Babylon

Babylon was the capital city of the ancient Babylonian empire, which itself is a term referring to either of two separate empires in the Mesopotamian area in antiquity. These two empires achieved regional dominance between the 19th and 15th centuries BC, and again between the 7th and 6th centuries BC. The city, built along both banks of the Euphrates river, had steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC) of the Akkadian Empire. The site of the ancient city lies just south of present-day Baghdad. The last known record of habitation of the town dates from the 10th century AD, when it was referred to as the small village of Babel.

For other uses, see Babylon (disambiguation).
"Babilu" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Babalu.
Babylon
Bābilim
A partial view of the ruins of Babylon, as seen from Saddam Hussein's Summer Palace
Shown within Near East
Babylon (Iraq)
Alternative name
LocationHillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq
RegionMesopotamia
Coordinates32°32′11″N 44°25′15″E
TypeSettlement
Part ofBabylonia
Area9 km2 (3.5 sq mi)
History
Foundedc. 1894 BC
Abandonedc. AD 1000
CulturesAkkadian, Amorite, Kassite, Assyrian, Chaldean, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sasanian
Site notes
ArchaeologistsHormuzd Rassam, Robert Koldewey
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Official nameBabylon
CriteriaCultural: (iii), (vi)
Designated2019 (43rd session)
Reference no.278
State Party Iraq
RegionArab States

The town became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the First Babylonian dynasty in the 19th century BC. The Amorite king Hammurabi founded the short-lived Old Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC. He built Babylon into a major city and declared himself its king. Southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia, and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the region's holy city. The empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna, and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After the Assyrians had destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire, a neo-Assyrian successor state, from 609 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires.

It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world c. 1770 – c. 1670 BC, and again c. 612 – c. 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.[2] Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890[3] to 900 hectares (2,200 acres).[4]

The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (53 mi) south of Baghdad. They comprise a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris.

The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in cuneiform texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in the Bible, descriptions in other classical writing (especially by Herodotus), and second-hand descriptions (citing the work of Ctesias and Berossus)—present an incomplete and sometimes contradictory picture of the ancient city, even at its peak in the sixth century BC.[5]

UNESCO inscribed Babylon as a World Heritage Site in 2019.

Name

The spelling Babylon is the Latin representation of Greek Babylṓn (Βαβυλών), derived from the native (Babylonian) Bābilim, meaning "gate of the god(s)". The cuneiform spelling was 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 KA2.DIG̃IR.RAKI.[6] This would correspond to the Sumerian phrase kan diŋirak[7] The 𒆍 KA2 is the ideograph for "gate", 𒀭 DIG̃IR is "god", and the 𒊏 ra is a genitive suffix. The final 𒆠 KI is the determinative for a place name.

Archibald Sayce, writing in the 1870s, postulated that the Semitic name was a loan-translation of the original Sumerian name.[8][9] However, the "gate of god" interpretation is increasingly viewed as a Semitic folk etymology to explain an unknown original non-Semitic placename.[10] I.J. Gelb in 1955 argued that the original name was Babil or Babilla, of unknown meaning and origin, as there were other similarly named places in Sumer, and there are no other examples of Sumerian place-names being replaced with Akkadian translations. He deduced that it later transformed into Akkadian Bāb-ili(m), and that the Sumerian name Ka-dig̃irra was a loan translation of the Semitic folk etymology, and not the original name.[11][12] The re-translation of the Semitic name into Sumerian would have taken place at the time of the "Neo-Sumerian" Third Dynasty of Ur.[13] (Bab-Il).

In the Hebrew Bible, the name appears as Babel (Hebrew: בָּבֶל‎ Bavel, Tib. בָּבֶל Bāḇel; Classical Syriac: ܒܒܠ‎ Bāwēl, Aramaic: בבל‎ Babel; in Arabic: بَابِل‎ Bābil), interpreted in the Book of Genesis to mean "confusion",[14] from the verb bilbél (בלבל, "to confuse").[15] The modern English verb, to babble ("to speak foolish, excited, or confusing talk"), is popularly thought to derive from this name but there is no direct connection.[16]

Ancient records in some situations use "Babylon" as a name for other cities, including cities like Borsippa within Babylon's sphere of influence, and Nineveh for a short period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon.[17][18]

Geography
Schematic showing Babylon on the Euphrates River with major areas within inner and outer walls
Babylon in 1932
Brick structures in Babylon, photographed in 2016

The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah,[9] Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (53 mi) south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer (1.24 mi × 0.62 mi), oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the former western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain.

Only a small portion of the ancient city (3% of the area within the inner walls; 1.5% of the area within the outer walls; 0.1% at the depth of Middle and Old Babylon) has been excavated.[19] Known remains include:

  • Kasr – also called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site.
  • Amran Ibn Ali – the highest of the mounds at 25 meters (82 ft) to the south. It is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk that also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu.
  • Homera – a reddish-colored mound on the west side. Most of the Hellenistic remains are here.
  • Babil – a mound about 22 meters (72 ft) high at the northern end of the site. Its bricks have been subject to looting since ancient times. It held a palace built by Nebuchadnezzar.

