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144-573: Babylonian may refer to: Babylon , a Semitic Akkadian city/state of ancient Mesopotamia founded in 1894 BC Babylonia , an ancient Akkadian-speaking Semitic nation-state and cultural region based in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) Babylonian language , a dialect of the Akkadian language See also [ edit ] Babylonia (disambiguation) Babylonian astronomy Babylonian calendar Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile,

288-456: A World Heritage Site in 2019. The site receives thousands of visitors each year, almost all of whom are Iraqis. Construction is rapidly increasing, which has caused encroachments upon the ruins. 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

432-637: A dysphemism for the Roman Empire . Babylon, like the rest of ancient Mesopotamia, followed the Ancient Mesopotamian religion , wherein there was a general accepted hierarchy and dynasty of gods and localized gods who acted as patron deities for specific cities. Marduk was the patron deity of the city Babylon, having held this position since the reign of Hammurabi (18th century BC) in Babylon's first dynasty. Although Babylonian worship of Marduk never meant

576-588: A 127 BC legal document). At this time, two major recognized groups lived in Babylon: the Babylonians and the Greeks, who settled there during the centuries of Macedonian and Seleucid rule. These groups were governed by separate local (e.g. pertaining to just the city) administrative councils; Babylonian citizens were governed by the šatammu and the kiništu and Greeks by the epistates . Although no king lists younger than

720-695: A better understanding of that era. The early Persian kings had attempted to maintain the religious ceremonies of Marduk , who was the most important god, 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

864-460: A century after its founding, it was a minor and relatively weak state, overshadowed by older and more powerful states such as Isin , Larsa , Assyria and Elam . But Hammurabi ( r.   c.   1792–1750 BC) turned Babylon into a major power and eventually conquered Mesopotamia and beyond, founding the Old or First Babylonian Empire . After his death, his dynasty lasted another century and

1008-541: A century-long struggle for Babylonian independence against Assyria. Although the Assyrians incorporated the region into their empire and used the title King of Babylon in addition to the title King of Assyria , Assyrian control of Babylonia was neither stable nor entirely continuous and the century of Assyrian rule included several unsuccessful Babylonian revolts. Early in the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king Sinsharishkun ,

1152-487: 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. Babylon

1296-515: A family business. Slave families were most often sold as a unit, children only being separated from their parents once they reached adulthood (or working age). Though slaves probably endured harsh living conditions and poor treatment from others, it would not have been equivalent to the brutal form of slavery in the Roman Empire and in later times. Though there are occasional mentions of slaves escaping, there are no records of slave rebellions in

1440-421: A fee called the mandattu to their masters, which allowed them to work and live independently, essentially "renting" themselves from their master. There are records of slaves paying the mandattu for themselves and for their wives so that they could live freely. There are, however, no records of slaves completely buying their freedom, Babylonian slaves could only be freed by their masters. The establishment of

1584-676: A golden age for Babylon, which became the most powerful kingdom in the Middle East. Nebuchadnezzar's most famous campaigns today are his wars in the Levant . These campaigns began relatively early in his reign and were chiefly conducted to stabilize his reign and consolidate his empire (most of the newly independent kingdoms and city-states in the Levant previously having been vassals of the Neo-Assyrian Empire). His 587 BC destruction of Jerusalem ended

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1728-470: A golden age that transformed Babylonia into the greatest empire of its time. Religious policies introduced by the final Babylonian king Nabonidus , who favoured the moon god Sîn over Babylon's patron deity Marduk , eventually served as a casus belli for Persian king Cyrus the Great , who invaded Babylonia in 539 BC by portraying himself as a champion of Marduk divinely restoring order to Mesopotamia. After

1872-687: A half, but the Babylonian Empire quickly collapsed, and Babylon once more became a small state. Babylonia fell to the Hittite king Mursili I c.   1595 BC, after which the Kassites took control and ruled for almost five centuries before being deposed by native Babylonian rulers, who continued to rule the Babylonian rump state . The population of Babylonia in this so-called Post-Kassite or Middle Babylonian period comprised two main groups,

2016-534: A large quantity of cuneiform tablets and other finds. The zealous excavation methods, common at the time, caused significant damage to the archaeological context. Many tablets had appeared on the market in 1876 before Rassam's excavation began. 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. A major problem for Koldewey

2160-538: A level, completely unlike the actual architecture of real ancient Mesopotamian cities, with obelisks and sphinxes inspired by those of Egypt. Ottoman influence came in the shape of cupolas and minarets dotted through the imagined appearances of the ancient city. Babylon is perhaps most famous today for its repeated appearances in the Bible, where it appears both literally (in reference to historical events) and allegorically (symbolizing other things). The Neo-Babylonian Empire

2304-486: 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 destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire , from 626 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were ranked as one of

2448-469: A map of Babylon which includes the location of several villages. William Loftus visited there in 1849. Austen Henry Layard made some soundings during a brief visit in 1850 before abandoning the site. Fulgence Fresnel , Julius Oppert and Felix Thomas heavily excavated Babylon from 1852 to 1854. Much of their work was lost in the Qurnah Disaster , when a transport ship and four rafts sank on

2592-560: A massive counterattack in 623 BC. Though this counterattack was initially successful and Sinsharishkun might have been ultimately victorious, he had to abandon the campaign due to a revolt in Assyria threatening his position as king. The absence of the Assyrian army allowed the Babylonians to conquer the last remaining Assyrian seats of power in Babylonia from 622 BC to 620 BC. Both Uruk and Nippur,

