Babylon

Lore & Background

The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC) of the Akkadian Empire. The town became part of a small independent city-state in the early second millennium BC. The Amorite king Sumu-abum founded the Old Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC (c. 1894 BC), and the empire was later expanded by the famous king Hammurabi. The empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna, and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After the Assyrians destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire, from 626 to 539 BC. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, Sassanid, and Muslim empires. The last known habitation dates from the 11th century AD, when it was referred to as the 'small village of Babel'.

In Their Own Story

The sun beat down on the Processional Way, turning the azure bricks of the Ishtar Gate into a blinding mosaic of lapis lazuli. An old scribe leaned against the cool stone of a ruined tower, watching dust motes dance in the shafts of light that pierced the broken roof. He whispered the names of kings long turned to clay, his fingers tracing the cuneiform of a forgotten decree. In this silence, the roar of a million citizens seemed to echo from the earth itself—the clatter of chariot wheels, the chanting of priests, and the laughter of children playing in courtyards that were now just hollows in the sand.

Reader's Guide

The site covers an area of about 1,000 hectares, with about 450 hectares within the city walls, containing a number of mounds: Kasr (location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki), Amran Ibn Ali (site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk), Homera (mostly Hellenistic remains), and Babil (a palace built by Nebuchadnezzar). The site is roughly bisected by the Shatt Al-Hillah, a branch of the Euphrates river. Local construction is rapidly increasing, threatening to encroach upon the ruins. The site receives thousands of visitors each year, almost all of them Iraqis.

Did You Know?

• Both the Hanging Gardens and Walls of Babylon were ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
• The Hanging Gardens purportedly existed between approximately 600 BC and AD 1, but some scholars question their historical reality, as they are not mentioned in any extant Babylonian text.
• It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world c. 1770 BC and again c. 612 BC.
• It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000 in an area of about 900 hectares.
• The spelling Babylon is the Latin representation of Koine Greek Babylṓn, derived from the native Akkadian Bāb-ili(m).