Credible Theories
PlaceSources (3)Mentioned in (42)
Place · Real place

Babylon

The Euphrates city of Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar, home of Marduk's temple and the ziggurat often linked with the Tower of Babel.

c. 2300 BCE
Location
Euphrates River, near al-Hillah, about 85 km south of Baghdad
Modern country
Iraq
Famous rulers
Hammurabi (18th c. BCE); Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE)
Monuments
Esagila temple, Etemenanki ziggurat, Ishtar Gate
Excavated by
Robert Koldewey, German Oriental Society, 1899–1917
Status
UNESCO World Heritage Site (2019)
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What is Babylon known for?

Babylon was the capital of southern Mesopotamia, known as Babylonia, from the early second millennium to the first millennium BCE. Hammurabi made it the center of a kingdom in the 18th century BCE. Its greatest splendor came under the Neo-Babylonian kings of the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, especially Nebuchadnezzar II, who rebuilt its walls, the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way.

Its patron god Marduk rose with the city's power until the Enuma Elish made him king of the gods. His temple, the Esagila, and the ziggurat Etemenanki stood at the heart of the city. Nebuchadnezzar's armies destroyed Jerusalem's Temple and took many Judeans into exile here, which is why Babylon looms so large in the Bible.

German excavations led by Robert Koldewey from 1899 uncovered the Ishtar Gate, which was reconstructed in Berlin. Babylon became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. On this site it matters as the city of Marduk, Berossus and the Tower of Babel tradition.

Why it is on Credible Theories

Marduk's city, where Berossus wrote and where the Tower of Babel story is usually placed.

Mentioned on these pages

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Babylon'Reference
  2. UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Babylon'Reference
  3. Wikipedia, 'Babylon'Reference

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