Reading Babylon Author(S): Marc Van De Mieroop Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol

Home , Der (Sumer), Etemenanki, Zababa

Reading Babylon Author(s): Marc van de Mieroop Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 107, No. 2 (Apr., 2003), pp. 257-275 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40026077 . Accessed: 20/12/2014 16:43

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This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Reading Babylon MARC VAN DE MIEROOP

Abstract Was this all the city signified, however? Was it A combined investigation of the archaeological re- only the expression of the power of its builder who mains and the ancient testimonies of the city of Babylon thus exemplified the oriental despot whose mega- in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar, during the sixth lomania is demonstrated the of his B.C., allows us to read the ideo- by grandeur city? century city's multiple This article will an alternativesemiotic read- logical messages. The concern of the article is not with provide the identification of specific monuments, but with the ing of Babylon, one based on the Babylonian ideol- ideological notions that the monuments conveyed to ogy of the city's role in the universe rather than the ancient viewer. This issue is examined on various being rooted in the idea of absolute royal power. levels, from the in its to the city entirety ephemeral The ideology regarding the city will be pried from appearancesof monuments during religiousprocessions.* the extensive ancient literature that deals with Baby- "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of lon. Such literature was written both by what we earth's abominations";this image from the biblical might call insiders, Babylonians to whom the city Book of Revelation (ch. 17) dominated Western was the norm, and outsiders, forced or voluntary thought on Babylon for centuries. The city was the visitors who looked upon it as something new and trope of evil and decadence; it was the place of sin, strange (fig. 1). which had fallen under the vengeful hand of God. HOW TO READ BABYLON? It was the place of exile, the antithesis of Jerusalem or of Christian Rome, the place where apostate That a city can be the subject of a semiotic analy- popes resided.1 Not only was the behavior of its in- sis has become a familiar idea since Roland Bar- habitants ungodly, but the city itself, with its tower thes called for it in a lecture in 1967, later pub- threatening heaven, was also an indication of arro- lished as "Semiology and Urbanism,"3and Umber- gance. Such an image flourished within a discourse to Eco devoted an entire section of his introduc- that built fantasyupon fantasy,in the absence of any tion to semiotics to architecture.4A semiotic read- concrete knowledge of what the city really looked ing of Babylon is certainly very different from what like. But when the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft Barthes called for when he urged us to look at the started to unearth Babylon's massive remains at the cities we inhabit. Despite the intricate models built turn of the 19th century, and hauled off parts of it of parts of the city or the restorations of buildings to a newly built museum in Berlin, a new view be- on the site itself (fig. 2), we cannot walk through gan to emerge. Pieter Breugel's fanciful Tower of Babylon's streets, we cannot see the details of build- Babel gave way to the majestic dark-blue Ishtar gate ings or the effects of nature and man on its monu- with its bulls and dragons as the image of the city. ments. Even compared to other cities that have dis- Another biblical verse became Babylon's epigram, appeared or changed fundamentally over time, our from the mouth of King Nebuchadnezzar: "Is not access to Babylon remains very limited. Augustan this Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power Rome, for example, can be visualized much better: as a royal residence and for the glory of my majes- we know the city plan in detail and some of its build- ty?" (Daniel 4:30). Its enormous size, its massive ings and monuments are still standing.5 For the walls, palaces, and temples, made it an icon of royal Babylon I will discuss, the visual evidence is much power.2 poorer. Often only a ground plan exists, if that

1 *Apreliminary version of this articlewas delivered to the For Babylonin Middle Easternand Europeantraditions, CanadianSociety for MesopotamianStudies at the University see Rollinger 1999. For the reception of Babylonand Babylo- of Toronto, at the invitationof Grant Frame.Jeremy Black nian culturein Europeanliterature, see Haas 1999. 2 providedme with some of his personalphotographs taken at For the idea that all Mesopotamiancities express the pow- the site of Babylon,one of which is reproduced here. After er of the king in their layout,see Novak 1999. readingan earlierversion of the article,Zainab Bahrani urged The essaywas translated into Englishand reprintedsever- me to push the analysisfurther than I had done. Seth Richard- al times;see, e.g., Barthes 1988. 4 son's insightfulediting of the manuscriptclarified the argu- Eco 1972,259-317. ment, and MaraHorowitz produced the map and plans. I am 5Favro1996. verygrateful to these people for their interest and advice.