Archaeologists have recovered few artifacts predating the Neo-Babylonian period. The water table in the region has risen greatly over the centuries, and artifacts from the time before the Neo-Babylonian Empire are unavailable to current standard archaeological methods. Additionally, the Neo-Babylonians conducted significant rebuilding projects in the city, which destroyed or obscured much of the earlier record. Babylon was pillaged numerous times after revolting against foreign rule, most notably by the Hittites and Elamites in the 2nd millennium, then by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire in the 1st millennium. Much of the western half of the city is now beneath the river, and other parts of the site have been mined for commercial building materials.

Only the Koldewey expedition recovered artifacts from the Old Babylonian period. These included 967 clay tablets, stored in private houses, with Sumerian literature and lexical documents.[19]

Nearby ancient settlements are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha. Marad and Sippar were 60 kilometers (37 mi) in either direction along the Euphrates.[19]

Sources
Illustration by Leonard William King of fragment K. 8532, a part of the Dynastic Chronicle listing rulers of Babylon grouped by dynasty.

Historical knowledge of early Babylon must be pieced together from epigraphic remains found elsewhere, such as at Uruk, Nippur, and Haradum.

Information on the Neo-Babylonian city is available from archaeological excavations and from classical sources. Babylon was described, perhaps even visited, by a number of classical historians including Ctesias, Herodotus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Strabo, and Cleitarchus. These reports are of variable accuracy and some of the content was politically motivated, but these still provide useful information.[20]

Early references

References to the city of Babylon can be found in Akkadian and Sumerian literature from the late third millennium BC. One of the earliest is a tablet describing the Akkadian king Šar-kali-šarri laying the foundations in Babylon of new temples for Annūnı̄tum and Ilaba. Babylon also appears in the administrative records of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which collected in-kind tax payments and appointed an ensi as local governor.[12][21]

The so-called Weidner Chronicle (also known as ABC 19) states that Sargon of Akkad (c. 23d century BC in the short chronology) had built Babylon "in front of Akkad" (ABC 19:51). A later chronicle states that Sargon "dug up the dirt of the pit of Babylon, and made a counterpart of Babylon next to Akkad". (ABC 20:18–19). Van de Mieroop has suggested that those sources may refer to the much later Assyrian king Sargon II of the Neo-Assyrian Empire rather than Sargon of Akkad.[18]

Classical dating

Ctesias, quoted by Diodorus Siculus and in George Syncellus's Chronographia, claimed to have access to manuscripts from Babylonian archives, which date the founding of Babylon to 2286 BC, under the reign of its first king, Belus.[22] A similar figure is found in the writings of Berossus, who according to Pliny,[23] stated that astronomical observations commenced at Babylon 490 years before the Greek era of Phoroneus, indicating 2243 BC. Stephanus of Byzantium wrote that Babylon was built 1002 years before the date given by Hellanicus of Lesbos for the siege of Troy (1229 BC), which would date Babylon's foundation to 2231 BC.[24] All of these dates place Babylon's foundation in the 23rd century BC; however, cuneiform records have not been found to correspond with these classical (post-cuneiform) accounts.

History
The Queen of the Night relief. The figure could be an aspect of the goddess Ishtar, Babylonian goddess of sex and love.

By around the 19th century BC, much of southern Mesopotamia was occupied by Amorites, nomadic tribes from the northern Levant who were Northwest Semitic speakers, unlike the native Akkadians of southern Mesopotamia and Assyria, who spoke East Semitic. The Amorites at first did not practice agriculture like more advanced Mesopotamians, preferring a semi-nomadic lifestyle, herding sheep. Over time, Amorite grain merchants rose to prominence and established their own independent dynasties in several south Mesopotamian city-states, most notably Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna, Lagash, and later, founding Babylon as a state.

Old Babylonian period
Map showing the Babylonian territory upon Hammurabi's ascension in 1792 BC and upon his death in 1750 BC
Old Babylonian cylinder seal, hematite. This seal was probably made in a workshop at Sippar (about 40 miles (64 km) north of Babylon on the map above) either during, or shortly before, the reign of Hammurabi.[25] It depicts the king making an animal offering to the sun god Shamash.
Linescan camera image of the cylinder seal above (reversed to resemble an impression).

According to a Babylonian date list, Amorite[lower-alpha 1] rule in Babylon began (c. 19th or 18th century BC) with a chieftain named Sumu-abum, who declared independence from the neighboring city-state of Kazallu. Sumu-la-El, whose dates may be concurrent with those of Sumu-abum, is usually given as the progenitor of the First Babylonian dynasty. Both are credited with building the walls of Babylon. In any case, the records describe Sumu-la-El's military successes establishing a regional sphere of influence for Babylon.[26]

Babylon was initially a minor city-state, and controlled little surrounding territory; its first four Amorite rulers did not assume the title of king. The older and more powerful states of Assyria, Elam, Isin, and Larsa overshadowed Babylon until it became the capital of Hammurabi's short lived empire about a century later. Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 BC) is famous for codifying the laws of Babylonia into the Code of Hammurabi. He conquered all of the cities and city states of southern Mesopotamia, including Isin, Larsa, Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, Eridu, Kish, Adab, Eshnunna, Akshak, Akkad, Shuruppak, Bad-tibira, Sippar, and Girsu, coalescing them into one kingdom, ruled from Babylon. Hammurabi also invaded and conquered Elam to the east, and the kingdoms of Mari and Ebla to the northwest. After a protracted struggle with the powerful Assyrian king Ishme-Dagan of the Old Assyrian Empire, he forced his successor to pay tribute late in his reign, spreading Babylonian power to Assyria's Hattian and Hurrian colonies in Asia Minor.

