50 Fun Facts About Babylon

On which river did ancient Babylon stand?

The site lies within modern Hillah, Iraq, about 85 km south of Baghdad; a branch of the river still bisects the ruins.

In which modern country are the ruins of Babylon?

UNESCO finally listed the site as World Heritage in July 2019; almost all its visitors are Iraqis.

What does the Akkadian name Babilim, from which 'Babylon' derives, traditionally mean?

Many scholars now think that is a folk etymology for an older non-Semitic name, perhaps Babilla or Babbar.

In the Book of Genesis, the name Babel is interpreted to mean what?

The English verb 'to babble' is popularly linked to it, but there is no direct connection.

Which Amorite king founded the Old Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC?

He conquered Isin, Larsa, Ur, Uruk, Nippur and the rest of southern Mesopotamia; the whole region became known as Babylonia.

On what kind of stone is the primary copy of the famous Old Babylonian law code inscribed?

The 2.25-metre stele was found at Susa in Iran in 1901, where Elamites had carried it off as plunder; it now stands in the Louvre.

Where was the stele of that Babylonian law code rediscovered in 1901?

The relief at the top shows Hammurabi with Shamash, the sun god and god of justice; the laws are 'if... then' cases embodying 'an eye for an eye'.

Which museum received the Babylonian law-code stele after its 1901 discovery at Susa?

The French expedition shipped it to Paris; replicas stand at the United Nations headquarters in New York and in Berlin and Chicago.

Which Hittite king is thought to have sacked Babylon in 1595 BC, ending its first dynasty?

The Kassites then took over and renamed the city Karduniash, ruling for 435 years.

Which people ruled Babylon for 435 years after the Hittite sack, calling it Karduniash?

Under them Babylon grew weak enough to pay tribute to Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt.

Which Assyrian king razed Babylon to the ground in 689 BC and dumped the rubble in the water?

His murder by two of his own sons while at prayer was widely seen as divine payback; his successor Esarhaddon rebuilt the city.

Which Assyrian prince, ruling Babylon, started a civil war against his brother Ashurbanipal in 652 BC?

Babylon was starved into surrender; Ashurbanipal then carried off its texts to his library at Nineveh.

Which king freed Babylon from Assyria and founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 626 BC?

With the Medes he destroyed Assyria between 626 and 609 BC; the empire is also called Chaldean.

Which Neo-Babylonian king rebuilt the city, built the Ishtar Gate and is blamed for the Jewish exile?

According to the Hebrew Bible he destroyed Solomon's Temple; the defeat of Judah is also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.

How many gates ringed the inner city of Babylon, of which the Ishtar Gate was the eighth and grandest?

Herodotus claimed a hundred gates, which is now read as an echo of Homer rather than a report.

What colour glaze covered the bricks of the Ishtar Gate?

It was meant to imitate lapis lazuli, and the reliefs show dragons, bulls and lions for Marduk, Adad and Ishtar.

Which three animals appear in relief on the Ishtar Gate?

The mushussu dragon stood for Marduk, the aurochs for Adad and the lion for Ishtar.

In which city was the Ishtar Gate reconstructed from excavated bricks after 1918?

Robert Koldewey's team shipped the pieces to Germany and Walter Andrae reassembled the smaller front gate in the Pergamon Museum.

What was the name of the great ziggurat of Babylon, thought to lie behind the story of the Tower of Babel?

A tablet translated by George Smith in 1876 gives it seven storeys and a height of 91 metres, a figure modern engineers doubt.

To which god were Babylon's great ziggurat and the neighbouring temple Esagila dedicated?

Marduk was originally seen as the son of the sun god Shamash and was promoted as Babylon's power grew.

According to legend, for whom did the king build the Hanging Gardens?

She was said to miss the green hills of Media; no Babylonian text mentions her or the gardens.

Which scholar has argued that the Hanging Gardens were really near the Assyrian capital, Nineveh?

They are the only one of the Seven Wonders whose location has never been pinned down.

How many of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were in Babylon on some ancient lists?

Both the Hanging Gardens and the Walls of Babylon made the cut on various lists.

Which Persian king captured Babylon in 539 BC?

His troops reportedly diverted the Euphrates during a festival and waded in under the walls; the account was embellished by Herodotus.

According to the traditional account, how did the Persians get into Babylon in 539 BC?

Metal grates under the water had let the river through the walls; the city centre reportedly did not even know it had fallen.

Which artefact is cited as evidence the Persian conqueror let exiled peoples, including Jews, go home?