257 AmericanJournal of Archaeology107 (2003) 257-75

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 258 MARC VAN DE MIEROOP [AJA107 much. While archaeological plans of the city are published with various levels of detail, a closer look at them will show a set of lines with many empty spaces in between. Very little of the city's enormous surface of close to 900 ha has been excavated. We may know the location and plan of some major streets and buildings, but can only imagine what the layout of most neighborhoods was. We may think that we can reconstruct the facade of some temples, but we cannot envision their colors or ephemeral additions, officially sanctioned or not, of stalls, awnings, flagpoles, and the like. On the other hand, the distance from the hustle and bustle of daily life may be an asset. In a passage that has gained greater poignancy after recent events, Michel de Certeau takes the viewer up to the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in New York in the introduction to his essay "Walkingin the City,"where the walk is compared to a rhetori- Fig. 1. Map of Mesopotamia with the location of the sites cal act: "His altitude transforms him into a voyeur. mentioned in the article It places him at a distance. It changes an enchant- ing world into a text. It allows him to read it."6 texts.8 In typical Mesopotamian fashion these are Similarly, we look at Babylon from a distant and lists, the most important among them called "Tin- Olympian point of view. tir = Babylon," a five-tablet compendium mostly What is available to us of ancient Babylon falls made up of names and epithets of the city and its primarilyin the categories that make up the image temples. Tablet IV gives the names of 43 temples of a city: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and land- grouped according to their city-quarter,for instance, marks.7The access roads and streets form the paths four in the quarter called Ka-dingirra.The fifth tab- the visitors would take. The walls, of the entire city let lists the names of city-walls,waterways, and streets and of certain of its monumental buildings, and without giving their locations. It ends with a de- the riverbanks form the edges that create bound- scription of the location of the 10 city-quartersby aries. We can recognize neighborhoods (albeit not stating two landmarks in each of them, most often in detail), and we see crossroads and gates where city-gates. For example: the visitor had to decide how to proceed. The Baby- From the MarketGate to the GrandGate [is called] lon known to us is primarily one of landmarks, the Eridu; large monuments that draw the archaeologists' at- From the MarketGate to the Urash Gate is called tention- palaces, temples, and gates. They are ex- Shuanna; From the GrandGate to the IshtarGate is called Ka- ternal points of reference to the observer who often cannot enter them. dingirra.9 We are fortunate having some ancient written This information allows us to put names on the testimonies on Babylon. These accounts fall into archaeological map of the inner city. two distinct categories, those written by Babylonians Individual religious buildings can be likewise and those written by outsiders. Because of the city's described: great emphasis is given to their dimen- special status in politics and religious life, the Baby- sions. There are, for instance, several tablets that lonians themselves devoted an extraordinary give measurements for the ziggurat of Babylon.10 amount of attention to Babylon compared to other The topographical texts are not the equivalent of cities. The unusual interest is not evident in the Pausanias's travel descriptions of Greece, but they royal building inscriptions, which are quite con- do indicate to us that the Babylonians also recog- ventional and do not deal with the city as a whole, nized that the elements mentioned above made up but in what modern scholars call topographical the image of the city. These records allow us to

9 6de Certeau2000, 102. George 1992,69. 7 10 Lynch 1960. E.g., Wiseman 1985, 71-3. 8 George 1992.

