Ancient Locations

Babylon

overview

Other name(s)

Bab Ilu, Nunki

Region

Mesopotamia

Section

Lower Mesopotamia

Latitude

32.53773121 N

suggest info

Longitude

44.42284748 E

Status

Accurate location

Info

Akkadian city-state, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah. The Babylonian state, along with Assyria to the north, was one of the two Akkadian nations that evolved after the collapse of the Akkadian Empire. All that remains of the original ancient city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.
Available historical resources suggest that Babylon was at first a small town which had sprung up by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The town flourished and attained prominence and political repute with the rise of the First Babylonian Dynasty. Claiming to be the successor of the ancient Eridu, Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the holy city of Mesopotamia around the time Hammurabi first unified the Babylonian Empire, and again became the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 612 to 539 BCE. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Excavation

general info

The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an oblong area roughly 2 kilometers by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south. The site is bounded by the Euphrates River on the west, and by the remains of the ancient city walls otherwise. Originally, the Euphrates roughly bisected the city, as is common in the region, but the river has since shifted its course so that much of the remains on the former western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain. Several of the sites mounds are more prominent.

These include:
- Kasr - also called Palace or Castle. It is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki of Nabopolassar and later Nebuchadnezzar and lies in the center of the site.
- Amran Ibn Ali - to the south and the highest of the mounds at 25 meters. It is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu.
- Homera - a reddish colored mound on the west side. Most of the Hellenistic remains are here.
- Babil - in the northern end of the site, about 22 meters in height. It has been extensively subject to brick robbing (or brick recycling depending on your point of view) since ancient times. It held a palace built by Nebuchadnezzar.

Occupation at the site dates back to the late 3rd millennium, finally achieving prominence in the early 2nd millennium under the First Babylonian Dynasty and again later in the millennium under the Kassite dynasty of Babylon. Unfortunately, almost nothing from that period has been recovered at the site of Babylon. First, the water table in the region has risen greatly over the centuries and artifacts from the time before the Neo-Babylonian Empire are unavailable to current standard archaeological methods. Secondly, the Neo-Babylonians conducted massive rebuilding projects in the city which destroyed or obscured much of the earlier record. Third, much of the western half of the city is now under the Euphrates River. Fourth, Babylon has been sacked a number of times, most notably by the Hittites and Elamites in the 2nd millennium, then by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire in the 1st millennium, after the Babylonians had revolted against their rule. Lastly, the site has been long mined for building materials on a commercial scale.

Phases

	Old Babylonian
time frame	from circa 2300 BCE

	Assyrian
time frame	from 689 BCE to 612 BCE

	Neo-Babylonian / Chaldean
time frame	from 612 BCE to 539 BCE

	Persian
time frame	from 539 BCE to 331 BCE

	Hellenistic
time frame	from 331 BCE to 141 BCE

	Parthian
time frame	from 141 BCE to 224 CE

	Sassanid
time frame	from 224 CE to 651 CE

External Links

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OSM

32.537731, 44.422847 === 32.537731 N, 44.422847 E === 32° 32' 15.8" N, 44° 25' 22.3" E

Sources

CEMML

The Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands (CEMML) at Colorado State University is a team of environmental professionals experienced in the conservation and sustainable management of natural and cultural resources on Department of Defense lands. CEMML provides technical services to support the military's national defense mission.

Web

Babylon at Wikipedia

Nearest sites

Subkhayet el-Bezel, Abu Dihin, circa 8.2 km (5.1 mi) north
Kish 2, Mounds Z and T, Tell al-Uhaymir, circa 15.3 km (9.5 mi) east
Kish 1, Mounds A to H, and V, Tell Ingharra and Tell Bandar, circa 17 km (10.6 mi) east
Borsippa, Birs Nimrud, circa 17.9 km (11.1 mi) south-west
Dilbat, Tell ed-Duleim, circa 27.2 km (16.9 mi) south
Tulul Khalfat, circa 27.6 km (17.2 mi) north-east
Akkad, Agade, circa 27.7 km (17.2 mi) north-west
Abu Biyariq, circa 28.6 km (17.8 mi) east
Kutha, Tell Ibrahim, circa 30.5 km (18.9 mi) north-east
Tell Uqair, Tell Aqair, circa 35.3 km (22 mi) north-east
Niru, Jemdet Nasr, circa 38.9 km (24.2 mi) north-east
Girumu, Ishan Khilala, Tell Barghuthiat, circa 39.3 km (24.4 mi) north-east
Karunah, circa 40.5 km (25.2 mi) east
Ishan Abu Qabr, circa 41.6 km (25.9 mi) east
Ishan Angur Zuraybah, circa 43.8 km (27.2 mi) north-east
Ishan Abu Hatab, circa 44.2 km (27.5 mi) east
Ishan Abu Ajaj, circa 44.6 km (27.7 mi) north-west
Tulul Mahasin, circa 47.8 km (29.7 mi) north
Marad, Wana as-Sadoum, circa 59.9 km (37.2 mi) south-east
Sippar, Zimbir, Tell Abu Habbah, circa 60.1 km (37.4 mi) north
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