Babylon where is it

Mysteriously, Herodotus makes no mention of the Hanging Gardens , one of the ancient seven wonders of the world. Other accounts suggest that these lush, gravity-defying, terraced gardens were a gift from Nebuchadnezzar to his wife Amyitis. Some archaeologists believe they never really existed on the epic scale suggested by legend. Herodotus writes about all aspects of life in Babylon, covering everything from its general geography, the tradition of brick-baking, the construction of the outer wall and the street plan of the city to the main crops grown wheat, barley, millet, sesame and dates , the various uses of the palm tree food, wine and honey , religious, medical and sexual practices and the types of boats used to navigate the Euphrates.

He describes how the formidable city walls were built of oven-baked mud bricks laid using hot bitumen for mortar, traces of which can be spotted today where the ancient walls meet the bricks laid in the kitsch, Saddam-era restoration of the s. Only after she has discharged this unpleasant duty is she set free.

Herodotus ends the anecdote with a characteristically high-spirited punchline. The story of Babylon is the ebb and flow of slaughter and mercy, war and peace, a microcosm of human history. It is a tale of greed, hubris, empire and religious persecution; also of human civilisation, prodigious wealth, architectural glory and religious tolerance.

The birth of human civilisation belongs to us all. I visited the site in November , just as Polish troops were preparing to hand it over to the Iraqi authorities. The late Donny George, then head of the Iraq Museum, had warned me in Baghdad about the terrible damage done to the site by the Polish military.

By: Dave Roos Updated: Oct 20, At the height of its glory in the 7th and 6th centuries B. Under the ruthless and ambitious King Nebuchadnezzar II, the sprawling settlement in modern-day Iraq grew into a major city as large as Chicago, and boasted towering temples, ornately tiled palaces and imposing city walls thick enough for two chariots to pass each other side by side. According to legend, it may also have been home to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon , one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World see sidebar , and a hubristic sky-scraping temple that some historians believe inspired the biblical Tower of Babel.

But the glory days of Babylon were short-lived. As foretold by Old Testament prophets, the grand ancient city fell to the Persians in B. If you took a trip to Babylon today, located 55 miles 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, you'd see a tacky recreation built by Saddam Hussein in the s that's been partially destroyed by decades of war.

It's a sad ending to such a fabled city. Nebachadnezzar was the most famous of Babylon's rulers, but he wasn't the first. Several empires rose and fell and rose again over the millennia on the same coveted soil between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The earliest king to unite warring Mesopotamian tribes into a single powerful city-state was the remarkable Hammurabi in the 18th century B. Not only did this famous king successfully conquer or forge alliances with Babylon's fiercest enemies during his year reign, but he also built Babylon which comprised southern Mesopotamia and part of Assyria, now northern Iraq into a showplace for innovations in engineering and criminal justice.

Hammurabi ordered the construction of intricate canals to provide Babylon's citizens with fresh water, and fortified the city's walls against invaders. He concerned himself with food distribution and public safety in a city that represented something entirely new — the intermingling of hordes of people from wildly different cultures. In order to keep the peace among people without ties of blood or religion, Hammurabi created his famous Legal Code , essentially a detailed list of crimes and their associated punishments:.

This early system of retributive justice — inscribed on an 8-foot 2. Hammurabi's singular genius as a military and domestic leader wasn't passed on to his successor. Babylon also features prominently in the books of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and in the Book of Revelation. Click me. What is Alabama known for? Your personal data will be governed by Mapsofworld Privacy Policy and Terms.

During this time, the Babylonian language became widely used across the Middle East, and the power of the empire was stabilised. Through a series of military conquests, Nebuchadnezzar created an even bigger empire, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the borders of Egypt. Inside the city of Babylon itself, he began an extensive building and reconstruction programme, which included huge shrines, three major palaces and the Ishtar Gate, the ceremonial entrance to the inner wall of the city.

The structure stood over metres high, but was destroyed after Alexander the Great captured Babylon despite his effort to restore it. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , the Hanging Gardens were supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar for his homesick wife, Amyitis, who missed the green hills of her homeland.