Coordinates: 32°32′11″N, 44°25′15″E Babylon was a
city of ancient
Mesopotamia, the ruins of which can be found in present-day
Al Hillah,
Babil Province;
Iraq about 80km south of
Baghdad. It was the "holy city" of
Babylonia from around
2300 BC, and the seat of the
Neo-Babylonian Empire from
612 BC. The
Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The form
Babylon is the Greek variant of
Akkadian Babilu (
bāb-ilû, meaning "Gateway of the god(s)", translating
Sumerian KA.DINGIR.RA). In the
Bible, the name appears as
בבל (
Babel), interpreted by
Genesis 11:9 to mean "confusion", from the verb
balal, "to confuse".
History During the reign of
Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia was in a constant state of revolt, led by
Mushezib-Marduk, and suppressed only by the complete destruction of the city of Babylon. In
689 BC, its walls, temples and palaces were razed, and the rubble was thrown into the
Arakhtu, the canal bordering the earlier Babylon on the south. This act shocked the religious conscience of Mesopotamia; the subsequent murder of Sennacherib was held to be in expiation of it, and his successor
Esarhaddon hastened to rebuild the old city, to receive there his crown, and make it his residence during part of the year. On his death, Babylonia was left to be governed by his elder son
Shamash-shum-ukin, who eventually headed a revolt in
652 BC against his brother in Nineveh,
Assurbanipal.
The city of Babylon was reputedly surrounded by a wall 90 m high, 24 m wide, and 97 km in circumference. The wall was also buried 10 m into the soil in order to prevent enemies from burrowing into the city limits.
Once again, Babylon was besieged by the Assyrians and starved into surrender. Assurbanipal purified the city and celebrated a "service of reconciliation", but did not venture to "take the hands" of Bel. In the subsequent overthrow of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonians saw another example of divine vengeance.
Assyrian period Main article: Neo-Babylonian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire In
539 BC the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to
Cyrus the Great, king of
Persia. It is said that Cyrus walked through the gates of Babylon without encountering any resistance (see Hebrew Scriptures Isa 45:1-4). He later issued a decree permitting the exiled
Jews to return to their own land, and allowed their temple to be rebuilt.
Under Cyrus and the subsequent Persian king
Darius I, Babylon became the capital city of the 9th Satrapy (Babylonia in the south and Athura in the north), as well as a centre of learning and scientific advancement. In
Achaemenid Persia, the ancient Babylonian arts of
astronomy and
mathematics were revitalised and flourished, and Babylonian scholars completed maps of constellations. The city was the administrative capital of the
Persian Empire, the preeminent power of the then known world, and it played a vital part in the history of that region for over two centuries. Many important archaeological discoveries have been made that can provide a better understanding of that era
[3][4].
The early Persian kings had attempted to maintain the religious ceremonies of
Marduk, but by the reign of
Darius III, over-taxation and the strains of numerous wars led to a deterioration of Babylon's main shrines and canals, and the disintegration of the surrounding region. Despite three attempts at rebellion in
522 BC,
521 BC, and
482 BC, the land and city of Babylon remained solidly under Persian rule for two centuries, until
Alexander the Great's entrance in
331 BC.
Hellenistic Period Under the
Parthian, and later,
Sassanid Persians, Babylon remained a province of the
Persian Empire for nine centuries, until around 650 AD. It continued to have its own culture and peoples, who spoke varieties of
Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon. Some examples of their cultural products are found in: the
Babylonian Talmud, the
Mandaean religion, and the religion of the prophet
Mani.
Persian Empire Period Historical knowledge of Babylon's
topography is derived from classical writers, the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar, and several excavations, including those of the
Deutsche Orientgesellschaft begun in
1899. The layout is that of the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar; the older Babylon destroyed by Sennacherib having left few, if any, traces behind.