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Fig. 2. Reconstruction of the Ninmah temple at the site of Babylon.Remains of the Ishtargate are visible in the foreground. (Photo courtesy of J. Black) name many of the features we observe on the city Babylon wrote or inspired the Biblical narrative. map, and the name was considered to be crucial for A strong image of the city existed in this milieu the nature of the named in Mesopotamian tradi- and, although the attitude toward it was negative, tion. Nor should we forget that Babylon, as political the voice represented helps us to determine how capital and religious center of the Babylonian state, Babylon was perceived by people who saw it in appears in a great number of literary compositions. reality. It was prominent in the minds of poets and authors, Even taken together, this diffuse and multifac- many of whom may have lived and worked in the eted evidence does not replace a walk through a city in the service of the king. living city for the purpose of a semiotic analysis. The accounts by outsiders are narrative in na- Reading Babylon is like reading a fragmentary ture and more directly informative on the subject text- the usual situation for the student of ancient of what impression Babylon or one of its features Mesopotamia. What remains of its literature, for made on the observer. Most prominent is the ac- example, is incomplete. Even when numerous count by Herodotus in the first book of his Histo- manuscripts are preserved of a literary composi- ries (chs. 178-183). Scholars have debated pas- tion, as in the case of the well-known Epic of Gil- sionately over whether or not Herodotus ever vis- gamesh, there are gaps where the cuneiform tab- ited the city,11but this is not relevant to the analy- lets are broken and illegible, or the signs are too sis here. What counts is the impression the city opaque for our comprehension. Mesopotamian made on the viewer, and it does not matter wheth- works of art are most often incomplete and dam- er Herodotus tells us this first- or secondhand. aged. This incompleteness must become part of Herodotus was in awe of Babylon, as were other our appreciation of the Mesopotamian remains: it classical authors who mentioned it. To the Greeks cannot be avoided and should not be ignored, as it was an extraordinary sight, an opinion certainly is usually done. We cannot fill in the gaps, nor connected to their misapprehension of the East- should we regard the remnants at our disposal as ern world, where everything was different from a seamless whole. What we have is incomplete; and their own world. Another outside group that saw yet the subject itself remains as valid a topic of

11 Compare,e.g., Rollinger 1993 and its reviewby Dalley (1996).

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 260 MARC VAN DE MIEROOP [AJA107 research as does a complete work.12Nor should nity for its rebuilding. It is this new city that we now Mesopotamia be regarded as worse off than other know best in archaeological terms, the result of a historical cultures in that respect. All evidence, even long-term reconstruction that culminated in the the most abundant, must always be supplemented reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II by readers to fit their logical patterns. The aim here (ruled 604-562). Even if his city used a plan that is to seek in the architecture of Babylon a guide to had existed before14 and re-erected buildings orig- the ideas its builders wanted to convey and its visi- inally built a century earlier,15 Babylon as excavated tors received. Since we are not people of Babylon, can be regarded as the work of the new native Baby- we will never truly grasp their thoughts, but we may lonian dynasty that arose during the last decades of get an idea of the directions these took. the Assyrian empire and became its heir. Of that dynasty, Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest builder, WHICH BABYLON? who left numerous inscriptions announcing what The city of Babylon had a history that spanned at work was his. He was also the foremost military cam- least 2,000 years, if we exclude its modern use as a paigner of his dynasty, most infamous for his de- tourist destination and presidential residence. struction of Jerusalem, and it is well known that Babylon came into being in the late third millenni- Mesopotamian rulers often used the spoils of their um B.C., if not before. It became the political cen- conquests for building purposes at home. ter of southern Mesopotamia from the 18th centu- Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon is thus the subject of ry on, and survived in that role until around 300 this analysis. The king never claimed that what he B.C. So which Babylon are we to study here: an amal- had built was an entirely new city. He only boasted gam of neighborhoods and buildings that devel- of the individual buildings, streets, or walls that he oped over time, or a city planned in its general lay- constructed. That attitude was not unusual in an- out by one or a few individuals? The answer is nei- cient Mesopotamia. On the contrary, most kings did ther: the city cannot be seen as having gradually not boast of the fact that they founded a new city.16 expanded, as being a mere agglomeration of con- The reasons for this diffidence will become clear structions by successive inhabitants. Nor can it be through this reading of Babylon's messages about seen as planned anew by one person or by commit- order and power. tee. Its growth over time was interrupted by politi- That city was enormous, close to 900 ha in size cal events, and radical changes took place in its (fig. 3),17 which made Babylon the largest city of the layout. On the other hand, its major builders never ancient Mediterranean until imperial Rome. Its saw the city as a new one: restoration, not renova- general plan incorporated two geometrical figures tion, was their goal. (fig. 4). A large triangle (ca. 2,850 x 4,050 x 4,500 Within its long history, Babylon received the at- m) abutted the east bank of the Euphrates river as tention of many kings who embellished it with mon- its longest side, and the two other sides were made uments in order to guarantee their personal glory up by walls with a moat. It is unclear why this rather in the future. But others targeted it to steal its wealth, strange layout was chosen, but it seems to have some or wanted to punish its inhabitants for their politi- connection to the wish to integrate the so-called cal disobedience. The most dramatic example of summer palace some 2 km north of the inner city. the last attitude dates to the seventh century B.C. Partly within this triangle was the rectangular in- when the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, exasperated ner city (ca. 2,750 x 1,625 m), spread out on both by his inability to control Babylonia, turned against sides of the river, which contained the largest con- its capital and sacked it. His own description of the centration of monumental buildings. At its center events in the year 689 is very detailed. He states was the main sanctuary of Babylon, the Esagila-tem- that he razed all buildings from top to bottom and ple with its massive ziggurat, the Etemenanki, de- dumped their rubble into the river. Like a flood he voted to the city-god Marduk. The major streets led wiped the city off the face of the earth.13 Even allow- to that central location. Two walls and a moat sur- ing for hyperbole, the action seemed to have left rounded the inner city, and one or more bridges the city indeed desolate, and provided an opportu- connected the eastern and western parts.