2736-616: A notable position in modern cultural memory due to the invidious portrayal of Babylon and its greatest king Nebuchadnezzar II in the Bible . The biblical description of Nebuchadnezzar focuses on his military campaign against the Kingdom of Judah and particularly the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, which resulted in the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the subsequent Babylonian captivity . Babylonian sources describe Nebuchadnezzar's reign as

2880-595: A number of mounds, the most prominent of which are Kasr, Merkes (13 meters; 43' above the plain), Homera, Ishin-Aswad, Sahn, Amran, and Babil. It is roughly bisected by the Shatt Al-Hillah, a branch of the Euphrates river , which has shifted slightly since ancient times. The local water table has risen, making excavation of lower levels difficult. Prior to the heavy use of baked bricks in the reign of Neo-Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC), construction at Babylon

3024-490: A period in Jewish history Babylonian Jews , Jews of the area of modern-day Iraq and north Syria Babylonian literature Babylonian mathematics , also known as Assyro-Babylonian mathematics Babylonian religion First Babylonian dynasty , the first dynasty of Babylonia Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539 BC) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

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3168-718: A place name. Archibald Sayce , writing in the 1870s, postulated that the Semitic name was a loan-translation of the original Sumerian name. However, the "gate of god" interpretation is increasingly viewed as a Semitic folk etymology to explain an unknown original non-Semitic placename. I. J. Gelb in 1955 argued that the original name was 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

3312-483: A reference to Homer . 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. According to 2 Chronicles 36 of the Hebrew Bible , Cyrus later issued a decree permitting captive people, including

3456-528: A result, Kassite Babylon began paying tribute to the Pharaoh of Egypt , Thutmose III , following his eighth campaign against Mitanni. 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. By 1155 BC, after continued attacks and annexing of territory by the Assyrians and Elamites,

3600-533: A review of the stratigraphical position of the main monuments and reconsideration of ancient water levels, by the Turin Centre for Archaeological Research and Excavations in the Middle East and Asia, and the Iraqi-Italian Institute of Archaeological Sciences. 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

3744-797: A sacred tree or mythological animals and creatures. Cylinder seals increasingly fell into disuse over the course of the Neo-Babylonian century, eventually being entirely replaced by stamp seals. Terracotta figurines and reliefs, made using molds, were common during the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Preserved figurines usually represent protective demons (such as Pazuzu ) or deities but there are also examples of horsemen, naked women, boats, men carrying vases and various types of furniture. Terracotta figurines could be sacred objects intended to be kept in people's homes for magical protection or as decorations, but they could also be objects offered to deities in

3888-493: A set quota of lambs to provide for sacrificial purposes, with wool and hides also being used in the temples for various purposes. Dairy products were less important since the animals would be unavailable for most of the year as the shepherds drove them across the land. Cows and oxen, rare in Mesopotamia due to being difficult to feed and maintain through the summer months, were mainly used as draft animals for plowing. Regions with

4032-455: A short period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon. 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

4176-575: A small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC), of the Akkadian Empire . Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city, subject to the Akkadian Empire. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the Gutian Dynasty for a few decades, before

4320-545: A swampy environment, unsuited for farming, were used to hunt birds and fish. The most common form of business partnership recorded from Neo-Babylonian sources is called the harrānu , which involved a senior financing partner and a junior working partner (who did all the work, using the money provided by the senior partner). Profit from such business ventures were divided equally between the two partners. The idea allowed rich individuals to use their money to finance businesses by capable individuals who might not otherwise have had

4464-466: A unified "Babylonian" culture. At the same time, the Chaldeans, though retaining their tribal structure and way of life, were becoming more "babylonized", many adopting traditional Babylonian names. These Babylonized Chaldeans became important players in the Babylonian political scene and by 730 BC, all the major Chaldean tribes had produced at least one Babylonian king . The 9th to 8th century BC

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4608-465: 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. The site covers an area of about 1,000 hectares (3¾ sq. mi.), with about 450 hectares (1¾ sq. mi.) within the several kilometer (mile) long city walls, containing

4752-427: A victory for Tiamat until Marduk convinced the other gods to proclaim him as their leader and king. The gods agreed, and Marduk was victorious, capturing and executing Kingu and firing a great arrow at Tiamat, killing her and splitting her in two. With these chaotic primordial forces defeated, Marduk created the world and ordered the heavens. Marduk is also described as the creator of human beings, which were meant to help

4896-445: Is assumed to have died. Sinsharishkun's successor, Ashur-uballit II , the final king of Assyria, was defeated at Harran in 609 BC. Egypt, Assyria's ally, continued the war against Babylon for a few years before being decisively defeated by Nabopolassar's crown prince Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish in 605 BC. Nebuchadnezzar II succeeded Nabopolassar in 605 BC upon the death of his father. The empire Nebuchadnezzar inherited

5040-503: Is featured in several prophecies and in descriptions of the destruction of Jerusalem and subsequent Babylonian captivity. Because of its sordid reputation for atrocities, including sexual abuse , in Jewish tradition, Babylon symbolizes an oppressor. In Christianity , Babylon symbolizes worldliness and evil. Prophecies sometimes symbolically link the kings of Babylon with Lucifer . Nebuchadnezzar II, sometimes conflated with Nabonidus, appears as

5184-408: Is from 35 BC and contains a prayer to Marduk. The latest known other documents written in Akkadian are astronomic predictions (e.g. planetary movements) for the year 75 AD. The way the signs are written in these astronomic texts means that readers would not have to be familiar with Akkadian to understand them. If the Akkadian language and Babylonian culture survived beyond these sparse documents, it