After the reign of Hammurabi, the whole of southern Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, whereas the north had already coalesced centuries before into Assyria. From this time, Babylon supplanted Nippur and Eridu as the major religious centers of southern Mesopotamia. Hammurabi's empire destabilized after his death. Assyrians defeated and drove out the Babylonians and Amorites. The far south of Mesopotamia broke away, forming the native Sealand Dynasty, and the Elamites appropriated territory in eastern Mesopotamia. The Amorite dynasty remained in power in Babylon, which again became a small city state.

Texts from Old Babylon often include references to Shamash, the sun-god of Sippar, treated as a supreme deity, and Marduk, considered as his son. Marduk was later elevated to a higher status and Shamash lowered, perhaps reflecting Babylon's rising political power[12]

Middle Babylon

In 1595 BC[lower-alpha 2] the city was overthrown by the Hittite Empire from Asia Minor. Thereafter, Kassites from the Zagros Mountains of north western Ancient Iran captured Babylon, ushering in a dynasty that lasted for 435 years, until 1160 BC. The city was renamed Karanduniash during this period. Kassite Babylon eventually became subject to the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1053 BC) to the north, and Elam to the east, with both powers vying for control of the city. The Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I took the throne of Babylon in 1235 BC.

By 1155 BC, after continued attacks and annexing of territory by the Assyrians and Elamites, the Kassites were deposed in Babylon. An Akkadian south Mesopotamian dynasty then ruled for the first time. However, Babylon remained weak and subject to domination by Assyria. Its ineffectual native kings were unable to prevent new waves of foreign West Semitic settlers from the deserts of the Levant, including the Arameans and Suteans in the 11th century BC, and finally the Chaldeans in the 9th century BC, entering and appropriating areas of Babylonia for themselves. The Arameans briefly ruled in Babylon during the late 11th century BC.

Assyrian period
Sennacherib of Assyria during his Babylonian war, relief from his palace in Nineveh

During the rule of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BC), Babylonia was under constant Assyrian domination or direct control. During the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia was in a constant state of revolt, led by a chieftain named Merodach-Baladan, in alliance with the Elamites, 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 sea bordering the earlier Babylon on the south. Destruction of the religious center shocked many, and the subsequent murder of Sennacherib by two of his own sons while praying to the god Nisroch was considered an act of atonement. Consequently, his successor Esarhaddon hastened to rebuild the old city and make it his residence during part of the year. After his death, Babylonia was governed by his elder son, the Assyrian prince Shamash-shum-ukin, who eventually started a civil war in 652 BC against his own brother, Ashurbanipal, who ruled in Nineveh. Shamash-shum-ukin enlisted the help of other peoples against to Assyria, including Elam, Persia, Chaldeans, and Suteans of southern Mesopotamia, and the Canaanites and Arabs dwelling in the deserts south of Mesopotamia.

Once again, Babylon was besieged by the Assyrians, starved into surrender and its allies were defeated. Ashurbanipal celebrated a "service of reconciliation", but did not venture to "take the hands" of Bel. An Assyrian governor named Kandalanu was appointed as ruler of the city. Ashurbanipal did collect texts from Babylon for inclusion in his extensive library at Ninevah.[19]

After the death of Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian empire destabilized due to a series of internal civil wars throughout the reigns of Assyrian kings Ashur-etil-ilani, Sin-shumu-lishir and Sinsharishkun. Eventually Babylon, like many other parts of the near east, took advantage of the chaos within Assyria to free itself from Assyrian rule. In the subsequent overthrow of the Assyrian Empire by an alliance of peoples, the Babylonians saw another example of divine vengeance.[27]

Neo-Babylonian Empire
Cuneiform cylinder from reign of Nebuchadnezzar II honoring the exorcism and reconstruction of the ziggurat Etemenanki by Nabopolassar.[28]
Detail of a relief from the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate
A reconstruction of the blue-tiled Ishtar Gate, which was the northern entrance to Babylon. It was named for the goddess of love and war. Bulls and dragons, symbols of the god Marduk, decorated the gate.
Main article: Neo-Babylonian Empire

Under Nabopolassar, a previously Caldanian King, Babylon escaped Assyrian rule, and in an alliance with Cyaxares, king of the Medes who was his son in law together with Cimmerians, finally destroyed the Assyrian Empire between 612 BC and 605 BC. Babylon thus became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian (sometimes and possibly erroneously called the Chaldean) or Caldanian Empire.[29][30][31]

With the recovery of Babylonian independence, a new era of architectural activity ensued, particularly during the reign of his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604–561 BC).[32] Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including the Etemenanki ziggurat, and the construction of the Ishtar Gate—the most prominent of eight gates around Babylon. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—said to have been built for his homesick wife Amyitis. Whether the gardens actually existed is a matter of dispute. German archaeologist Robert Koldewey speculated that he had discovered its foundations, but many historians disagree about the location. Stephanie Dalley has argued that the hanging gardens were actually located in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.[33]

