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Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Babylon (Babylonian Bab-ilim or Babil, "gate of
God"), one of the most important cities of the ancient
world, whose location today is marked by a broad area of ruins
just east of the Euphrates River, 90 km (56 mi) south of Baghdad,
Iraq. Babylon was the capital of Bab ylonia
in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. In antiquity the city profited
from its location extending across the main overland trade route
connecting the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. Although the
site was settled in prehistoric times, Babylon is first mentioned
in documents only in the late 3rd millennium BC. About 2200 BC it
was known as the site of a temple, and during the 21st century BC
it was subject to the nearby city of Ur. Babylon became an
independent city-state by 1894 BC, when the Amorite Sumu-abum
founded a dynasty there. This dynasty reached its high point
under Hammurabi. In 1595 BC the city was captured by Hittites,
and shortly thereafter it came under the control of the Kassite
dynasty (circa 1590-1155 BC). The Kassites transformed Babylon
the city-state into the country of Babylonia by bringing all of
southern Mesopotamia into permanent subjection and making Babylon
its capital. The city thus became the administrative center of a
large kingdom. Later, probably in the 12th century BC, it became
the religious center as well, when its principal god, Marduk, was
elevated to the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon.
After the Kassite dynasty collapsed under pressure from the
Elamites to the east, Babylon was governed by several short-lived
dynasties. From the late 8th century BC until the Assyrians were
expelled by Nabopolassar, between 626 and 615 BC, the city was
part of the Assyrian Empire.
Nabopolassar founded the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, and his son
Nebuchadnezzar II expanded the kingdom until it became an empire
embracing much of southwest Asia. The imperial capital at Babylon
was refurbished with new temple and palace buildings, exten sive fortification
walls and gates, and paved processional ways; it was at that time
the largest city of the known world, covering more than 1000
hectares (some 2500 acres).
The Neo-Babylonian Empire was of short duration. In 539 BC, Cyrus
the Great captured Babylon and incorporated Babylonia into the
newly founded Persian Empire. Under the Persians, Babylon for a
time served as the official residence of the crown prince, until
a local revolt in 482 led Xerxes I to raze the temples and
ziggurat (temple tower) and to melt down the statue of the patron
god Marduk.
Alexander the Great captured the city in 330 BC and planned to
rebuild it and make it the capital of his vast empire, but he
died before he could carry out his plans. After 312 BC, Babylon
was for a while used as a capital by the Seleucid dynasty set up
by Alexander's successors. When the new capital of Seleucia on
the Tigris was founded in the early 3rd century BC, however, most
of Babylon's population was moved there. The temples continued in
use for a time, but the city became insignificant and almost
disappeared before the coming of Islam in the 7th century AD.
The topography of Babylon is best known from the occupation
levels of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, as excavated by Robert
Koldewey and other German archaeologists just before World War I.
At that time the Euphrates divided the city into two unequal
parts-the old quarter, with most of the palaces and temples, on
the east bank, and the New City on the west bank. A prominent
place near the center of the city was occupied by Esagila, the
temple of Marduk; just to the north of that was Etemenanki (the
ziggurat), a seven-storied edifice sometimes linked in popular
legend with the Tower of Babel. A cluster of palaces and
fortifications was found at the northwest corner of the old city;
the German excavators identified one ruin in this area with the
foundations of the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of
the World, which Nebuchadnezzar II built for his Median wife.
Nearby was located the Ishtar Gate, with its lions and dragons in
brightly colored glazed brick. Through it passed the main
Processional Way, the route followed by cultic and political
leaders for the New Year's festival ceremonies. Through nine
major gates of the massive inner fortification walls passed roads
to the principal settlements of Babylonia.
The End
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