5328-495: Is known to have completely renovated at least 13 cities but spent most of his time and resources on the capital, Babylon. By 600 BC, the Babylonians and possibly their subject peoples saw Babylon as the literal and figurative center of the world. Nebuchadnezzar widened Processional Street and fitted it with new decorations, making the annual New Year's Festival , celebrated in honor of the city's patron deity Marduk , more spectacular than ever before. After Nebuchadnezzar II's reign,

5472-436: Is suggested by ancient sources to have had dire consequences for the city. Though no direct evidence exists , Babylon appears to have been severely punished for the revolt. Its fortifications were destroyed and its temples damaged as Xerxes ravaged the city. It is possible that the sacred statue of Marduk , which represented the physical manifestation of Babylon's patron deity, was removed by Xerxes from Babylon's main temple,

5616-453: 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 , 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

5760-645: The Assyrian Empire in 612 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 539 BC, marking the collapse of the Chaldean dynasty less than a century after its founding. The defeat of the Assyrian Empire and subsequent return of power to Babylon marked the first time that the city, and southern Mesopotamia in general, had risen to dominate the ancient Near East since

5904-495: 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. 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

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6048-552: The Book of Genesis to mean " confusion ", from the verb bilbél ( בלבל , "to confuse"). 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. In Pali and Sanskrit literature, the name appears as Bāveru . 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

6192-543: The Esagila , at this time. Xerxes also divided the previously large Babylonian satrapy (composing virtually all of the Neo-Babylonian Empire's territory) into smaller sub-units. Babylonian culture endured for centuries under the Achaemenids and survived under the rule of the later Hellenic Macedonian and Seleucid Empires , with the rulers of these empires also listed as kings of Babylon in Babylonian civil documents. It

6336-794: The Ishtar Gate and hundreds of recovered tablets, were sent back to Germany, where Koldewey's colleague Walter Andrae reconstructed them into displays at the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin . The Koldewey expedition recovered artifacts from the Old Babylonian period . These included 967 clay tablets, with 564 tablets from the Middle Babylonian period , stored in private houses, with Sumerian literature and lexical documents. The German archaeologists fled before oncoming British troops in 1917, and again, many objects went missing in

6480-516: The Jews , to return to their own lands. The 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 identifies only 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

6624-674: The Kassite period . Another attested spelling for the city of Babylon is TIN.TIR.KI, attested sparsely in the Old Babylonian period but grew in popularity in the Late 2nd Millennium BC and was in widespread usage in the 1st Millennium BC. The spelling E.KI also appears in the 1st Millennium BC. In the Hebrew Bible , the name appears as Babel ( Hebrew : בָּבֶל Bavel , Tib. בָּבֶל Bāḇel ; Classical Syriac : ܒܒܠ Bāwēl , Imperial Aramaic : בבל Bāḇel; in Arabic : بَابِل Bābil ), interpreted in

6768-488: The Kingdom of Judah and scattered its populace, with many of its elite citizens sent back to Babylon, initiating a period known as the Babylonian Captivity . Nebuchadnezzar subsequently besieged Tyre for 13 years. Though he did not capture the city, it surrendered to him in 573 BC, agreeing to be ruled by vassal kings. The length of the siege can be ascribed to its difficulty: Tyre was on an island 800 metres from

6912-520: The Medes , also ancient enemies of Assyria, under King Cyaxares entered Assyria and conquered the region around the city of Arrapha . In July or August of 614 BC, the Medes began attacking the cities of Kalhu and Nineveh . They then besieged Assur , the ancient political (and still religious) capital of Assyria. The siege was successful and the city endured a brutal sack. Nabopolassar arrived at Assur only after

7056-684: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , allegedly existing between approximately 600 BC and AD   1. However, there are questions about whether the Hanging Gardens of Babylon even existed, as there is no mention within any extant Babylonian texts of its existence. 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 of

7200-686: The Tigris river in May 1855. They had been carrying over 200 crates of artifacts from various excavation missions, when they were attacked by Tigris river pirates near Al-Qurnah . Recovery efforts, assisted by the Ottoman authorities and British Residence in Baghdad, loaded the equivalent of 80 crates on a ship for Le Havre in May 1856. Few antiquities from the Fresnel mission made it to France. Subsequent efforts to recover

7344-660: 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. Ctesias , quoted by Diodorus Siculus and in George Syncellus 's Chronographia , claimed to have access to manuscripts from Babylonian archives, which date

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7488-465: The statue of Marduk usually refers to Marduk's primary statue, placed prominently in the Esagila and used in the city's rituals. The Babylonians themselves conflated the statue with the actual god Marduk – the god was understood as living in the temple, among the people of his city, and not in the heavens. As such, Marduk was not seen as some distant entity, but a friend and protector who lived nearby. This

7632-532: 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

7776-430: The Achaemenids, like the Assyrians had been resented a century earlier. At least five rebels proclaimed themselves King of Babylon and revolted during the time of Achaemenid rule in attempts at restoring native rule; Nebuchadnezzar III (522 BC), Nebuchadnezzar IV (521–520 BC), Bel-shimanni (484 BC), Shamash-eriba (482–481 BC) and Nidin-Bel (336 BC). The revolt of Shamash-eriba against Xerxes I in particular