Nebuchadnezzar is also notoriously associated with the Babylonian exile of the Jews, the result of an imperial technique of pacification, used also by the Assyrians, in which ethnic groups in conquered areas were deported en masse to the capital.[34] According to the Hebrew Bible, he destroyed Solomon's Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylon. The defeat was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.[35][36]

Persian conquest

In 539 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, with a military engagement known as the Battle of Opis. Babylon's walls were considered impenetrable. The only way into the city was through one of its many gates or through the Euphrates River. Metal grates were installed underwater, allowing the river to flow through the city walls while preventing intrusion. The Persians devised a plan to enter the city via the river. During a Babylonian national feast, Cyrus' troops upstream diverted the Euphrates River, allowing Cyrus' soldiers to enter the city through the lowered water. The Persian army conquered the outlying areas of the city while the majority of Babylonians at the city center were unaware of the breach. The account was elaborated upon by Herodotus[37][20] and is also mentioned in parts of the Hebrew Bible.[38][39] Herodotus also described a moat, an enormously tall and broad wall cemented with bitumen and with buildings on top, and a hundred gates to the city. He also writes that the Babylonians wear turbans and perfume and bury their dead in honey, that they practice ritual prostitution, and that three tribes among them eat nothing but fish. The hundred gates can be considered a reference to Homer, and following the pronouncement of Archibald Henry Sayce in 1883, Herodotus' account of Babylon has largely been considered to represent Greek folklore rather than an authentic voyage to Babylon. However, recently, Dalley and others have suggested taking Herodotus' account seriously.[37][40]

Babylonian soldier in the Achaemenid army, circa 470 BCE, Xerxes I tomb.

According to 2 Chronicles 36 of the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus later issued a decree permitting captive people, including the Jews, to return to their own lands. Text found on the Cyrus Cylinder has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroborative evidence of this policy, although the interpretation is disputed because the text only identifies Mesopotamian sanctuaries but makes no mention of Jews, Jerusalem, or Judea.

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 center of learning and scientific advancement. In Achaemenid Persia, the ancient Babylonian arts of astronomy and mathematics were revitalized, and Babylonian scholars completed maps of constellations. The city became the administrative capital of the Persian Empire and remained prominent for over two centuries. Many important archaeological discoveries have been made that can provide a better understanding of that era.[41][42]

The early Persian kings had attempted to maintain the religious ceremonies of Marduk, but by the reign of Darius III, over-taxation and the strain of numerous wars led to a deterioration of Babylon's main shrines and canals, and the destabilization of the surrounding region. There were numerous attempts at rebellion and in 522 BC (Nebuchadnezzar III), 521 BC (Nebuchadnezzar IV) and 482 BC (Bel-shimani and Shamash-eriba) native Babylonian kings briefly regained independence. However these revolts were quickly repressed and Babylon remained under Persian rule for two centuries, until Alexander the Great's entry in 331 BC.

Hellenistic period

In October of 331 BC, Darius III, the last Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, was defeated by the forces of the Ancient Macedonian ruler Alexander at the Battle of Gaugamela.

Under Alexander, Babylon again flourished as a center of learning and commerce. However, following Alexander's death in 323 BC in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, his empire was divided amongst his generals, the Diadochi, and decades of fighting soon began. The constant turmoil virtually emptied the city of Babylon. A tablet dated 275 BC states that the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to Seleucia, where a palace and a temple (Esagila) were built. With this deportation, Babylon became insignificant as a city, although more than a century later, sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary.[43]

Renewed Persian rule
Main article: Babylonia § Persian Babylonia

Under the Parthian and Sassanid Empires, Babylon (like Assyria) became a province of these Persian Empires for nine centuries, until after AD 650. It maintained its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon. Examples of their culture are found in the Babylonian Talmud, the Gnostic Mandaean religion, Eastern Rite Christianity and the religion of the philosopher Mani. Christianity was introduced to Mesopotamia in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and Babylon was the seat of a Bishop of the Church of the East until well after the Arab/Islamic conquest.

Muslim conquest
Main article: Muslim conquest of Persia

In the mid-7th century, Mesopotamia was invaded and settled by the expanding Muslim Empire, and a period of Islamization followed. Babylon was dissolved as a province and Aramaic and Church of the East Christianity eventually became marginalized. Ibn Hauqal mentions a small village called Babel in the tenth century; subsequent travelers describe only ruins.[44]

Babylon is mentioned in medieval Arabic writings as a source of bricks,[19] said to have been used in cities from Baghdad to Basra.[45]

European travelers in many cases could not discover the city's location, or mistook Fallujah for it. Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th-century traveller, mentions Babylon but it is not clear if he went there. Others referred to Baghdad as Babylon or New Babylon and described various structures encountered in the region as the Tower of Babel.[46] Pietro della Valle found the ancient site in the 17th century and noted the existence of both baked and dried mudbricks cemented with bitumen.[45]

Modern era
From the accounts of modern travellers, I had expected to have found on the site of Babylon more, and less, than I actually did. Less, because I could have formed no conception of the prodigious extent of the whole ruins, or of the size, solidity, and perfect state, of some of the parts of them; and more, because I thought that I should have distinguished some traces, however imperfect, of many of the principle structures of Babylon. I imagined, I should have said: "Here were the walls, and such must have been the extent of the area. There stood the palace, and this most assuredly was the tower of Belus." – I was completely deceived: instead of a few insulated mounds, I found the whole face of the country covered with vestiges of building, in some places consisting of brick walls surprisingly fresh, in others merely of a vast succession of mounds of rubbish of such indeterminate figures, variety and extent, as to involve the person who should have formed any theory in inextricable confusion.

