Babylon "The Gate of God" ;
 |
- Around the year 2015 B.C., som western Semites and Elamites finally
overthrew the Sumerians. Of the two victorious peoples, the western
Semites prevaild, and found in Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.), a lord
of Babylon, a man capable of uniting them, giving them a name,
laws and an empire, te so-called Babylonian Empire.
This empire was to last until about 1600 B.C., when Babylon, weakened by an incursion of the Hittites, fell under the domain of the Cassites, who too were a people coming from the mountains. Of their capital Dur-Kurigalzu, remain only the ruins, 60 meters high, of a Ziggurat, in a place now called Agarguf, a few kilometers from Baghdad. Babylon lies 90 kms south of Baghdad, som 10 kms north from Hilla. The road to Babylon branches off the main Baghdad-Hilla highway.
 |
A legendary city in ancient history Babylon figures prominently in the Bible as well as in the writings of travellers and historians for its wealth and magnificence. Its walls and Hanging Gardens were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
In Akkadian times, around 2350 B.C., Babylon was a small village which in five or six centuries had grown in size and importance, mostly during the reign of the Third Dynasty, until it become the capital of the famous king, law-giver and social reformer Hammurabi (1792 - 1750 B.C.). In the next thousand years or so it witnessed the growth of other Mesopotamian cities which surpassed it in power and influrished until, in the 2nd Chaldean Kingdom (625-538 B.C) it flourished again as the capital of a mighty and prosperous country. King Nebuchadnezzar (605-563 B.C) rebuilt it in accordance with a new plan that took especial care of its fortifications, and Babylon thus become the largest and loveliest city of its time.
As he was pursuing his conquests, Alexander the Great stopped for time in Babylon. He later returned only to die in it in the year 322 B.C. Seleucus, one of his commanders and successors, built Seleucia, south of Baghdad, whereupon Babylon lost its political significance. Penetrated by te Euphrates from north to south, Babylon was surrounded by a moat and a double wall: te outer wall was 16 kms long, the inner, 8 kms. Straight, wide streets intercrossed, all paved with bricks and bitumen. The most important was te street of Processions, which passed through Ishtar´s Gate and ended in te Stepped Tower. The remains of this street with its bituminous paving are still there to be seen today.
 |
Nebuchadnezzar's Southern Plalace (190 x 300 Meters) is situated on the west side of this major street, made up of five courtyards each surrounded by halls and a diversity of chambers, one of which is the throne room, 52 x 25 meters. The Hanging Gardens, the remains of which are still visible, were part of this palace. To the east of the Street of Processions lies Nin Makh's Temple, now reconstructed. To the north are the remains of the Main Palace, where the Lion of Babylon is. It should be noted that many remains lie under the accumulations of later buildings, as the palace continued to be inhabited, or have been so submerged by the Euphrates that it is almost impossible to retrieve them.
On the way to Babylon, on the right-hand side, is the amphitheatre which dates back to the time of Alexander the Great, who for some years made Babylon the capital of his empire.
The Ishtar Gate, in a depression a little short way off the street of Processions, still has some of its old wall decorations of bulls, symbol of Adad, god of storms, and dragons, symbol of Marduk, the chief god. The dragon here is a composite animal with the physical attributes of snake, lion and eagle. These brick reliefs are not glazed, as the beautiful glazed-brick panels figuring bulls, and dragons and lions (symbol of Ishtar) which decorated the Gate, the Palace and the Street of Processions were all taken, prior to World War I, to Berlin by the German expedition which excavated Babylon then. Along the the Street, on the left a brick column is seen, which may have had a statue standing on it.
 |
To the south of the Street of Processions is a major temple, the Esagila "the lofty house", leading on to the site of the stepped Tower of Babylon, which had seven levels rising to a hight of 91 meters, on a square base also 91 meterssquare. The Street runs straight until the bridge across the Euphrates, which rested on bastions 9 meters thick each.
Another temple in the area is Nabushcari, recently dug up with painted murals, the largest temple of its time. Resently a number of buildings have been reconstructed, such as parts of the Ishtar Gate, the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the temple of Ishtar and Nabushcari, the Greek amphitheatre, and some model Babylonian houses. Now adays Babylon enjoys an international culthrel and historical festival in the month ofseptember
Babylon Rises Again, Neo-Babylonian Period;
- Babylon, even though conquered and later savagely destroyed by Sennacherib, the Assyrian King, had never accepted the Assyrian rule. Against the Baylonians, who carried on their resistance for 500 years, in warfare that took place in the marshes between the two great rivers, the Assyrians organized various expeditions, officially victorious but in reality with no decisive results. The continued in this way until 612 B.C., when Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon, at the head of a coalition of Babylonians, Medians and Scythiens, attacked Nineveh (northern Iraq) and destroyed it, putting a definite end to the power of the Assyrians. This victory marks the beginning of the neo-Babylonian period.
HOME - only in case your browser doesn't view the the left FRAME (the Index bar) of this page. Try to insert the site address http://myiraq.cjb.net into the address bar at the top and hit GO or enter. Please note;