7920-443: The Assyrians had been resented by the Babylonians as impious and warlike and the Neo-Babylonian kings preferred to present themselves as devout kings. The king was also the single most important landowner within the empire, with there being several large swaths of land placed under direct royal control throughout Babylonia. There were also large domains placed under other members of the royal family (for instance, there are mentions of

8064-684: The Assyrians, in which ethnic groups in conquered areas were deported en masse to the capital. 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 . 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

8208-512: The Great 's entry in 331 BC. Neo-Babylonian Empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire , historically known as the Chaldean Empire , was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia until Faisal II in the 20th century. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and being firmly established through the fall of

8352-657: The Great , the Achaemenid king of Persia , revolted against his suzerain Astyages , king of Media , at Ecbatana . Astyages' army betrayed him and Cyrus established himself as ruler of all the Iranic peoples, as well as the pre-Iranian Elamites and Gutians , ending the Median Empire and establishing the Achaemenid Empire . Ten years after his victory against the Medes, Cyrus invaded Babylon. Nabonidus sent Belshazzar to head off

8496-488: The Iraqi State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage conducted extensive research, excavation and clearing, but wider publication of these archaeological activities has been limited. Most of the known tablets from all modern excavations remain unpublished. The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in cuneiform texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in

8640-618: The Ishara and Ninurta temples in the Shu-Anna city-quarter of Babylon. A number of Iraqi excavations have occurred at Babylon, the earliest in 1938. From 1979–1981 excavation and restoration work was conducted at the Ninmah Temple, Istar Temple, and the Southern Palace. Occasional excavations and restorations continued in the 1970s and 1980s. During the restoration efforts in Babylon,

8784-453: The Jews. Accordingly, one of his first acts was to allow these exiles to return to their homelands, carrying with them the images of their gods and their sacred vessels. The permission to do so was explicitly written in a proclamation, today called the Cyrus Cylinder , wherein Cyrus also justified his conquest of Babylonia as the will of Marduk. Babylon fell as an independent political entity in

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8928-676: 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

9072-440: The Middle East forever. The early Achaemenid rulers had great respect for Babylonia, regarding it as a separate entity or kingdom united with their own kingdom in something akin to a personal union . The region was a major economical asset and provided as much as a third of the entire Achaemenid Empire's tribute. Despite Achaemenid attention and the recognition of the Achaemenid rulers as kings of Babylon, Babylonia resented

9216-471: The Neo-Babylonian 182, with the average size of these settlements also increasing. This population growth was probably because of increasing prosperity in Babylonia, combined with the resettlement of subjugated peoples and the possible return of peoples that had been resettled under the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Neo-Babylonian period also saw a dramatic increase in urbanization , reversing a trend of ruralization which southern Mesopotamia had experienced since

9360-462: The Neo-Babylonian Empire meant that for the first time since the Assyrian conquest, tribute flowed into Babylonia rather than being drained from it. This reversal, combined with building projects and the relocation of subjugated peoples stimulated both population and economic growth in the region. Although the soil in Mesopotamia was fertile, the average rainfall in the region was not enough to sustain regular crops. As such, water had to be drawn from

9504-735: The Neo-Babylonian Empire were valuable resources, typically sold for money matching several years of income for a paid worker. Slaves were typically from lands outside of Babylonia, becoming slaves through the slave trade or through being captured in times of war. Slave women were often given as part of a dowry to help daughters of free men and women in their household or in raising children. Slaves were not cheap to maintain as they had to be clothed and fed. Because they were expensive to begin with, many Neo-Babylonian slave-owners trained their slaves in professions to raise their value or rented them out to others. Sometimes slaves who showed good business sense were allowed to serve in trade or through managing part of

9648-416: The Neo-Babylonian Empire. Slaves mentioned in connection to farming and agriculture are usually not forced laborers. As farming required diligence and care, slaves at farms were typically given contracts and were allowed to work independently, which would make the slaves more interested in the result of their labor. Some slaves acted as proxies or junior partners of their masters. Slaves were also allowed to pay

9792-400: The Neo-Babylonian Empire. The punishment for these types of crimes and disputes appears, for the most part, to have been money-related, with the guilty party paying a specified amount of silver as compensation. Crimes such as adultery and lèse-majesté were apparently punishable by death , but little surviving evidence exists for the death penalty actually being carried out. Artists in

9936-477: The Neo-Babylonian period continued the artistic trends of previous periods, showing similarities with the artwork of the Neo-Assyrian period in particular. Cylinder seals of the period are less detailed than in previous times and shows definite Assyrian influence in the themes depicted. One of the most common scenes depicted in such seals are heroes, sometimes depicted with wings, about to strike beasts with their curved swords. Other common scenes include purification of

10080-479: The Seleucid Empire survive, documents from the early years of Parthian rule suggest a continued recognition of at least the early Parthian kings as kings of Babylon. Although Akkadian-language legal documents continued in a slightly reduced number through the rule of the Hellenic kings, they are rare from the period of Parthian rule. The astronomical diaries kept since the days of ancient Babylon survived through Persian and Hellenic rule but stopped being written in

10224-447: The Sumerian name Kan-dig̃irak was a loan translation of the Semitic folk etymology, and not the original name. The re-translation of the Semitic name into Sumerian would have taken place at the time of the "Neo-Sumerian" Third Dynasty of Ur . ( Bab- Il ). A fragmentary inscription dating to the Early Dynastic Period , likely in the Akkadian language, refers to an unknown lord who was the governor (ENSI) of BAR.KI.BAR and constructed