Claudius J. Rich, Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon (1815), pp. 1–2.[47]

Lion of Babylon

The eighteenth century saw an increasing flow of travelers to Babylon, including Carsten Niebuhr and Pierre-Joseph de Beauchamp, as well as measurements of its latitude. Beauchamp's memoir, published in English translation in 1792, provoked the British East India Company to direct its agents in Baghdad and Basra to acquire Mesopotamian relics for shipment to London.[48]

Excavation and research

Claudius Rich, working for the British East India Company in Baghdad, excavated Babylon in 1811–12 and again in 1817.[49][50] Robert Mignan explored the site briefly in 1827.[51] William Loftus visited there in 1849.[52]

"Entry of Alexander into Babylon", a 1665 painting by Charles LeBrun, depicts Alexander the Great's uncontested entry into the city of Babylon, envisioned with pre-existing Hellenistic architecture.

Austen Henry Layard made some soundings during a brief visit in 1850 before abandoning the site.[53] Fulgence Fresnel and Julius Oppert heavily excavated Babylon from 1852 to 1854. However, many of the fruits of their work were lost when a raft containing over 40 crates of artifacts sank into the Tigris river.[54][55]

Original tiles of the processional street. Ancient Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iraq.

Henry Rawlinson and George Smith worked there briefly in 1854. The next excavation was conducted by Hormuzd Rassam on behalf of the British Museum. Work began in 1879, continuing until 1882, and was prompted by widespread looting of the site. Using industrial scale digging in search of artifacts, Rassam recovered a large quantity of cuneiform tablets and other finds. The zealous excavation methods, common at the time, caused significant damage to the archaeological context.[56][57] Many tablets had appeared on the market in 1876 before Rassam's excavation began.[19]

Mušḫuššu (sirrush) and aurochs on either side of the processional street. Ancient Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iraq

A team from the German Oriental Society led by Robert Koldewey conducted the first scientific archaeological excavations at Babylon. The work was conducted daily from 1899 until 1917. Primary efforts of the dig involved the temple of Marduk and the processional way leading up to it, as well as the city wall.[58][59][60][61][62][63] Artifacts including pieces of the Ishtar Gate and hundreds of recovered tablets were sent back to Germany, where Koldewey's colleague Walter Andrae reconstructed them into displays at Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.[64][65] The German archaeologists fled before oncoming British troops in 1917 and again many objects went missing in the following years.[19]

Further work by the German Archaeological Institute was conducted by Heinrich J. Lenzen in 1956 and Hansjörg Schmid in 1962. Lenzen's work dealt primarily with the Hellenistic theatre, and Schmid focused on the temple ziggurat Etemenanki.[66]

The site was excavated in 1974 on behalf of the Turin Centre for Archaeological Research and Excavations in the Middle East and Asia and the Iraqi-Italian Institute of Archaeological Sciences.[67][68] The focus was on clearing up issues raised by re-examination of the old German data. Additional work in 1987–1989 concentrated on the area surrounding the Ishara and Ninurta temples in the Shu-Anna city-quarter of Babylon.[69][70]

During the restoration efforts in Babylon, the Iraqi State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage conducted extensive research, excavation and clearing, but wider publication of these archaeological activities has been limited.[71][72] Indeed, most of the known tablets from all modern excavation remain unpublished.[19]

Iraqi Government

The site of Babylon has been a cultural asset to Iraq since the creation of the modern Iraqi state in 1921. The site was officially protected and excavated by the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration, which later became the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, and its successors: the Arab Federation, the Iraqi Republic, Ba'athist Iraq (also officially called the Iraqi Republic), and the Republic of Iraq. Babylonian images periodically appear on Iraqi postcards and stamps. In the 1960s, a replica of the Ishtar Gate and a reconstruction of Ninmakh Temple were built on site.[73]

On 14 February 1978, the Ba'athist government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein began the "Archaeological Restoration of Babylon Project": reconstructing features of the ancient city atop its ruins. These features included the Southern Palace of Nebuchandnezzar, with 250 rooms, five courtyards, and a 30-meter entrance arch. The project also reinforced the Processional Way, the Lion of Babylon, and an amphitheater constructed in the city's Hellenistic era. In 1982 the government minted a set of seven coins displaying iconic features of Babylon. A Babylon International Festival was held in September 1987, and annually thereafter until 2002 (excepting 1990 and 1991), to showcase this work. Proposed reconstruction of the Hanging Gardens and the great ziggurat never took place.[74][73][75]

Hussein installed a portrait of himself and Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to the ruins and inscribed his name 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". These bricks became sought after as collectors' items after Hussein's downfall.[76] Similar projects were conducted at Nineveh, Nimrud, Assur and Hatra, to demonstrate the magnificence of Arab achievement.[77]

