104) Geographical locations in the book of Daniel
Daniel 1:
- City of Babylon:
Babylon | History, Religion, Time Period, & Facts
Babylon
ancient city, Mesopotamia, Asia
Babylon, Babylonian Bab-ilu, Old Babylonian Bāb-ilim, Hebrew Bavel or Babel, Arabic Aṭlāl Bābil, one of the most famous cities of antiquity. It was the capital of southern
Mesopotamia (
Babylonia) from the early 2nd millennium to the early 1st millennium bce and capital of the
Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empire in the 7th and 6th centuries bce, when it was at the height of its splendour. Its extensive ruins, on the
Euphrates River about 55 miles (88 km) south of
Baghdad, lie near the modern town of
Al-Ḥillah,
Iraq.
History
Though traces of prehistoric settlement exist, Babylon’s development as a major city was late by Mesopotamian standards; no mention of it existed before the 23rd century bce. After the fall of the 3rd
dynasty of
Ur, under which Babylon had been a provincial centre, it became the nucleus of a small kingdom established in 1894 bce by the
Amorite king Sumuabum, whose successors consolidated its status. The sixth and best-known of the Amorite dynasts,
Hammurabi (1792–50 bce), conquered the surrounding city-states and raised Babylon to the capital of a kingdom
comprising all of southern Mesopotamia and part of
Assyria (northern Iraq). Its political importance, together with its favourable location, made it henceforth the main commercial and administrative centre of Babylonia, while its wealth and
prestige made it a target for foreign conquerors.
After a
Hittite raid in 1595 bce, the city passed to the control of the
Kassites (c. 1570), who established a dynasty lasting more than four centuries. Later in this period, Babylon became a literary and religious centre, the prestige of which was reflected in the elevation of
Marduk, its chief god, to supremacy in Mesopotamia. In 1234
Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria subjugated Babylon, though subsequently the
Kassite dynasty reasserted itself until 1158, when the city was sacked by the
Elamites. Babylon’s acknowledged political
supremacy is shown by the fact that the dynasty of
Nebuchadrezzar I (1124–03), which endured for more than a century, made the city its capital, though the dynasty did not originate there.
Just before 1000, pressure from
Aramaean immigrants from northern Syria brought administrative dislocation inside Babylon. From this period to the fall of Assyria in the late 7th century bce, there was a continual struggle between Aramaean or associated Chaldean tribesmen and the Assyrians for political control of the city. Its citizens claimed privileges, such as exemption from
forced labour, certain taxes, and imprisonment, which the Assyrians, with a similar background, were usually readier to recognize than were immigrant tribesmen. Furthermore, the citizens, grown wealthy through
commerce, benefitted from an imperial power able to protect
international trade but suffered economically at the hands of disruptive tribesmen. Such circumstances made Babylon usually prefer Assyrian to Aramaean or Chaldean rule.
From the 9th to the late 7th century Babylon was almost continuously under Assyrian suzerainty, usually wielded through native kings, though sometimes Assyrian kings ruled in person. Close Assyrian involvement in Babylon began with
Tiglath-pileser III (744–727 bce) as a result of Chaldean tribesmen pressing into city territories, several times usurping the kingship. Disorders accompanying increasing tribal occupation finally persuaded the Assyrian monarch
Sennacherib (704–681 bce) that peaceful control of Babylon was impossible, and in 689 he ordered destruction of the city. His son
Esarhaddon (680–669 bce)
rescinded that policy, and, after expelling the tribesmen and returning the property of the Babylonians to them, undertook the rebuilding of the city; but the image of Marduk, removed by Sennacherib, was retained in Assyria throughout his reign, probably to prevent any potential usurper from using it to claim the kingship. In the mid-7th century, civil war broke out between the Assyrian king
Ashurbanipal and his brother who ruled in Babylonia (southern Mesopotamia) as sub-king. Ashurbanipal laid siege to the city, which fell to him in 648 after famine had driven the defenders to cannibalism.
After Ashurbanipal’s death, a Chaldean leader,
Nabopolassar, in 626 made Babylon the capital of a kingdom that under his son
Nebuchadrezzar II (605–561 bce) became a major imperial power. Nebuchadrezzar undertook a vast program of rebuilding and fortification in Babylon, labour gangs from many lands increasing the mixture of the population. Nebuchadrezzar’s most important successor,
Nabonidus (556–539 bce), campaigned in Arabia for a decade, leaving his son
Belshazzar as regent in Babylon. Nabonidus failed to protect the
property rights or religious traditions of the capital and attempted building operations elsewhere to rival Marduk’s great temple of
Esagila. When the
Persian Achaemenian dynasty under
Cyrus II attacked in 539 bce, the capital fell almost without resistance; a
legend (accepted by some as historical) that Cyrus achieved entry by diverting the Euphrates is unconfirmed in contemporary sources.
Under the Persians, Babylon retained most of its institutions, became capital of the richest satrapy in the empire, and was, according to the 5th-century-bce Greek historian
Herodotus, the world’s most splendid city. A revolt against
Xerxes I (482) led to destruction of its fortifications and temples and to the melting down of the golden image of Marduk.
In 331 Babylon surrendered to the Macedonian king
Alexander the Great, who confirmed its privileges and ordered the restoration of the temples. Alexander, recognizing the commercial importance of the city, allowed its satrap to coin money and began constructing a harbour to foster trade. In 323 Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadrezzar; he had planned to make Babylon his imperial capital. Alexander’s conquest brought Babylon into the orbit of Greek
culture, and Hellenistic science was greatly enriched by the contributions of Babylonian
astronomy. After a power struggle among Alexander’s generals, Babylon passed to the
Seleucid dynasty in 312. The city’s importance was much reduced by the building of a new capital,
Seleucia on the Tigris, where part of Babylon’s population was transferred in 275.