12 17 Black 1998, 38-42. Remarkablydivergent numbers are publishedfor the size 13Luckenbill1924, 83-4. of in this cf. Nagel and Strommenger(1978- 14 Babylon period, George 1999b. 1979, 70-1). I follow their suggestion, which is also used by 15Miglusl999. Novak (1999, 96). 16 Van De Mieroop 1999a, 53-61.

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Fig. 3. Plan of the site of Babylon before excavations. (After Koldeway1925, pl. 1)

A VISIT TO BABYLON stands out among them: "Babylon lies in a wide A Viewfrom Afar plain, a vast city in the form of a square with sides Approaching Babylon a visitor would walk, ride, 120 stadia long; the circumference of the city is or sail through a very level countryside, a hallmark thus 480 stadia" (Hdt. 1.178). Depending on the of the lower Mesopotamian plain, and see the city basic length of the stadium he uses, the length of from a great distance. The entire city itself then is a one side is between 21 and 24 km for a total of some landmark that determines its surroundings from 90 km.18Even Ctesias, more likely than Herodotus as far as the eye can see. A first aspect that would to have visited Babylon in person, makes the com- have struck the visitor was its size. From whatever bined length of the four walls 360 stadia, some 66 angle the city was viewed, its outer walls stretched km.19These figures led late 19th-century scholars over a distance of some 3 to 4.5 km, far surpassing to believe that the entirety of northern Babylonia, those of any contemporary city. This enormity made incorporating the cities of Kish, Borsippa, and Baby- a great impression on classical authors who used lon, was surrounded by a massive square wall (fig. fantastic figures to describe Babylon's extent. Hero- 5). As he refers to a square city, Herodotus probably dotus is very explicit on this matter. He starts by was thinking of the inner city, whose four walls to- stating that Assyria,his name for Babylonia,is a coun- gether measured only 8 to 9 km. We need not seek try remarkable for its great cities, but that Babylon an archaeological correlate: to the Greeks, at least,

18Nesselrath1999, 190 n. 4. 19Boncquetl987,72.

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Fig. 4. Plan of the entire city of Babylon. (After Van De Mieroop 1999a, 87)

Babylon was immense in size, and the figures given of earth I heaped up. Great floods of destroying are so enormous that they convey the idea to its water like the great waves of the sea I made flow fullest extent. Aristotle describes it as a "city that around it; with a marsh I surrounded it."21 Hero- has the circuit of a nation rather than a city" {Pol. dotus wrote, "Babylon ... is surrounded by a broad 3.1.12).20 The size had consequences for its inhab- deep moat full of water, and within the moat there itants. Herodotus states that it led to people in the is a wall fifty royal cubits wide and two hundred city center being unaware that the outskirts had cubits high" (Hdt. 1.178). The city walls rose out of been captured by Cyrus (Hdt. 1.191) and Aristotle the water surrounding them, and they were enor- claimed it took three days for the news to reach mous in height as well. Herodotus's figure would everyone (Pol 3.1.12). be about 100 m, an unbelievable number, but in- Babylon did not only make an impression because dicative of the fact that they made an awesome im- of its horizontal extent; it also stood out vertically. pression. Combined with the moat, they created a - In the flat countryside Herodotus talks of a vast vision of the primordial sea out of which arose Baby- - plain it formed a vertical marker, again visible from lon. So Nabopolassar could call the inner city wall a great distance. There are several ideological as- "the firm frontier as old as time itself."22 pects to this dimension. Babylon's walls demarcat- By this likening, the city became the primordial ed its edges, and moats surrounded the walls. Neb- mound that had arisen out of the water at the be- uchadnezzar imagined these as forming a large ginning of creation itself, the geographical and tem- swamp. He states: "Alongside Babylon great banks poral point from which all else was made. This pri-

20Rackhaml977. 22A1-Rawi1985, 5-6. 21Langdon1912, 93, col. 2, 10-4.