When the 1991 Gulf War ended, Hussein wanted to build a modern palace called Saddam Hill over some of the old ruins, in the pyramidal style of a ziggurat. In 2003, he intended the construction of a cable car line over Babylon, but plans were halted by the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

US and Polish occupation
US Marines in front of the rebuilt ruins of Babylon, 2003

Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the area around Babylon came under the control of US troops, before being handed over to Polish forces in September 2003.[78] US forces under the command of General James T. Conway of the I Marine Expeditionary Force were criticized for building the military base "Camp Alpha", with a helipad and other facilities on ancient Babylonian ruins during the Iraq War. US forces have occupied the site for some time and have caused irreparable damage to the archaeological record. In a report of the British Museum's Near East department, Dr. John Curtis described how parts of the archaeological site were levelled to create a landing area for helicopters, and parking lots for heavy vehicles. Curtis wrote of the occupation forces:

They 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.[79]

A US Military spokesman claimed that engineering operations were discussed with the "head of the Babylon museum".[80] The head of the Iraqi State Board for Heritage and Antiquities, Donny George, said that the "mess will take decades to sort out" and criticised Polish troops for causing "terrible damage" to the site.[81][82] Poland resolved in 2004 to place the city under Iraq control, and commissioned a report titled Report Concerning the Condition of the Preservation of the Babylon Archaeological Site, which it presented at a meeting on 11–13 December 2004.[74] In 2005 the site was handed over to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture.[78]

In April 2006, Colonel John Coleman, former Chief of Staff for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, offered to issue an apology for the damage done by military personnel under his command. However, he also claimed that the US presence had deterred far greater damage by other looters.[83] An article published in April 2006 stated that UN officials and Iraqi leaders have plans to restore Babylon, making it into a cultural center.[84][85]

Two museums and a library, containing replicas of artifacts and local maps and reports, were raided and destroyed.[86]

Present day

In May 2009, the provincial government of Babil reopened the site to tourists, but not many have come as yet. An oil pipeline runs through an outer wall of the city.[87][88] On July 5, 2019, the site of Babylon was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[89]

Panoramic view of ruins in Babylon photographed in 2005 during a tour for U.S. soldiers.

Cultural importance
Woodcut in 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle depicting the fall of Babylon.
"The Walls of Babylon and the Temple of Bel (Or Babel)", by 19th-century illustrator William Simpson – influenced by early archaeological investigations.

Before modern archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia, the appearance of Babylon was largely a mystery, and typically envisioned by Western artists as a hybrid between ancient Egyptian, classical Greek, and contemporary Ottoman culture.[90]

Due to Babylon's historical significance as well as references to it in the Bible, the word "Babylon" in various languages has acquired a generic meaning of a large, bustling diverse city. Examples include:

  • Babylon is used in reggae music as a concept in the Rastafari belief system, denoting the materialistic capitalist world: it refers equally to the British Empire, which engineered the slave trade and to the modern oppressive governments of the US and her allies, as they are considered to be one and the same imperialist evil. It's believed that the Babylon actively seeks to exploit and oppress the people of the world, especially people of African descent. It's believed that the Babylon forbids the smoking of ganja because this sacred herb opens men's minds to the truth.
  • Freemasonry, which has its own versions of biblical legends, classically considered Babylon as its birthplace and a haven for science and knowledge.[91]
  • Babylon 5 – a science fiction series set on a futuristic space station that acts as a trading and diplomatic nexus between many different cultures. Many stories focus on the theme of different societies and cultures uniting, respecting differences, and learning from each other rather than fighting or looking on each other with prejudice and suspicion.
  • Babylon A.D. takes place in New York City, decades in the future.
  • Babilonas (Lithuanian name for "Babylon") – a real estate development in Lithuania
  • Babylon - a song by Lady Gaga that uses allusions to Ancient Biblical themes to discuss gossip

Biblical narrative

In the Book of Genesis (Genesis 10:10), Babel (Babylon) is described as founded by Nimrod along with Uruk, Akkad and perhaps Calneh—all of them in Shinar ("Calneh" is now sometimes translated not as a proper name but as the phrase "all of them"). Another story is given in Genesis 11, which describes a united human race, speaking one language, migrating to Shinar to establish a city and tower—the Tower of Babel. God halts construction of the tower by scattering humanity across the earth and confusing their communication so they are unable to understand each other in the same language.

Babylon appears throughout the Hebrew Bible, including several prophecies and in descriptions of the destruction of Jerusalem and subsequent Babylonian captivity, most of which are found in the Book of Daniel. These include the episode of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Belshazzar's feast. Consequently, in Jewish tradition, Babylon symbolizes an oppressor against which righteous believers must struggle. In Christianity, Babylon symbolizes worldliness and evil.[92] Prophecies sometimes symbolically link the kings of Babylon with Lucifer. Nebuchadnezzar II, sometimes conflated with Nabonidus, appears as the foremost ruler in this narrative.[93]

The Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible refers to Babylon many centuries after it ceased to be a major political center. The city is personified by the "Whore of Babylon", riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, and drunk on the blood of the righteous. Some scholars of apocalyptic literature believe this New Testament "Babylon" to be a dysphemism for the Roman Empire.[94] Other scholars suggest that Babylon in the book of Revelation has a symbolic significance that extends beyond mere identification with the first century Roman empire. [95]

