequently, trying to keep the existing areas of the empire in the fold by quelling rebellions. This mostly amounted to tithing like crazy, as the approval of Marduk was meant to provide the king of kings with his divine destiny.

Hammurabi was known for buying their favor despite all of his military prowess, but he was also known for passing extremely strict laws for priests, such as making drinking by holy people a crime punishable by death. Although some kings bought the priesthood to pronounce them eternal, only the most desperate rulers tended to do this because it was so obvious that this was not the case in reality.

The Babylonian priesthood could dream big because of all the wealth that had been pouring into them throughout the years. Along with the construction of numerous impressive temples around the empire, new technologies also appeared. One of the earliest structures in human history to use columns in its architecture were Babylonian temples.

Given that the bricks being used at the time were still entirely unfinished, this was more of an utilitarian choice than an attractive one. The fact that it was a capital penalty for a building to fall and kill a person gave Babylonian construction workers every incentive to be extremely cautious.