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Fig. 5. Plan of Babylon as published in Wissowa1896 mordial mound remained physically included in By perpetually making up this vertical point lo- Babylon for its entire history: in the courtyard of the cated within the primordial ocean, Babylon became Marduk temple was a platform given the Sumerian the axis that joined the universe together. To the name du6-ku, "the pure hill." The hill, which arose Babylonians the universe was multilayered, contain- at the time of creation, was imagined to have ing three levels of heaven and three levels of emerged from the Persian Gulf as a result of the earth.25 Humans lived on the upper level of earth, deposits of silt by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.23 with the heaven above them. Beneath them was the The cult platform became the synecdoche for the underworld sea, called apsu, where the god Ea re- entire city. Its name explicitly stated what the role sided. According to the Babylonian creation myth, of Babylon as a whole was: the place of creation ris- the city of Babylon was built upon the apsu. Mar- ing from the sea, and because of its permanent pres- duk, Babylon's god, stated in the myth: it fulfilled that role in As the ence, perpetuity. pri- Above Apsu, the azure dwelling, mordial hill, the city was at the center of the world, Opposite Esharra, which I built above you, a concept clearly expressed in the so-called Babylo- Below the sacred places, whose grounding I made firm, nian world-map. It depicted the world as a round A house I shall build, my favorite abode.26 disk, floating in the ocean, within its center the rectangular city of Babylon clearly identified with a And that house was Babylon: It was the linchpin cuneiform legend (fig. 6).24 that connected all the layers of the universe. In the

23 25 Maul 1997, 116. Pongratz-Leisten1994, 36. 24Horowitz 1998,20-43. 26Foster 1993, 382.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 264 MARC VAN DE MIEROOP [AJA107 lists of the city's epithets are included "the bond of the heavens,"or "whichgrasps the bridle of heaven and underworld,"and "the bond of heaven and the underworld."27Architecturally this image was conveyed by the city walls rising out of the water surrounding them, but of course, also by its buildings reaching into the heavens. And here the ziggurat, clearly visible from afar, was crucial. Its Sumerian name, Etemenanki, meant "House, Foundation Plat- form of Heaven and Underworld."

The Ziggurat We have little idea exactly what the ziggurat looked like, but it was certainly imposing. Today it is a pitiful flat heap because Alexander of Mace- don dismantled it in for a rebuilding preparation translationof that never took its ruins were on a Fig. 6. The Babylonianmap of the world with place; dumped some of the cuneiform (After Mundi 48 hill Homera.28 In Nebuchadnezzar's it legends. Imago called day [1996] 211) must have been a truly impressive sight, however. There is no doubt that the Biblical authors of the private collection.30It shows king Nebuchadnezzar Tower of Babel story had the ziggurat of Babylon in next to a typical Mesopotamian stepped tower with mind. It was an attempt by humans to reach the seven stages, and contains a short inscription iden- heavens. Its builders state, "Come, let us build our- tifying the tower as Etemenanki. A longer inscrip- selves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens" tion on the relief, not published, contains a build- (Gen. 11:4). This plan worried God to such an ex- ing account of King Nebuchadnezzar. The relief tent that he confused the tongues of men to dif- also shows a plan that is very difficult to read. Other fuse their power. "Thisis only the beginning of what plans are found on a variety of cuneiform tablets, they will do; and nothing that they propose to do which provide some measurements,31 but these will now be impossible for them" (Gen. 11:6). Hero- leave a lot of room for interpretation. On this evi- dotus, or his source, was equally impressed by the dence we can envision Babylon's ziggurat as a sev- tower. He wrote: en-stepped tower that reached high into the sky, but we do not know its actual or the details (the temple) has a solid centraltower, one stadiumin height length and one in width, with a second erected on of its appearance. By itself the ziggurat has become top of it, and then a third, and so on up to eight. All the trope that defined Babylon in western Europe- towerscan be climbed a eight by spiralway running an thought, and as such it has been represented round the outside, and about half-wayup there are numerous times in Western art.32 the lack seatsfor those who makethe assentto reston. On the Naturally, of actual remains had allowed artists' summit of the topmost tower stands a great temple imaginations with a fine large couch in it, richly covered, and a to run wild; Pieter Breugel's versions were more golden table beside it. The shrine containsno image inspired by the Islamic minaret at Samarrathan by and no one spends the night there except one Assyr- ancient The tower was a ian all whoeverit be that the anything Mesopotamian. woman, alone, may god of man's hubris, but also of and has chosen (Hdt. 1.181). sign ingenuity progress, ideas we find in Western literature as The reconstruction of the ziggurat is a highly well.33The actual appearance of the ziggurat was debated question in the discipline.29There is only thus forgotten and replaced by an idea: an amazing one ancient visual representation of it, whose de- monument that represented the upper limit of what tails are unclear. It appears on a relief that remains humankind could accomplish. partly unpublished, which was excavated by the The verticality of the ziggurat was its dominant German expedition in 1917, but is now part of a visual feature, and its presence in a wide, flat coun-

