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Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East, until its decline during the Hellenistic period. Nearby ancient sites are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha.
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.Beaulieu, Paul-Alain (2017). A History of Babylon, 2200 BC – AD 75. Blackwell History of the Ancient World. Wiley. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-119-45907-1. Retrieved 2022-08-27. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and was neither an independent state nor a large city. Instead, it was 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 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 early second millennium BC. The Amorites king Hammurabi founded the Old Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC. He built Babylon into 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 people, Kassites and 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. Both the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Walls of Babylon were ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, with the former allegedly existing between approximately 600 BC and AD1. 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.Finkel (1988) P.58.Finkel, Irving and Seymour, Michael (2008). Babylon: City of Wonders. London: British Museum Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-7141-1171-1. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid Empire, Parthian Empire, Roman Empire, Sasanian Empire, and Muslim empires. The last known habitation of 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 , and again . It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.Tertius Chandler. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census (1987), St. David's University Press (). . See Historical urban community sizes. Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 (3½ sq. mi.) to . The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of 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 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.
Babylon stopped functioning as an urban centre between the 2nd century BC and the 7th century AD. Over those 700 years, it gradually declined from a major city to near-total abandonment. Small communities have continued to live in the area, and nearby towns such as Hillah remain inhabited on the historical site.
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.Liane Jakob-Rost, Joachim Marzahn: Babylon, ed. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Vorderasiatisches Museum (Kleine Schriften 4), 2nd ed., Putbus 1990, p. 2 Ignace 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 the Sumerian name Kan-dig̃irak was a loan translation of the Semitic folk etymology rather than the original name. The retranslation 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 limestone votive inscription dated by paleography to the Early Dynastic II period (c. 2700 BC) was suggested to include the name of Babylon. It read "en5-si BAR.KI.BAR dumu a-hu-ì-lum ̆lu-ì-lum-be-lí lú-ur-kù-bí dím é damar-utu mu-gub-am6". Proposed as being in the Akkadian language though earlier than that language is attested, it refers to an unknown lord who was the governor (ENSI) of BAR.KI.BAR who constructed a temple for (possibly) Marduk, suggesting that the city might 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 the consonant r with l. The attribution to Marduk and to Babylon is considered doubtful.
The earliest reasonably firm mention of the city of Babylon comes from one of Shar-Kali-Sharri's year names, which reports the founding of temples of Annunitum and Ilaba in KÁ.DINGIRki, thought to be Babylon, indicating that the folk etymology was already widely known in the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334–2193 BC) 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 the Kassite dynasty.
Another attested spelling for the city of Babylon is TIN.TIR.KI, attested sparsely in the Old Babylonian period, known mostly from later Neo-Babylonian copies, 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 (; , Bāḇel; in Bābil), interpreted in 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 some instances, ancient records use "Babylon" as a name for other cities, including Borsippa within Babylon's sphere of influence, and Nineveh for a brief period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon.
Subsequent excavation, looting, and reconstruction have reduced these original heights found by the German excavators.
