Babylon

• Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia (1895-539 BCE).
• It is now an archeological site which lies on the east bank of the Euphrates, 53 miles (85km) south of Baghdad in Iraq.

Walls of Babylon

• The city and its walls were rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BCE), to display the power of Babylon, his capital city, who possibly also built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
• However, by 300 BCE, the Walls already lay in a state of decay.
• The walls enclosed Babylon in a square, with the Euphrates river passing inside, lined with great quays along the waterfront.
• Estimates of the dimensions of the Walls vary widely according to the accounts of various Ancient Historians, with the most detailed description given by Herodotus.

Wall Dimensions (Herodotus)

• • Construction:
    • Fired Bricks, not Stone, from clay removed to create the Moat.
  • Height:
    • 100-330 feet (30-100m)
  • Width:
    • 32-85 feet (10-26m)
  • Length:
    • 40-80 miles  (60-120km), but probably only 20 miles long. The actual Ruins are 2-3 miles  (3-5km) long.
  • Towers:
    • Around 250 towers, each rose about 10-15 feet (3-6m) above the height of the Walls.
  • Gates:
    • 25 Gates in each of the four walls, with Bronze Doors, according to Herodotus.
  • The Ishtar Gate:
    • This was the eighth gate in the Inner Wall of Babylon. All the bricks were glazed blue.
    • A complete reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is housed in The Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

• • Road:
    • A road ran along the top, wide enough for a four horse chariot to turn according to Herodotus.
  • Moat:
    • The Walls were surrounded by a 260 ft (80m) wide Moat, from which the clay bricks were made.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

• The Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar II and considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
• However, no archeological evidence has survived.

Tower of Babel

• Babylon is one of the possible locations for the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel.

Babylonian Exile

• The Babylonian Exile refers to the period in The Bible between 587-539 BCE when the Judaean King and part of the Jerusalem population was removed to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.

Fort Babylon, Egypt

• Babylon is a suburb of Cairo in Egypt, and not in Iraq.
• Babylon is mentioned as a town from the Egyptian Pharaonic period by Ptolemy (121-151 CE) in his ‘Geography’.
• Fort Babylon is a Roman Fortress built on Latitude 30° N on the boundary of Lower Egypt and Middle Egypt.

Babylon, Iraq