The reading is disputed because the text mentions only Mesopotamian sanctuaries, not Jews or Jerusalem.

Who was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire when Babylon fell in 539 BC?

His son Belshazzar governed as regent while he was away, which is why the Book of Daniel treats Belshazzar as king.

According to Herodotus, in what did the Babylonians bury their dead?

He also said they wore turbans and perfume and that three tribes ate nothing but fish; since 1883 much of his account has been treated as folklore.

Which conqueror died in the royal palace at Babylon in 323 BC?

He had entered the city after Gaugamela in 331 BC and had the ruined Etemenanki demolished, its rubble heaped on the Homera mound.

Which Roman emperor briefly captured Babylon in AD 116?

His successor Hadrian gave up everything east of the Euphrates, which became Rome's frontier again.

Around what population is Babylon thought to have been the first city ever to reach?

It was probably the largest city in the world around 1770-1670 BC and again from about 612 to 320 BC, in an area of roughly 900 hectares.

Which German archaeologist led the first scientific excavation of Babylon, from 1899 to 1917?

His team fled ahead of British troops in 1917; his main problem was locals mining Nebuchadnezzar's baked bricks for dams and buildings.

What happened to over 200 crates of Babylonian artefacts from the French Fresnel expedition in May 1855?

The 'Qurnah Disaster' saw a ship and four rafts go down; a Japanese expedition in 1971-72 failed to recover them.

Which employee of the British East India Company carried out the first excavations at Babylon in 1811-12?

Hormuzd Rassam later dug on an industrial scale for the British Museum from 1879 to 1882, damaging the archaeological context.

Which Iraqi leader inscribed bricks at Babylon calling himself the son of its greatest king?

His 1978 restoration rebuilt Nebuchadnezzar's Southern Palace with 250 rooms; the inscribed bricks became collectors' items after his fall.

What was the name of the US military base built on the ruins of Babylon after the 2003 invasion?

A British Museum report said vehicles crushed 2,600-year-old pavements and helipads were levelled into the site; the ruins passed to Polish forces, then back to Iraq in 2005.

In which year was Babylon inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

An oil pipeline still runs through an outer wall, and villages inside the ancient walls are sprawling despite building restrictions.

In the Book of Daniel, whose banquet was interrupted by a hand writing on the wall?

Daniel read it as the end of the kingdom; the king was killed that night and 'Darius the Mede' took over.

According to Genesis 10, who founded Babel along with Uruk and Akkad?

Genesis 11 then tells of the tower and God scattering humanity by confusing its speech.

In the Book of Revelation, Babylon is personified as a woman riding what?

Many scholars read this 'Babylon' as a coded name for the Roman Empire.

In Rastafari belief and reggae lyrics, what does 'Babylon' stand for?

Rastafarians believe Babylon tries to forbid ganja because the herb opens minds to the truth.

Which sci-fi series is set on a space station that is a diplomatic nexus of many cultures?

The station's name deliberately evokes the ancient city as a meeting place of peoples.

When was Babylon last known to be inhabited, as the 'small village of Babel'?

Medieval Arab writers described it as a brick quarry supplying cities from Baghdad to Basra.

Which city did Babylon eclipse as southern Mesopotamia's holy city in the 18th century BC?

Marduk was raised above the sun god Shamash of Sippar as Babylon's political power grew.

On a tablet from whose reign does the earliest firm mention of Babylon, as a small town, appear?

One of his year names records temples for Annunitum and Ilaba built in KA.DINGIR, 'gate of the god'.

According to Ctesias, who was Babylon's first king, when the city was supposedly founded in 2286 BC?

Berossus and Stephanus of Byzantium give similar 23rd-century dates, but no cuneiform record backs any of them.

Babylon's ruins lie within which modern Iraqi city, about 85 km south of Baghdad?

The Shatt Al-Hillah, a branch of the Euphrates, still roughly bisects the ancient site.

At which 331 BC battle did Alexander the Great defeat Darius III before occupying Babylon?

Alexander then had the ruined Etemenanki ziggurat demolished, intending to rebuild it, but died in the city eight years later.

According to the Babylonian king list, which Amorite chieftain began Amorite rule in Babylon?

He declared independence from the neighbouring city-state of Kazallu; the first four Amorite rulers did not even take the title of king.

Which scholar's 1883 pronouncement led Herodotus's account of Babylon to be treated as Greek folklore?

Herodotus described a moat, a colossal wall cemented with bitumen and a hundred city gates.