10368-581: The Temple at Sippar , had to make repeated excavations until he found the foundation deposit of Naram-Sin of Akkad . The discovery then allowed him to rebuild the temple properly. Neo-Babylonians also revived the ancient Sargonic practice of appointing a royal daughter to serve as priestess of the moon-god Sîn . As in most ancient empires, slaves were an accepted part of Neo-Babylonian society. In contrast to slavery in ancient Rome , where slave-owners often worked their slaves to death at an early age, slaves in

10512-472: The allied Medo-Babylonian armies destroyed the Assyrian Empire between 626 BC and 609 BC. Babylon thus became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian (sometimes called the Chaldean) Empire. 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). Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of

10656-563: The assassination, the influential courtier Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar , then took power. Despite the turmoil that had surrounded his rise to the throne, the empire itself had remained relatively calm through the difficult period. Nabonidus began his reign with traditional activities associated with the king: renovating buildings and monuments, worshipping the gods and waging war (also campaigning in Cilicia). Nabonidus wasn't of Babylonian ancestry, originating from Harran in former Assyria, one of

10800-417: The campaign) in northern Arabia . His son Belshazzar was left to govern Babylonia (though with the title crown prince rather than king, a title Nabonidus continued to hold). Why Nabonidus spent a decade away from his capital there is unknown. Nabonidus' return c.   543 BC was accompanied with a reorganization of his court and the removal of some of its more influential members. In 549 BC Cyrus

10944-541: The canals was seen as a royal task and the resources required to construct and maintain the infrastructure necessary, and the manpower itself, was provided by the many temples which dotted the region. The most detailed economical records from Neo-Babylonian times are from these temples. The people who cultivated the temple lands of Babylonia were mostly unfree personnel, so-called temple dependents ( širāku ), which were usually given larger work assignments than they could accomplish. In later times, to increase productivity,

11088-409: The cities who had shifted the most between Assyrian and Babylonian control, were firmly in Babylonian hands by 620 BC, and Nabopolassar had consolidated his rule over all of Babylonia. After further Babylonian conquests and further failures by Sinsharishkun to stop Nabopolassar, despite receiving military aid from Egypt , the Assyrian Empire quickly began to fall apart. In October or November 615 BC,

11232-484: The city of Uruk . Sinsharishkun failed to capture Babylon and Nabopolassar endured the Assyrian siege of Uruk, repulsing the Assyrian army. In November of 626 BC, Nabopolassar was formally crowned as King of Babylon, restoring Babylonia as an independent kingdom after more than a century of direct Assyrian rule. With only small successes during campaigns in northern Babylonia from 625 to 623 BC and more southern cities, such as Der , joining Nabopolassar, Sinsharishkun led

11376-604: 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. The so-called Weidner Chronicle (also known as ABC 19 ) states that Sargon of Akkad , c.  23rd century BC in

11520-498: 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

11664-428: The clothes used by the deity's cult, cleaned and moved around the statues of the deities, maintained the rooms within the temple and performed the important rituals, represented the skilled and free urban elite of Babylonian society and were paid through leftovers from meals intended for the gods, barley and beer. The surviving sources suggest that the justice system of the Neo-Babylonian Empire had changed little from

11808-426: The coast and could not be taken without naval support. Though it withstood numerous sieges, it was not captured until Alexander the Great 's siege in 332 BC. It is possible that Nebuchadnezzar campaigned against Egypt in 568 BC, given that a fragmentary Babylonian inscription from that year, given the modern designation BM 33041, records the word "Egypt" as well as possibly traces of the name "Amasis" (the name of

11952-532: The collapse of the Old Babylonian Empire (under Hammurabi ) nearly a thousand years earlier. The period of Neo-Babylonian rule thus saw unprecedented economic and population growth throughout Babylonia , as well as a renaissance of culture and artwork as Neo-Babylonian kings conducted massive building projects, especially in Babylon itself, bringing back many elements from the previous 2,000 years of Sumero-Akkadian culture. The Neo-Babylonian Empire retains

12096-521: The conquest, Babylon remained culturally distinct for centuries, with references to people with Babylonian names and to the Babylonian religion known from as late as the Parthian Empire in the 1st century BC. Although Babylon revolted several times during the rule of later empires, it never successfully restored its independence. Babylonia was founded as an independent state by an Amorite chieftain named Sumu-abum c.   1894 BC. For over

12240-524: The consonant r with l. The earliest unambiguous mention to the city Babylon came from one of Shar-Kali-Sharri's year names, spelled as KA.DINGIR.KI, indicating that the folk etymology was already widely known in the Sargonic period . However, the original form of the name (Babbar/Babbir) was not forgotten, as seen from the phonetic spelling ba-ab-bí-lum in the Ur III period , and the spellings Pambalu and Babalu in

12384-419: The content was politically motivated, but these still provide useful information. Historical knowledge of early Babylon must be pieced together from epigraphic remains found elsewhere, such as at Uruk , Nippur , Sippar , Mari , and Haradum . 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. References to

12528-514: The denial of the existence of the other gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon , it has sometimes been compared to monotheism . The history of worship of Marduk is intimately tied to the history of Babylon itself and as Babylon's power increased, so did the position of Marduk relative to that of other Mesopotamian gods. By the end of the second millennium BC, Marduk was sometimes just referred to as Bêl , meaning "lord". In Mesopotamian religion, Marduk

