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HISTORY AND SOCIETY
Archeology
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Also on the topic BABYLON AND ASSYRIA BABYLONIAN ASSYRIAN ART
BABYLON, the famous ancient city in Mesopotamia, the capital of Babylonia, was located on the Euphrates River, 89 km south of modern Baghdad and north of Hilla.
In the ancient Semitic language, it was called "Bab Ilu", which meant "The Gate of God", in Hebrew this name was transformed into" Babel", in Greek and Latin – into"Babylon".
The original name of the city has survived for centuries, and still the northernmost of the hills on the site of ancient Babylon is called Babil.
The excavations of the giant complex of ruins left over from the ancient city were started in 1899 by the German Oriental Society under the leadership of Robert Koldewey.
Babylon appears on the historical horizon in the Old Babylonian period (c. 1900 c. 1600 BC).
At the beginning of this period, the previously insignificant town of Bab Ilu in Akkad became the capital of a small kingdom ruled by Amorei Sumuabum, who became the founder of the First Babylonian dynasty.
His successors were Sumu la El, Sabium, Apil Sin, Sinmuballit and Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC.
Hammurabi was the most famous ruler of the era and was famous not only for his military successes, but also as a wise ruler.
After defeating the Roman from Larsa, Hammurabi captured Sumer, located in the lower part of the Mesopotamian Valley, and became the ruler of the Sumero Akkadian kingdom; capturing the kingdom of Mari, he extended the borders of his state to the upper Euphrates.
Even earlier, Hammurabi carried out important reforms, completely subordinating the temples in administrative and economic terms, regulating the collection of taxes and creating a single judicial system; his work as a legislator is captured in the famous Laws of Hammurabi, a copy of which was found in Susa.
Excavations in the central part of the Merkes Hill in Babylon have reached a layer lying partly above and partly below the water table and dated to the time of the I dynasty.
According to the uncovered remains of the city, it is clear that it was well planned, the streets intersected one another at right angles.
The houses found were built of mud bricks and surrounded by the same walls on a foundation of baked bricks.
Already under the son of Hammurabi Samsuilun, the invasions of the Kassite tribes descending from the eastern mountains began.
For more than a century, Samsuiluna and his successors managed to contain the onslaught of the Kassites.
However, in the end they managed to capture the country and ruled in Babylon for almost half a thousand years (about 1600 about 1155 BC).
Excavations of the Kassite layer of the Merkes hill showed that the location of streets and blocks during this period remained almost the same as in the time of Hammurabi.
The houses of this period were built of mud bricks, but, as a rule, did not have a foundation of baked bricks, which was a characteristic feature of the city of Hammurabi.
Ceramics had a definitely original character, especially the abundance of jewelry attracts attention.
The Kassite dynasty was replaced by the II dynasty of Issina, which held power in Babylonia for more than a century.
Its most prominent king was Nebuchadnezzar I (1126-1105), who managed to subdue Assyria for a while.
However, after him, for most of the Middle Babylonian period, the country was under the rule of Assyria.
Sargon II captured Babylon in 710 BC and was crowned king here.
Then he built a massive wall with a round corner tower near the southern citadel of Babylon, leaving an inscription on its stone walls: "To Marduk!
The Great Lord, the divine creator who lives in Esagil, the Lord of Babil, his Lord; Sargon, the mighty king, the King of the land of Ashura, the king of all.
The ruler of Babil, the king of Sumer and Akkad, the breadwinner of Esagila and Ezid."
Sargon's son Sinnacherib completely destroyed the city in 689 BC and even turned the waters of the Euphrates on it to wash away most of it from the face of the earth.
However, his heir Asarhaddon restored and rebuilt the city.
In particular, the main temple of Babylon, Esagila, was restored; at the same time, the famous ziggurat, which went down in history under the name of the Tower of Babel, was built.
The New Babylonian period (612-539 BC) began with the seizure of royal power in Babylon by the Chaldean Nabopalasar, who allied with other anti Assyrian forces and destroyed Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in 612 BC.
Under his son and successor Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), Babylon reached its highest prosperity.
Then there was, as the German archaeologists who conducted the excavations of Babylon called it, "a colossal reconstruction of the entire city".
Everything was rebuilt: Esagila the temple of Marduk, the ziggurat of Etemenanki, the temple of Emah in the citadel and the more ancient temple of Ishtar on Merkes.
The southern citadel was supplemented with the royal palace, and another palace was built in its northern part.
The walls of the early city were restored, and the city that had grown in size was surrounded by a huge external wall; canals were dug and the first stone bridge over the Euphrates was built.
Hanging gardens were considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but modern excavations have not been able to provide materials from which it would be possible to identify their remains with certainty.
The most magnificent buildings of Babylon of that period were, as far as can be judged from the preserved remains, the Ishtar Gate and the Avenue of Processions, which were given an elegant appearance by friezes of bulls, dragons and lions made of colored tiles.
The last king of this period was Nabonidus, who shared power in Babylon with his eldest son Belsharutsur (Belshazzar).
As a result of the excavations, it was found that after Nabonidus, a new temple of Ishtar on Merkes and a powerful fortification wall with a large pier on the banks of the Euphrates remained in Babylon.
In 539 BC, as noted in the Chronicle of Nabonidus and the Cyrus scroll, Babylon was captured by the Persian king Cyrus II the Great.
The descriptions of Babylon from the time of the Persian kings, left by Herodotus and Ctesias, the doctor of Artaxerxes II, have come down to us; from the time of Artaxerxes II, the ruins of the building in the southern citadel have been preserved.
There is no doubt that the decline of Babylon began already before its conquest by Alexander the Great.
Alexander, who chose Babylon as his capital, intended to carry out major restoration work here, but died before he could carry out his plans.
In the Greek and Parthian period, the royal buildings remaining from antiquity began to be dismantled for material for new construction, and this continued for centuries until ruins remained of the city.
See also MESOPOTAMIA, AN ANCIENT CIVILIZATION.
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