, depicts Alexander the Great's uncontested entry into the city of Babylon, envisioned with pre-existing Hellenistic architecture.|alt=]]Fulgence Fresnel, Julius Oppert and Felix Thomas heavily excavated Babylon from 1852 to 1854.J. Oppert, "Expédition scientifique en Mésopotamie exécutée par ordre du gouvernement de 1851 à 1854", Tome I: "Rélation du voyage et résultat de l'expédition", 1863 Tome II: " Déchiffrement des inscriptions cuneiforms", 1859 (also as ) (in French) Much of their work was lost in the Qurnah Disaster, when a transport ship and four rafts sank on 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 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.[7] Rawlinson, Henry C., "On the Birs Nimrud, or the Great Temple of Borsippa", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 18, pp. 1–34, 1861 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 a large quantity of cuneiform tablets and other finds. The zealous excavation methods, common at the time, caused significant damage to the archaeological context.Hormuzd Rassam, " Asshur and the Land of Nimrod: Being an Account of the Discoveries Made in the Ancient Ruins of Nineveh, Asshur, Sepharvaim, Calah, Babylon, Borsippa, Cuthah, and Van, etc", Curts & Jennings, 1897Julian Reade, "Hormuzd Rassam and his discoveries", Iraq, vol. 55, pp. 39–62, 1993 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 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.[9] Pedersén, O., "Work on a Digital Model of Babylon Using Archaeological and Textual Evidence", Mesopotamia 46, pp. 9–22, 2011 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.[10]Robert Koldewey, "Das wieder erstehende Babylon, die bisherigen Ergebnisse der deutschen Ausgrabungen", J.C. Hinrichs, 1913; Agnes Sophia Griffith Johns (translator), , Macmillan and Co., 1914. "Up to the present time only about half the work has been accomplished, although since it began we have worked daily, both summer and winter, with from 200 to 250 workmen" (p. v).[11] R. Koldewey, "Die Tempel von Babylon und Borsippa", WVDOG, vol. 15, pp. 37–49, 1911 [12] R. Koldewey, "Das Ischtar-Tor in Babylon Nach Den Ausgrabungen Durch Die Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft", WVDOG, vol. 32, 1918F. Wetzel, "Die Stadtmauren von Babylon", WVDOG, vol. 48, pp. 1–83, 1930F. Wetzel and F.H. Weisbach, "Das Hauptheiligtum des Marduk in Babylon: Esagila und Etemenanki", WVDOG, vol. 59, pp. 1–36, 1938F. Wetzel et al., "Das Babylon der Spätzeit", WVDOG, vol. 62, Gebr. Mann, 1957 (1998 reprint )
Artifacts, including pieces of 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.[13] Di Chiara, Anita, et al., "An archaeomagnetic study of the Ishtar Gate, Babylon", Plos one 19.1, 2024 The Koldewey expedition recovered artifacts from the Old Babylonian period.Douglas Frayne, "Babylon", Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 323–438, 1990 These included 967 clay tablets, with 564 tablets from the Babylonia, 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 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.[14] Lenzen, H. J., "The Greek theatre in Babylon", Sumer 15, pp. 39, 1959Hansjörg Schmid, "Der Tempelturm Etemenanki in Babylon", Zabern, 1995, Schmidt, J., "Das Bīt Akītu von Babylon. Mit einem Beitrag von B. Finster", BaM 33, pp. 281–31, 2002
A topographical survey at the site was conducted in 1974, followed in 1977 by 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.G. Bergamini, "Levels of Babylon Reconsidered", Mesopotamia, vol. 12, pp. 111–152, 1977 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 the Ishara and Ninurta temples in the Shu-Anna city-quarter of Babylon.[15] G. Bergamini, "Preliminary Report on the 1987 Season of Excavations at Babylon, Iraq", Sumer 47, pp. 30–34, 1995G. Bergamini, "Excavations in Shu-anna Babylon 1987", Mesopotamia, vol. 23, pp. 5–17, 1988G. Bergamini, "Preliminary report on the 1988–1989 operations at Babylon Shu-Anna", Mesopotamia, vol. 25, pp. 5–12, 1990
A number of Iraqi excavations have occurred at Babylon, the earliest in 1938. From 1979 to 1981 excavation and restoration work was conducted at the Ninmah Temple, Istar Temple, and the Southern Palace.[16] Abdul-Razzak, Wahbi, "Ishtar gate and the inner wall" Sumer 41, pp. 19, 22, Arabic section pp. 34–35, 1985[17] Ali, Shah Mohammed, "The Southern Palace", Sumer 41, pp. 52–54, Arabic section pp. 77–82, 1985[18] Al-Suba’ai, ‘Ata Allha Mohammed, "Ishtar temple and the residential quarter west of the temple", Sumer 41, pp. 63–66, Arabic pp. 101–107, 1985[19] Alwan, Kamil Shihab, "The Vaulted Structure", Sumer 41, pp. 58–59, Arabic section, pp. 94–97., 1985[20] Isḥaq, Danial, "The excavations at the southern part of the procession street and the Nabû ša ḫarê temple", Sumer 41, pp. 30–33, Arabic section, pp. 48–54, Figs. 1–18, 1985[21] Kamil, Ahmed Mohammed, "Excavation at the northeastern part of the inner wall", Sumer 41, pp. 20–21, Arabic section, pp. 36–42, 1985 Occasional excavations and restorations continued in the 1970s and 1980s.Damerji, Moayad Said Basim, "Babylon – ka.dingir.ra – “gate of god”. The story of a city killed by legends and oblivion", Mesopotamia 47, pp. 1–102, 2012
During the restoration efforts in Babylon, the Iraqi State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage conducted extensive research, excavation and clearing, but wider publication of these archaeological activities has been limited."Excavations in Iraq 1981–1982, Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983Farouk N. H. Al-Rawi, Nabopolassar's Restoration Work on the Wall "Imgur-Enlil at Babylon, Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 1–13, 1985 Most of the known tablets from all modern excavations remain unpublished.