12672-399: The elder gods and Abzu decided to rid himself of them by killing them. Alarmed by this, Tiamat revealed Abzu's plan to Enki, who killed his father before the plot could be enacted. Although Tiamat had revealed the plot to Enki to warn him, the death of Abzu horrified her and she too attempted to kill her children, raising an army together with her new consort Kingu . Every battle in the war was

12816-456: The empire fell into political turmoil and instability. Nebuchadnezzar's son and successor, Amel-Marduk , reigned for only two years before being assassinated in a coup by the influential courtier Neriglissar . Neriglissar was a simmagir , a governor of one of the eastern provinces, and had been present during several of Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns. Importantly, Neriglissar was also married to one of Nebuchadnezzar's daughters and thus linked to

12960-448: The everyday tongue, Akkadian was retained as the language of administration and culture. Ancient artworks from the heyday of Babylonia's imperial glory were treated with near-religious reverence and were painstakingly preserved. For example, when a statue of Sargon the Great was found during construction work, a temple was built for it, and it was given offerings. The story is told of how Nebuchadnezzar II , in his efforts to restore

13104-612: The fall of the Old Babylonian Empire. At the top of the Neo-Babylonian Empire social ladder was the king ( šar ); his subjects took an oath of loyalty called the ade to him, a tradition inherited from the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Neo-Babylonian kings used the titles King of Babylon and King of Sumer and Akkad . They abandoned many of the boastful Neo-Assyrian titles that claimed universal rule (though some of these would be reintroduced under Nabonidus), possibly because

13248-607: The following years. Further work by the German Archaeological Institute was conducted by Heinrich J. Lenzen in 1956 and Hansjörg Schmid in 1962, working the Hellenistic, Parthian, Sasanian, and Arabic levels of the site. Lenzen's work dealt primarily with the Hellenistic theatre, and Schmid focused on the temple ziggurat Etemenanki . A topographical survey at the site was conducted in 1974, followed in 1977 by

13392-466: The foremost ruler in this narrative. 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

13536-474: The founding of Babylon to 2286 BC, under the reign of its first king, Belus . A similar figure is found in the writings of Berossus , who, according to Pliny, 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

13680-463: 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 near the Assyrian capital, Nineveh . Nebuchadnezzar is also notoriously associated with the Babylonian exile of the Jews, the result of an imperial technique of pacification, used also by

13824-401: The goddess Ishtar ) flowers, mušḫuššu (a mythological creature associated with the god Marduk) and oxen (associated with the god Adad ). After Babylonia regained its independence, Neo-Babylonian rulers were deeply conscious of the antiquity of their kingdom and pursued a highly traditionalist policy, reviving much of the ancient Sumero-Akkadian culture. Even though Aramaic had become

13968-414: The gods and for conducting various rituals. Because of their religious significance, temples were present in all major cities, with trade and population growth being stimulated by the presence of a temple. Workers within the temples had to be "fit" for service and were not slaves or temple dependents (unlike those who served the temples by cultivating food and other supplies). These temple workers, who created

14112-463: The gods in defeating and holding off the forces of chaos and thus maintain order on Earth. The Statue of Marduk was the physical representation of Marduk housed in Babylon's main temple, the Esagila . Although there were actually seven separate statues of Marduk in Babylon; four in the Esagila, one in the Etemenanki (the ziggurat dedicated to Marduk) and two in temples dedicated to other deities,

14256-470: The huge Persian army, but the Babylonian forces were overwhelmed at the Battle of Opis . On 12 October, after Cyrus's engineers diverted the waters of the Euphrates, the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without the need for battle. Nabonidus surrendered and was deported. Gutian guards were placed at the gates of the great temple of Marduk, where services continued without interruption. Cyrus claimed to be

14400-660: 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, Amytis . Whether

14544-515: The late 11th century BC. 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

14688-400: The legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of Marduk, who Cyrus claimed to be wrathful at Nabonidus's supposed impiety. Cyrus's conquest was welcomed by the Babylonian populace, though whether it was because he was genuinely seen as a liberator or out of fear is unknown. Cyrus's invasion of Babylonia may have been helped along by the presence of foreign exiles such as

14832-446: The local courts would be headed by royal representatives, usually titled sartennu or šukallu . For the most part, surviving sources related to the Neo-Babylonian justice system are tablets containing letters and lawsuits. These tablets document various legal disputes and crimes, such as embezzlement , disputes over property, theft , family affairs, debts and inheritance and often offer considerable insight into daily life in

14976-545: The lost antiquities from the Tigris, including a Japanese expedition in 1971–72, have been largely unsuccessful. 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

15120-514: The main places of worship of the god Sîn (associated with the moon). For this, Nabonidus may have faced opposition from the Babylonian clergy. Nabonidus was also opposed by the clergy when he increased governmental control over the temples in an attempt to solve ongoing management problems with the empire's religious institutions. Nabonidus left Babylonia to campaign in the Levant and then settled for ten years in Tayma (which he had conquered during

15264-416: The means to carry out their trade (for instance second sons who had not inherited as much money as first-born sons). Records show that some junior partners worked their way up through their businesses to eventually become senior partners in new harrānu arrangements. The Neo-Babylonian period saw marked population growth in Babylonia, with the number of known settlements increasing from the previous 134 to

15408-479: The middle of the 1st century BC. It is likely that only a small number of scholars knew how to write Akkadian by the time of the Parthian kings, and the old Babylonian temples became increasingly undermanned and underfunded as people were drawn to the new Mesopotamian capitals, such as Seleucia and Ctesiphon . The latest dated document written in accordance with the old scribal tradition in Akkadian cuneiform

