Babylon
Babylon is the Greek variant of
Akkadian Babilu (
bāb-ilû, meaning "Gateway of the god", translating
Sumerian Kadingirra), an ancient city in
Mesopotamia (modern
Al Hillah,
Iraq). It was the "holy city" of
Babylonia from around
2300 BC, and the seat of the
Neo-Babylonian empire from
612 BC. In the
Old Testament, the name appears as
בבל (
Babel), interpreted by
Genesis 11:9 to mean "confusion", from the verb
balal, "to confuse".
The
Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The earliest mention of Babylon is in a dated tablet of the reign of
Sargon of Akkad (
24th century BC short chr.). Over the years, its power and population waned. From around the
20th century BC, it was occupied by
Amorites (nomadic
Semitic tribes), flooding southern
Mesopotamia from the west. The
First Babylonian Dynasty was established by Sumu-abum, but the city-state controlled little surrounding territory until it became the capital of
Hammurabi's empire (ca.
18th century BC). From that time onward, it continued to be the capital of Babylonia, although during the 440 years of domination by the
Kassites (1595"1155 BC), the city was renamed
"Karanduniash".
The city itself was built upon the
Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon grew in extent and grandeur over time, but gradually became subject to the rule of
Assyria.
It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770 to 1670 BC, and again between c. 612 and 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. [
1]
Assyrian period
|
Detail of the Ishtar Gate |
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 to the ground, and the rubbish 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.
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.
Neo-Babylonian Empire
 |
Mural near the reconstructed Ishtar gate, depicting the palace quarter of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. The Ishtar gate is shown in the top left corner of the image |
Under
Nabopolassar, Babylon threw off the Assyrian rule in
626 BC, and became the capital of the
Neo-Babylonian Empire.
With the recovery of Babylonian independence, a new era of architectural activity ensued, and his son
Nebuchadnezzar II (
605 BC"
562 BC) made Babylon into one of the wonders of the ancient world. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including rebuilding the
Etemenanki ziggurat and the construction of the
Ishtar Gate " the most spectacular of eight gates that ringed the perimeter of Babylon. The Ishtar Gate survives today 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 did exist is a matter of dispute. Although excavations by German archaeologist
Robert Koldewey are thought to reveal its foundations, many historians disagree about the location, and some believe it may have been confused with gardens in
Nineveh.
Babylon under Persia
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. 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 his heir
Darius I, Babylon became the capital city of the 9th Satrapy (Babylonia in the south and Athura in the north), as well 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. Overall, the city being 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[
2][
3].
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
In
331 BC, Darius III was defeated by the forces of the
Macedonian ruler
Alexander the Great at the
Battle of Gaugamela, and in October, Babylon fell to the young conquerer. A native account of this invasion notes a ruling by Alexander not to enter the homes of its inhabitants.
Under Alexander, Babylon again flourished as a centre of learning and commerce. But following Alexander's mysterious death in
323 BC in the palace of Nebuchadrezzar, his empire was divided amongst his generals, and decades of fighting soon began, with Babylon once again caught in the middle.
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 was built, as well as a temple given the ancient name of
E-Saggila. With this deportation, the history of Babylon comes practically to an end, though more than a century later, it was found that sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary. By
141 BC, when the
Parthian Empire took over the region, Babylon was in complete desolation and obscurity.
Historical knowledge of Babylon's
topography is derived from classical writers, the inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar, and several excavations, including those of the
Deutsche Orientgesellschaft begun in
1899. The layout is that of the Babylon of Nebuchadrezzar; the older Babylon destroyed by Sennacherib having left few, if any, traces behind.
|
US Marines in front of the rebuilt ruins of Babylon (2003) |
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) 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).
Saddam Hussein installed a huge portrait of himself and
Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to the ruins. He also had part of the ruins rebuilt, 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.
US forces were criticised for building a
helipad on ancient Babylonian ruins following the
2003 invasion of Iraq, under the command of General James Conway of the
First Marine Expeditionary Force. The vibrations from helicopter landings led a nearby Babylonian structure to collapse.[
4]
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 his troops in April 2006, however at the same time arguing that they were protecting the site from looters.
*
Joan Oates,
Babylon, [Ancient Peoples and Places], Thames and Hudson, 1986. ISBN 0500020957 (hardback) ISBN 0500273847 (paperback)
*
Kings of Babylon*
Babylonia*
Akkad,
Assur*
Tower of Babel,
Babel*
List of monarchies*[1]
*[2]
What I heard about Iraq in 2005 by Eliot Weinberger, London Review of Books*
Babylon wrecked by war, The Guardian, January 15, 2005*
Babylonian gardens*
History lost in dust of war-torn Iraq, BBC, April 25, 2005, mentions damage to Babylon.
*
US marines offer Babylon damage apology,By Jonathan Charles BBC World affrairs correspondent 14 April 2006
*
reggae babylon, Babylon's usage in Reggae music