Historical knowledge of early Babylon must be pieced together from epigraphic remains found elsewhere, such as at Uruk, Nippur, Sippar, Mari, and Haradum.
The so-called Weidner Chronicle (also known as ABC 19) states that Sargon of Akkad, in 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.
Babylon was initially a minor city-state and controlled little surrounding territory. The 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 ( BC) is famous for codifying the laws of Babylonia into 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 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 was destabilized after his death. The far south of Mesopotamia broke away, forming 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 to Marduk, considered his son. Marduk was later elevated to a higher status, and Shamash was lowered, perhaps reflecting Babylon's rising political power.
Babylon was weakened during the Kassites era, and as 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, the Kassites were deposed in Babylon. An Akkadian South Mesopotamian dynasty then ruled for the first time. However, Babylon remained weak and under Assyrian domination. 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 in the 9th century BC, entering and appropriating areas of Babylonia for themselves. The Arameans briefly ruled in Babylon during the late 11th century BC.
Consequently, his successor, Esarhaddon, hastened to rebuild the old city and make it his residence for part of the year. After his death, Babylonia 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 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.
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).Saggs, H.W.F. (2000). Babylonians, p. 165. University of California Press. . Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of 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 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.Stephanie Dalley, (2013) The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: an elusive World Wonder traced, OUP
Nebuchadnezzar is also notoriously associated with the Babylonian exile of the Jews, the result of an imperial pacification technique used also by 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.
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 Piscivore. The hundred gates can be considered a reference to Homer. Following Archibald Henry Sayce's pronouncement in 1883, Herodotus's account of Babylon has largely been considered to represent Greek folklore rather than an authentic account of a 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 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; that interpretation is disputed, though, 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 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 Achaemenid Empire and remained prominent for over two centuries. Many important archaeological discoveries have been made, providing a better understanding of that era. Cyrus Cylinder The British Museum. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
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 the Great's entry in 331 BC. Following his conquests, he died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon on the evening of 10–11 June 323 BC.
However, Babylon maintained its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon. Examples of their culture are found in Judaism's Babylonian Talmud, the Gnostic Mandaeism religion, the East Syrian Rite of Christianity, and Manichaeism, the religion founded by Mani. Christianity was introduced to Mesopotamia in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and Babylon was the seat of a bishop of the Church of the East until well after the Early Muslim conquests. Coins from the Parthian, Sasanian, and Arabic periods excavated in Babylon demonstrate the continuity of settlement there.
According to medieval Arabic writings, Babylon was a popular site to extract bricks,[24] Pedersén, Olof, "Excavated and Unexcavated Libraries in Babylon", Babylon: Wissenskultur in Orient und Okzident, edited by Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Margarete van Ess and Joachim Marzahn, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 47-68, 2011 which were used to build cities from Baghdad to Basra.Julian E. Reade, "Disappearance and rediscovery"; in Finkel & Seymour, eds., Babylon (2009); pp. 13–30.
In many cases, European travellers could not find the city's location or mistook Fallujah for it. Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th-century traveller, mentions Babylon, but it is not clear if he went there. Others referred to Baghdad as "Babylon" or "New Babylon" and described various structures encountered in the region as the Tower of Babel. Pietro della Valle travelled to the village of Babil in Babylon in the 17th century and noted the existence of both baked and dried cemented with bitumen.
By 1905, there were several villages in Babylon, one of which was Qwaresh, with about 200 households, located within the ancient inner city walls. The village grew due to the need for laborers during the German Oriental Society excavations between 1899 and 1917.
In February 1978, the Ba'athist government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein began the "Archaeological Restoration of Babylon Project": reconstructing features of the ancient city atop its ruins. These features included the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, with 250 rooms, five courtyards, and a entrance arch. The project reinforced the Processional Way, the Lion of Babylon, and an amphitheater constructed in the city's Hellenistic era. In 1982, the government minted a set of seven coins, displaying iconic features of Babylon. The Babylon International Festival was held in September 1987 and annually thereafter until 2002, except in 1990 and 1991, to showcase this work. The proposed reconstruction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Ziggurat of Ur never took place.John Curtis, "The Site of Babylon Today"; in Finkel & Seymour, eds., Babylon (2009); pp. 213–220.John Curtis, "The Present Condition of Babylon"; in Cancik-Kirschbaum et al. (2011).Paul Lewis, " Babylon Journal; Ancient King's Instructions to Iraq: Fix My Palace" ( archive), New York Times, 19 April 1989.
