The ancient city of Babylon lies on the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq, around 56 miles (90 km) south of Baghdad. Babylon was excavated between 1899 and 1913 CE by a German archaeological team led by Robert Koldewey, who uncovered the city as it had been in its final years, in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. The city was built on either side of the Euphrates, which flowed though its middle. Babylon covered an area of 2,100 acres (850 ha) and was home to a quarter of a million people, making it larger than many modern towns.
Babylon was rectangular in shape and was surrounded by two mighty walls. These walls were so thick that, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, it was possible for two chariots to be driven side by side along the top of each wall. The walls were pierced by nine great gates made of bronze. The most magnificent of them was the Ishtar Gate, which was covered with yellow and blue tiles that incorporated reliefs of lions and bulls, symbols of the gods Ishtar and Adad. Reconstructions of this gate can be seen in Baghdad and Berlin.
Inside the city walls were the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the Esagila (the main temple of Marduk, the patron god of Babylon), and houses for the citizens. The temple was connected to the Ishtar Gate by a wide avenue called the Processional Way. During the annual New Year festivities, the king led a procession in which the statue of Marduk was carried through the Ishtar Gate to temples outside the city. North of Marduk's temple stood the ziggurat of Babylon, called the Etemenanki or “House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth.” It had seven stories and rose to a height of 300 feet (91 m). Many commentators have identified this ziggurat with the Tower of Babel in the Bible.
World History