See also

Notes
  1. The Amorites were not native to Mesopotamia, but were semi-nomadic Canaanite Northwest Semitic invaders from the northern Levant. They (together with the Elamites to the east) had originally been prevented from taking control of the Akkadian states of southern Mesopotamia by the intervention of powerful Assyrian kings of the Old Assyrian Empire during the 21st and 20th centuries BC, intervening from northern Mesopotamia. However, when the Assyrians turned their attention to expanding their colonies in Asia Minor, the Amorites eventually began to supplant native rulers across the region.
  2. Please see Chronology of the ancient Near East for more discussion on dating events in the 2nd millennium BC, including the Sack of Babylon.

References
  1. Edwards, I. E. S.; Gadd, C. J.; Hammond, N. . L. (1981). Prolegomena and Prehistory. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol 1 Part 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29821-6.
  2. Tertius Chandler. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census (1987), St. David's University Press ("etext.org". Archived from the original on 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2010-04-18.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)). ISBN 0-88946-207-0. See Historical urban community sizes.
  3. Mieroop, Marc van de (1997). The Ancient Mesopotamian City. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 95. ISBN 9780191588457.
  4. Boiy, T. (2004). Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. 136. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. p. 233. ISBN 9789042914490.
  5. Seymour 2006, pp. 140-142.
  6. Sayce 1878, p. 182.
  7. Ernest A. Budge (1880). The history of Esarhaddon (son of Sennacherib) King of Assyria, B.C. 681-668;. Trübner & Co. pp. 135–136. OCLC 977799662.
  8. Sayce, Archibald Henry (1872). The Origin of Semitic Civilisation, Chiefly Upon Philological Evidence. Harrison and Sons. p. 5. OCLC 459000074.
  9. Sayce, Archibald Henry (1878b). "Babylon–Babylonia" . Encyclopædia Britannica. III (9th ed.). p. 182.
  10. Liane Jakob-Rost, Joachim Marzahn: Babylon, ed. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Vorderasiatisches Museum, (Kleine Schriften 4), 2. Auflage, Putbus 1990, p. 2
  11. Gelb, I. J. (1994). "The Name of Babylon". In Hess, Richard S.; Tsumura, David Toshio (eds.). I studied inscriptions from before the flood : ancient Near Eastern, literary, and linguistic approaches to Genesis 1–11. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. pp. 266–269. ISBN 9780931464881. OCLC 31239619.
  12. Wilfred G. Lambert, "Babylon: Origins"; in Cancik-Kirschbaum et al. (2011), pp. 71–76.
  13. Dietz-Otto Edzard: Geschichte Mesopotamiens. Von den Sumerern bis zu Alexander dem Großen, Beck, München 2004, p. 121.
  14. Gen. 11:9.
  15. Magnus Magnusson, BC: The Archaeology of the Bible Lands. BBC Publications 1977, pp. 198–199.
  16. "babble". Lexico UK Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
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  19. Olof Pedersén, "Excavated and Unexcavated Libraries in Babylon", in Cancik-Kirschbaum et al. (2011), pp. 47–67.
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  21. Vedeler (2006), pp. 7–8.
  22. Records of the Past, Archibald Sayce, 2nd series, Vol. 1, 1888, p. 11.
  23. N.H. vii. 57
  24. The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, George Rawlinson, Vol. 4, p. 526–527.
  25. Al-Gailani Werr, L., 1988. Studies in the chronology and regional style of Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals. Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, Volume 23.
  26. Vedeler (2006), pp. 8–15. "However, this later tradition is almost certainly a simplification or even a reworking of the actual events surrounding Sumu-abum, who was never regarded as an actual ancestor to the other kings of the Babylon I dynasty (Edzard 1957:122); in reality the relationship of Sumu-abum to Babylon was much more complex. It was long been noted that many of Sumu-abum's year names are identical or virtually identical to the year names of Sumu-la-el, whom we know for certain was king of Babylon. Goddeeris (2002:319–320) sums these parallels up as follows: Sa 1 and 2 / Sl 5 and 6: building the wall of Babylon. Sa 9 / Sl 'b': building the wall of Dilbat. Sa 13/14 / Sl 20/21: the destruction and seizure of Kazallu."
  27. Albert Houtum-Schindler, "Babylon," Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed.
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  31. von Soden, Wolfram (1994). The Ancient Orient. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8028-0142-5.
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  33. Stephanie Dalley, (2013) The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: an elusive World Wonder traced, OUP ISBN 978-0-19-966226-5
  34. Seymour 2006, pp. 88-89: "Preventing uprisings on the fringes of the empire was a major concern for Assyrian kings, and a number of policies developed to meet this need, among them mass deportations. When new territory was conquered or a rebellious vassal crushed, an increased imperial presence in the trouble spot was often complemented by the removal of large numbers of the indigenous population to the imperial core, effectively breaking up the rebellious population and reducing the potential for future resistance. This practice was effective, and continued throughout the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires until 539 BC and Cyrus's conquest of Babylon. The majority of the immigrant population were not slaves (Yamauchi 2002: 365), and some did rise to high status positions at the core of the empire (a possibility reflected in the career of the biblical Daniel, who rises to the status of trusted royal confidant)."