Most of the existing remains lie on the east bank of the Euphrates, the principal ones being three vast mounds: the
Babil to the north, the Qasr or "Palace" (also known as the
Mujelliba) in the centre, and the Ishgn "Amran ibn" All, with the outlying spur of the Jumjuma, to the south. East of these come the
Ishgn el-Aswad or "Black Mound" and three lines of rampart, one of which encloses the Babil mound on the N. and E. sides, while a third forms a triangle with the S.E. angle of the other two. West of the
Euphrates are other ramparts, and the remains of the ancient
Borsippa.
We learn from
Herodotus and
Ctesias that the city was built on both sides of the river in the form of a square, and was enclosed within a double row of lofty walls, or a triple row according to Ctesias. Ctesias describes the outermost wall as 360 stades (42 miles/68 km) in circumference, while according to Herodotus it measured 480 stades (56 miles/90 km), which would include an area of about 520 km² (approx. 200 square miles).
The estimate of Ctesias is essentially the same as that of Q. Curtius (v. I. 26) -- 368 stades -- and
Cleitarchus (ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 7) -- 365 stades;
Strabo (xvi. 1. 5) makes it 385 stades. But even the estimate of Ctesias, assuming the stade to be its usual length, would imply an area of about 260 km² (100 square miles). According to Herodotus, the width of the walls was 24 m (80 ft).
Archaeology of Babylon In 1985,
Saddam Hussein started rebuilding the city on top of the old ruins, investing in both restoration and new construction, to the dismay of archaeologists, with his name inscribed on many of the bricks, in imitation of Nebuchadnezzar. One frequent inscription reads: "
This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq". This recalls the
ziggurat at
Ur, where each individual brick was stamped with "
Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, who built the temple of Nanna". These bricks became sought after as collectors' items after the downfall of Saddam, and the ruins are no longer being restored to their original state. He also installed a huge portrait of himself and
Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to the ruins, and shored up Processional Way, a large boulevard of ancient stones, and the Lion of Babylon, a black rock sculpture about 2,600 years old.
When the
Gulf War ended, he wanted to build a modern palace, also over some old ruins, it was made in the pyramidal style of a
Sumerian ziggurat. He named it Saddam Hill. In 2003, he was ready to begin the construction of a cable car line over Babylon when the invasion began and halted the project.
Interestingly enough, an article published in the New York Times in April 2006 states that UN officials and the Iraqi administration have plans for restoring Babylon, making it a gem of a new Iraq as a cultural center complete with shopping malls, hotels, and maybe even a theme park.
[5][6] Reconstruction US forces were criticised for building a
helipad on ancient Babylonian ruins following the
2003 invasion of Iraq, under the command of General
James T. Conway of the
1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The vibrations from helicopter landings led a nearby Babylonian structure to collapse.
[7] US forces have occupied the site for some time and have caused damage to the archaeological record. In a report of the
British Museum's Near East department, Dr. John Curtis describes how parts of the archaeological site were levelled to create a landing area for helicopters, and parking lots for heavy vehicles. Curtis wrote that the occupation forces
"caused substantial damage to the
Ishtar Gate, one of the most famous monuments from antiquity [...] US military vehicles crushed 2,600-year-old brick pavements, archaeological fragments were scattered across the site, more than 12 trenches were driven into ancient deposits and military earth-moving projects contaminated the site for future generations of scientists [...] Add to all that the damage caused to nine of the moulded brick figures of dragons in the Ishtar Gate by people trying to remove the bricks from the wall."
The head of the Iraqi State Board for Heritage and Antiquities, Donny George, said that the "mess will take decades to sort out". Colonel Coleman issued an apology for the damage done by military personnel under his command in April 2006, and explained that they were protecting the site from looters of the strife that filled the streets of Iraq's major cities following the fall of Saddam.
Col Coleman argues that whatever his troops did, the alternative would have been far worse. If they hadn't moved in, Babylon would have been left at the mercy of looters, he says.
[8] Further reading Kings of Babylon Babylonia Mesopotamia Assyria Akkad,
Assur Tower of Babel,
Babel Babylon (Egypt) Whore of Babylon Babylon (New Testament) List of monarchies