15552-469: 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. After the destruction of the city the Kassites rose to control the region. 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

15696-454: The native Babylonians (composed of the descendants of the Sumerians and Akkadians and the assimilated Amorites and Kassites) and recently arrived, unassimilated tribesmen from the Levant ( Suteans , Arameans and Chaldeans ). By the 8th century BC, the constituent groups of the native Babylonians, the main population in the large cities, had lost their old identities and had assimilated into

15840-503: The northwest. After a conflict with the Old Assyrian period king Ishme-Dagan , he forced his successor to pay tribute late in his reign. After the reign of Hammurabi, the whole of southern Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia . From this time, Babylon supplanted Nippur and Eridu as the major religious centers of southern Mesopotamia. Hammurabi's empire destabilized after his death. The far south of Mesopotamia broke away, forming

15984-513: The one it had from inside the temple. The statue was traditionally incorporated into the coronation rituals for the Babylonian kings , who received the Babylonian crown "out of the hands" of Marduk during the New Year's festival, symbolizing them being bestowed with kingship by the patron deity of the city. The temples of southern Mesopotamia were important as both religious and economic centers. The temples were chiefly institutions for caring for

16128-415: The one which functioned during the Old Babylonian Empire a thousand years prior. Throughout Babylonia, there were local assemblies (called puhru ) of elders and other notables from society which among other local roles served as local courts of justice (though there were also higher "royal" and "temple courts" with greater legal prerogatives). In these courts, judges would be assisted by scribes and several of

16272-583: 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 and is mentioned in parts of the Hebrew Bible. 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 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

16416-473: The plunder had already begun and met with Cyaxares, allying with him and signing an anti-Assyrian pact. In April or May 612 BC, at the start of Nabopolassar's 14th year as King of Babylon, the combined Medo-Babylonian army marched on Nineveh. From June to August of that year, they besieged the Assyrian capital and in August the walls were breached, leading to another lengthy and brutal sack during which Sinsharishkun

16560-493: The political history, society and appearance of ancient Babylonia was largely a mystery. Western artists typically envisioned the city and its empire as a combination of known ancient cultures—typically a mixture of ancient Greek and Egyptian culture—with some influence from the then-contemporary Middle Eastern empire, the Ottoman Empire . Early depictions of the city show it with long colonnades , sometimes built on more than

16704-429: The principal 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

16848-407: The rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur , which encompassed the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon. The town became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the first Babylonian Empire, now known as the Old Babylonian Empire , in the 17th century BC. The Amorite king Hammurabi founded the short-lived Old Babylonian Empire in the 16th century BC. He built Babylon into

16992-452: The royal family. Possibly due to old age, Neriglissar's reign was also short, some of its few recorded activities being the restoration of some monuments in Babylon and a campaign in Cilicia . Neriglissar died in 556 BC and was succeeded by his underage son, Labashi-Marduk . Labashi-Marduk's reign was even briefer; he was assassinated after reigning for just nine months. The perpetrators of

17136-483: The rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu, the sea bordering the earlier Babylon on the south. The 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 for part of the year. After his death, Babylonia

17280-473: The siege of Troy (1229 BC), which would date Babylon's foundation to 2231 BC. 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. The first attested mention of Babylon was in the late 3rd millennium BC during the Akkadian Empire reign of ruler Shar-Kali-Sharri one of whose year names mentions building two temples there. Babylon

17424-401: 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. UNESCO inscribed Babylon as

17568-434: The southern official or general Nabopolassar used ongoing political instability in Assyria, caused by an earlier brief civil war between Sinsharishkun and the general Sin-shumu-lishir , to revolt. In 626 BC, Nabopolassar assaulted and successfully seized the cities of Babylon and Nippur . Sinsharishkun's response was quick and decisive; by October of that year the Assyrians had recaptured Nippur and besieged Nabopolassar at

17712-431: The temple as compensation. Although animal husbandry was practiced throughout Mesopotamia, it was the most common form of farming in the south. In Uruk, animals, rather than some type of plant, were the main cash crop . Shepherds could be temple dependents or independent contractors and were entrusted with herds of either sheep or goats. Similar to other farmers working in connection to the temples, these shepherds had

17856-583: The temple for Marduk , indicating that the city could very well be Babylon. During the ED III period, sign placement was relatively fluid and so the KI sign could be seen as the determinative, with the name of the city as BAR.BAR, perhaps pronounced Babbar. Paul-Alain Beaulieu proposes that the original name could mean "shining" "glowing" or "white". It would be likely that it was later read as Babbir, and then Babbil by swapping

18000-471: The temples began hiring "rent farmers". These rent farmers were given a portion or all of a temple's farming grounds and fields, including the temple dependents and equipment there, in exchange for money and a fixed quota of commodities to supply to the temple. Rent farmers were personally liable for accidents and falling short of the quota and there are many records of rent farmers giving up or sometimes being required to sell their own possessions and assets to

18144-438: The temples. The technique of colored glaze was improved and perfected by Neo-Babylonian artists. In reliefs, such as the ones on the Ishtar Gate in Babylon and along the city's Processional Street (where parades passed through during religious festivals in the city), colored glaze was combined with bricks molded in various shapes to create decorations in color. Most of these decorations are symbols of lions (associated with