  35. "British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE)". Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  36. "ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) – Livius". www.livius.org.
  37. Godley, Alfred Denis (1920). "Ch. 178-200". Herodotus, The Histories. Book 1. Harvard University Press. OCLC 4559420.; or see "Herodotus' Description of Babylon and the Babylonians". shsu.edu. 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-05-05.
  38. Isaiah 44:27
  39. Jeremiah 50–51
  40. Seymour 2006, pp. 107-115.
  41. Cyrus Cylinder The British Museum. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
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  43. Sayce 1911, p. 98
  44. Seymour 2006, p. 148.
  45. Julian E. Reade, "Disappearance and rediscovery"; in Finkel & Seymour, eds., Babylon (2009); pp. 13–30.
  46. Seymour 2006, pp. 148-151.
  47. Seymour 2006, p. 175.
  48. Seymour 2006, pp. 169-173.
  49. Claudius J. Rich, Memoirs on the Ruins of Babylon, 1815
  50. Claudius J. Rich, Second memoir on Babylon; containing an inquiry into the correspondence between the ancient descriptions of Babylon, and the remains still visible on the site, 1818
  51. Mignan, Robert (1829). Travels in Chaldaea: Including a Journey from Bussorah to Bagdad, Hillah and Babylon, Performed on Foot in 1827. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. OCLC 1003963534.
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  70. G. Bergamini, "Preliminary report on the 1988–1989 operations at Babylon Shu-Anna", Mesopotamia, vol. 25, pp. 5–12, 1990
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  72. Farouk N. H. Al-Rawi, Nabopolassar's Restoration Work on the Wall "Imgur-Enlil at Babylon, Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 1–13, 1985
  73. John Curtis, "The Present Condition of Babylon"; in Cancik-Kirschbaum et al. (2011).
  74. John Curtis, "The Site of Babylon Today"; in Finkel & Seymour, eds., Babylon (2009); pp. 213–220.
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  80. Leeman, Sue (January 16, 2005). "Damage seen to ancient Babylon". The Boston Globe.
  81. Marozzi, Justin (2016-08-08). "Lost cities #1: Babylon – how war almost erased 'mankind's greatest heritage site'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-08-20.
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  83. Cornwell, Rupert. US colonel offers Iraq an apology of sorts for devastation of Babylon, The Independent, April 15, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
  84. Gettleman, Jeffrey. Unesco intends to put the magic back in Babylon, International Herald Tribune, April 21, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2008. Archived June 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  85. McBride, Edward. Monuments to Self: Baghdad's grands projects in the age of Saddam Hussein, MetropolisMag. Retrieved April 19, 2008. Archived December 10, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
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  87. Arawa Damon, "Bringing Babylon back from the dead", CNN, 4 April 2013.
  88. Steven Lee Myers, "Babylon Ruins Reopen in Iraq, to Controversy", New York Times, 2 May 2009.
  89. "Ancient city of Babylon heads list of new Unesco world heritage sites". The Guardian. 5 July 2019.
  90. Liverani 2016, pp. 21–22. "In practice, the solution adopted to visualize cities which were in fact unknown was a mixture of classical (Greek) and Egyptian elements, with long colonnades, even built on more than one level—which will then prove totally foreign to the unfired brick architecture of Mesopotamian cities—and with plenty of obelisks and the odd sphinx. To this mixture is added, often and willingly, something of Ottoman architecture, showing cupolas and minarets, clearly useful in picturing an unchangeable Near East which therefore needed to retain elements of remote antiquity in a modern age."
  91. Albert Mackey, History of Freemasonry (Vol. 1); New York and London: Masonic History Company, 1898/1906; p. 61.
  92. "What is the significance of the Babylonian Empire in biblical history?". GotQuestions.org. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  93. Seymour 2006, pp. 91-101.
  94. Merrill Tenney: New Testament Survey, Inter-varsity Press, 1985, pp383
  95. Craig R. Koester, Revelation (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014), 506, 684

Sources
  • Cancik-Kirschbaum, Eva, Margarete van Ess, & Joachim Marzahn, eds. (2011). Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-022212-8.
  • Finkel, I. L. and M. J. Seymour, eds. Babylon. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN 0-19-538540-3 . Exhibition organized by British Museum, Musée du Louvre & Réunion des Musées Nationaux, and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
  • Liverani, Mario. Imagining Babylon: The Modern Story of an Ancient City. Translated from Italian to English by Ailsa Campbell. Boston: De Gruyter, 2016. ISBN 978-1-61451-602-6. Originally published as Immaginare Babele in 2013.
  • Sayce, Archibald Henry (1878). "Babel" . In Baynes, T. S. (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. III (9th ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 178.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Sayce, Archibald Henry (1911). "Babylon" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 98–99.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Seymour, M. J. (2006). The idea of Babylon: archaeology and representation in Mesopotamia (Doctoral thesis). University College London. OCLC 500097655.
  • Vedeler, Harold Torger. A Social and Economic Survey of the Reign of Samsuiluna of Babylon (1794–1712 BC). PhD dissertation accepted at Yale, May 2006.

Further reading
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