General Notes

Babylon, history of

Early History

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.

The Neo-Babylonian City and Its Decline

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, extensive 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.

Topography

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.