18288-519: The then incumbent Pharaoh, Amasis II , r.   570–526 BC). A stele of Amasis, also fragmentary, may also describe a combined naval and land attack by the Babylonians. But the evidence for this campaign is scant, and historians believe that if Nebuchadnezzar launched another campaign, he was unsuccessful. In addition to his military exploits, Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder, famous for his monuments and building works throughout Mesopotamia, such as Babylon's Ishtar Gate and Processional Street. He

18432-538: The title Babylonian . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Babylonian&oldid=1062334061 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Language and nationality disambiguation pages Babylon The earliest known mention of Babylon as

18576-508: The town dates from the 11th century, when it was referred to as the "small village of Babel". 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. Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 (3½ sq. mi.) to 900 ha (2,200 acres). The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of

18720-447: The two major rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, for use in irrigation. These rivers tended to flood at inconvenient times, such as at grain harvest time. To solve these issues and allow for efficient farming, Mesopotamia required a sophisticated large-scale system of canals, dams and dikes, both to protect from floods and to supply water. These structures required constant maintenance and supervision to function. Digging and maintaining

18864-456: Was 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 ( KÁ.DIG̃IR.RA ). This would correspond to the Sumerian phrase Kan dig̃irak . The sign 𒆍 ( KÁ ) is the logogram for "gate", 𒀭 ( DIG̃IR ) means "god", and 𒊏 ( RA ) represents the coda of the word dig̃ir (-r) followed by the genitive suffix -ak . The final 𒆠 ( ) is a determinative indicating that the previous signs are to be understood as

19008-740: Was a creator god . Going by the Enûma Eliš , the Babylonian creation myth, Marduk was the son of Enki , the Mesopotamian god of wisdom, and rose to prominence during a great battle between the gods. The myth tells how the universe originated as a chaotic realm of water, in which there originally were two primordial deities; Tiamat (salt water, female) and Abzu (sweet water, male). These two gods gave birth to other deities. These deities (including gods such as Enki) had little to do in these early stages of existence and as such occupied themselves with various activities. Eventually, their children began to annoy

19152-453: Was among the most powerful in the world and he quickly reinforced his father's alliance with the Medes by marrying Cyaxares's daughter or granddaughter, Amytis . Some sources suggest that the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon , one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , were built by Nebuchadnezzar for his wife as to remind her of her homeland (though the existence of these gardens is debated). Nebuchadnezzar's 43-year reign brought with it

19296-420: 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. Under Nabopolassar , Babylon escaped Assyrian rule, and

19440-411: Was catastrophic for the independent Babylonian kingdom, with many weak kings either failing to control all the groups composing Babylonia's population, failing to defeat rivals, or failing to maintain important trade routes. This collapse eventually resulted in Babylonia's powerful northern neighbor, the Neo-Assyrian Empire , incorporating Babylonia into its empire in 729 BC. The Assyrian conquest began

19584-613: Was decisively wiped out c.   230 AD with the religious reforms introduced in the Sasanian Empire . By this time, the ancient Babylonian cult centres had already been closed and razed. Some temples had been closed during the early Parthian period, such as many temples in Uruk, whilst others lingered on to near the end of the Parthian Empire, such as the Esagila in Babylon. Before modern archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia,

19728-407: Was first under the rule of the Parthian Empire that Babylon was gradually abandoned as a major urban center and the old Akkadian culture truly disappeared. In the first century or so of Parthian rule, Babylonian culture was still alive, and there are records of people in the city with traditional Babylonian names, such as Bel-aḫḫe-uṣur and Nabu-mušetiq-uddi (mentioned as the receivers of silver in

19872-596: 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 Assyria, including Elam , Persia , the Chaldeans , and Suteans of southern Mesopotamia, and the Canaanites and Arabs dwelling in the deserts south of Mesopotamia . Once again, Babylon

20016-400: 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 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

20160-480: Was later elevated to a higher status and Shamash lowered, perhaps reflecting Babylon's rising political power. In 1595 BC, the city was sacked by Mursili I , ruler of the Hittite Empire . Thereafter, the Kassite dynasty took power in the city of Babylon, renaming it Karduniash, ushering in a dynasty that lasted for 435 years, until 1160 BC. Babylon was weakened during the Kassite era, and as

20304-412: Was no different from other Mesopotamian cities, who similarly conflated their gods with the representations used for them in their temples. During the religiously important New Year's festival at Babylon, the statue was removed from the temple and paraded through Babylon before being placed in a smaller building outside the city walls, where the statue received fresh air and could enjoy a different view from

20448-585: Was primarily of unbaked brick, with the occasional use of baked bricks or bitumen. Subsequent excavation, looting, and reconstruction have reduced these original heights found by the German excavators. Claudius Rich , working for the British East India Company in Baghdad, excavated Babylon in 1811–12 and again in 1817. Captain Robert Mignan explored the site briefly in 1827. In 1829, he completed

20592-409: Was ruled by ensi (governors) for the empire. Some of the known governors were Abba, Arši-aḫ, Itūr-ilum, Murteli, Unabatal, and Puzur-Tutu. After that nothing is heard of the city until the time of Sumu-la-El. After around 1950 BC Amorite kingdoms will appear in Uruk and Larsa in the south. According to a Babylonian king list, Amorite rule in Babylon began ( c.  19th or 18th century BC ) with

20736-480: Was the large scale mining of baked bricks, which began in the 19th century and which were mainly sourced from the time of Nebuchadnezzar II. At the time, excavations for brick mining, for various building projects, including the Hindiya dam were under way. The primary efforts of the dig involved the temple of Marduk and the processional way leading up to it, as well as the city wall. Artifacts, including pieces of

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