Hussein installed a portrait of himself and Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to the ruins and inscribed his name on many of the bricks, in imitation of Nebuchadnezzar. One frequent inscription reads "This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq." These bricks became sought after as collector's items after Hussein's downfall." Saddam removed from ancient Babylon 'brick by brick' ", ABC News 20 April 2003. Similar projects were conducted at Nineveh, Nimrud, Assur and Hatra, to demonstrate the magnificence of Arab achievement.
In the 1980s, Hussein completely removed the village of Qwaresh, displacing its residents. He later constructed a modern palace in that area called Saddam Hill, over some of the old ruins, in the pyramidal style of a ziggurat. In 2003, he intended to have a Aerial lift line constructed over Babylon, but plans were halted by the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
A US military spokesman claimed that engineering operations were discussed with the "head of the Babylon museum". The head of the Iraqi State Board for Heritage and Antiquities, Donny George, said that the "mess will take decades to sort out" and criticised Polish troops for causing "terrible damage" to the site. Heritage News from around the world , World Heritage Alert!. Retrieved April 19, 2008. Poland resolved in 2004 to place the city under Iraq's control, and commissioned a report titled Report Concerning the Condition of the Preservation of the Babylon Archaeological Site, which it presented at a meeting in December 2004. In 2005, the site was handed over to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture.
In April 2006, Colonel John Coleman, former Chief of Staff of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, offered to apologize for the damage caused by military personnel under his command. He also claimed that the US presence had deterred far greater damage by other looters.Cornwell, Rupert. US colonel offers Iraq an apology of sorts for devastation of Babylon , The Independent, April 15, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2008. An April 2006 article stated that UN officials and Iraqi leaders have plans to restore Babylon, making it into a cultural center.Gettleman, Jeffrey. Unesco intends to put the magic back in Babylon, International Herald Tribune, April 21, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2008. McBride, Edward. Monuments to Self: Baghdad's grands projects in the age of Saddam Hussein, MetropolisMag. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
Two museums and a library, containing replicas of artifacts and local maps and reports, were raided and destroyed.Maryam U. Musa, "The Situation of the Babylon Archaeological Site until 2006", in Cancik-Kirschbaum et al. (2011).
Thousands of people reside in Babylon within the perimeter of the ancient outer city walls, and communities in and around them are "rapidly developing from compact, dense settlements to sprawling suburbia despite laws restricting constructions". Modern villages include Zwair West, Sinjar Village, Qwaresh, and Al-Jimjmah, among which the first two are better off economically. Most residents primarily depend on daily wage earning or have government jobs in Hillah. Some cultivate dates, citrus fruits, figs, fodder for livestock, and limited cash crops, although income from the land alone is not enough to sustain a family. Both Shi'a and Sunni Muslims live in Sinjar village, with mosques for both groups.
The State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) is the main authority responsible for the conservation of the archaeological site. They are assisted by Antiquity and Heritage Police, and maintain a permanent presence there. The World Monuments Fund is involved in research and conservation. The SBAH Provincial Inspectorate Headquarters is located within the boundaries of the ancient inner city walls on the east side. Several staff members and their families reside in subsidized housing in this area.
Due to Babylon's historical significance as well as references to it in the Bible, the word "Babylon" in various languages has acquired a generic meaning of a large, bustling diverse city. Examples include:
According to and of the Hebrew Bible after Hezekiah, the king of Judah, became ill, Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and gifts to him. Hezekiah showed all of his treasures to the delegation, and the prophet Isaiah later said to him: "Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD".
According to the prophet Daniel lived in Babylon for most of his life. Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel ruler over the entire province of Babylon for having interpreted his dream. Years later, Belshazzar held a banquet, at which fingers of a hand appeared and wrote on a wall. Daniel was called to provide an interpretation of the writings, upon which he explained that God had put an end to Belshazzar's kingdom. Belshazzar was killed that very night, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.
says the following regarding Babylon: "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there." says that Babylon "shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate".
In Jewish tradition, Babylon symbolizes an oppressor against which righteous believers must struggle. 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 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 a dysphemism for the Roman Empire.Merrill Tenney, New Testament Survey, Inter-varsity Press, 1985, p. 383 Other scholars suggest that Babylon in the book of Revelation has a symbolic significance that extends beyond mere identification with the first century Roman empire.Craig R. Koester, Revelation (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2014), 506, 684
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