Babylon: ancient Mesopotamian city, history, architecture, and legacy

The Akkadian name of Babylon was written as a pictographic sumerogram KÁ.DINGIR.RAKI (KÁ 'gate', DINGIR 'god', =a(k) genitive, ^KI determinative for city names), but in Akkadian syllabary Babilla.

From the beginning of the second millennium BC it changed to the Babylonian equivalent Bābili(m) (bāb 'gate' [sc. of bābum], ilim 'god' [gen. of ilum]) derived from the Sumerogram, from which Ancient Greek Βαβυλών Babylṓn was later derived. The common Mesopotamian translation of Babillu, Babilim, Babilani as 'gate of the god', 'god's gate', however, is probably a folk etymological derivation of the original form, whereby the ancient meaning of the Akkadian city name remains unclear.

At the latest under Naram-Sin the spelling KĀ.DINGIRKI (still without the genitive suffix =a(k)) is found, which Naram-Sin interpreted as 'gate of the god'. In the Ur-III period the written form KÁ.DINGIR.RAKI extended by the genitive is attested, spoken as Bāb-ilim. In the Old Babylonian language Ba-ab-DINGIRKI is attested as a further variant.

Into Greek the name was taken from the form bāb ilāni, though the dulling of the ā to ō reveals that the Greeks apparently took the name from a West Semitic dialect in which the name was pronounced bāb ilōni, or bāb ilōn.

The explanation of the name produced in the context of the Old Testament mention of Babylon is also based on later traditions and at the same time on other motives. The Hebrew verb balal used in Gen 11,9 EU, "to confuse" with the basic meaning "to stir up, to mix", refers to the building of the tower of Babel. The corresponding translation of Babylon as "confusion" is therefore primarily based on the "confusion of languages" and therefore cannot be used as etymological evidence for clarification.

There are first mentions of Babylon as early as the end of the 3rd millennium BC, but only as an insignificant small town. Šumu-abum (1894-1881 BC), founder of the I Dynasty of Babylon, made the city the administrative center of his empire. Under King Hammurapi I (1792-1750 B.C.), the most famous ancient Babylonian ruler, Babylon experienced its first heyday. However, texts of the first dynasty from Babylon itself are rare, none of them coming from the hitherto undiscovered palace archives. The conquest of Babylon by the Hittites under King Muršili I. (1620-1595 BC) is poorly attested, the exact date unknown. It took place under the reign of Samsu-ditana, who was thus the last ruler of the 1st Dynasty. According to the middle chronology the fall is set in 1595, according to Gasches ultra-short chronology in 1499. After the fall of Babylon written documents stop completely, the next ones are from the time of the Kassite rule and are probably to be set about 100 years later.

Subsequently, perhaps after an episode under Gulkišar, a king of the Meerland dynasty, the Kassites took control of the city for 400 years. When King Kurigalzu I (1390-1370 BC) founded the residential city of Dur-Kurigalzu in the 14th century BC, Babylon remained the spiritual-religious center. Around 1225 BC, Babylon was conquered by the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I. (ruled c. 1233-1197 BC), who again carried off the statue of the city god Marduk, this time to Assyria. Shortly thereafter, the Elamite king Šutruk-Naḫunte (1190-1155 bce) raided the city and looted many works of art and images of the gods, which he took to his capital, Susa (Persia). This ended the rule of the Kassites in Babylon.

Babylon strengthened under King Nebuchadnezzar I. (1126-1104 BC) of the II Dynasty of Isin, who retrieved the statue of Marduk. Later, Assyrian forces under Tiglat-pileser I (1115-1076 BC) conquered the city. However, Nebuchadnezzar I managed to free Babylon from Assyrian rule again.

Babylon declined greatly in importance with the rise of Assyria, and was twice destroyed by the Assyrians in the 7th century B.C., in 689 B.C. by Sanherib. In 626 B.C. Nabopolassar was proclaimed king and defeated the Assyrians, whose capital Nineveh he destroyed in 612 B.C. with the help of the Medes. Nebuchadnezzar II, his son, repelled an invasion by the Egyptians and ruled over an area from Palestine to the Persian Gulf. During his reign, the city and empire rose to new heights.

However, this period of prosperity did not last very long. King Nabonid ascended the throne of Babylon in 556 BC. He carried out the economic reforms begun by Nebuchadnezzar II and withdrew the lands from the temples of the Marduk priesthood. In addition, he installed Sin, the moon god, as supreme deity. This led to the priesthood of Babylon, which was now hostile to him, to join forces with the Persian king Cyrus II, who professed allegiance to Marduk. , who professed allegiance to Marduk, in his conquest of the city in 539 BC and was instrumental in his overthrow and that of Babylonia.

Alexander the Great conquered the city after the victory at Gaugamela and was welcomed as a liberator. Alexander later made Babylon the seat of his empire, where he then also died on June 10, 323 BC. In the time of the Diadochi, Babylon belonged to the Seleucid Empire, but lost power under Macedonian rule when the new capital Seleucia was built and many inhabitants of Babylon were resettled there. It is disputed whether Babylon was a Greek-type polis during Hellenism. There is no doubt that Babylon had the typical buildings (theatre, gymnasium, agora) at the latest since Antiochos IV, moreover politai 'citizens' are mentioned, but on the other hand any reference to the typical institutions of a polis (people's assembly, council, magistrates) is missing so far.

For a long time, it was assumed in research that Babylon had experienced a decline under the Seleucids and was finally abandoned under Parthian rule at the latest. The Roman emperor Trajan is said to have seen only ruins here around 115 AD. In the meantime, however, doubts have arisen about this view; for example, the so-called 1st Epistle of Peter (5:13), probably written in the first century, mentions Babylon as a place of activity of Peter, and in late antiquity Procopius of Caesarea mentions Babylon (De Aed. 1:1, 53) as a production site of asphalt. Exactly when Babylon lost all significance is therefore now the subject of renewed controversy. The reference in the Epistle of Peter, however, was already interpreted in antiquity as a reference to Rome, and the remark of Procopios strictly speaking refers to Babylon at the time of Semiramis.

It is estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from about 1770 to 1670 BC and again from about 612 to 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population of more than 200,000.

Estimates of the maximum extent of the city range from 890 to 900 hectares.