27 George 1997, 127. er/schoyen/4/4.2/ms2063.jpg. I owe this reference to an 28Koldewey1925, 301. anonymousreviewer for A/A. 29Cf.Vicaril986. 31Jakob-Rost1984; Wiseman 1985, 71-3. 30 The relief is in the privatelyowned Sch0yen collection :^Minkowski1960; Albrecht 1999. (Oslo and London) and can be seen at http://www.nb.no/bas- ssRollinger 1999, 375-7.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2003] READING BABYLON 265 tryside made this aspect even more eye-catching. The inner city also had monumental walls, less Recently an interesting suggestion was made that elaborate but more symmetrical (fig. 7). The in- ties this vertical axis together with a horizontal one. scriptions tell us that the outer one was called Nim- The profile of the ziggurat with its seven stages can it-Enlil "Bulwark of Enlil," the inner one Imgur- be seen as the ground plan of a temple, where the Enlil, "Enlil showed favor."The archaeological re- stages correspond to courtyards and rooms. The mains show that they were 7 m apart, both made of ziggurat itself can be seen as a vertical temple.34 sun-dried bricks, and respectively 3.7 and 6.5 m The top stage, where Herodotus places the shrine wide.37While less impressive than the outer defens- that no one but a priestess enters, corresponds then es, their plan more clearly showed that they delin- to the inner cella of the temple, inaccessible to all eated a place of order. Since the size of the city was but a few select priests, set at the rear of a linear so enormous, that order could extend over the en- series of rooms. tire world, and the four walls suggested the four edges of the universe. Throughout Mesopotamian The City Walls history totality was expressed by that concept: a tru- The same complementarity between vertical and ly great king was a "king of the four quarters of the horizontal axes can be applied to Babylon in its universe,"38but what we translate as quarters the entirety. Vertically,it was the mound rising out of Mesopotamians called edges. That Babylon could the waters of the primordial sea- but simultaneous- be seen as the entire civilized world is perhaps also ly, horizontally it was the center of the earth. We as expressed by the length of its inner walls. A small viewerstake on now an Olympianview, looking down fragment exists of a tablet that originally had a plan upon the city from high above. Striking from this of Babylon on one of its sides.39The text on it gives point of view are the walls, not in their monumen- these dimensions (in nindanu) for the walls: tality,but in their linearity.The straight walls form a Upper Eastwall 450 nindanu Eastwall nindanu border between city and countryside. In the Meso- Lower 250 within the walls there is out- Upper Westwall 300 nindanu potamian view, order, LowerWest wall 200 nindanu40 side them is chaos. The countryside is the place where enemies, barbarians,animals, and ghosts live, In cubits, with 1 nindanu equaling 12 cubits, this all to be kept out. The walls provide that security, amounts to 5,400, 3,000, 3,600, and 2,400 cubits, a clearly delineating the two spheres. total of 14,400. That figure is 4 x 3,600, the number As the site map shows, there were many city walls that the Mesopotamians equated with totality.41 in Babylon, all of them magnificent. The outer de- While the individual measures given do not reflect fenses, forming a large triangle with a perimeter of the archaeological reality, the fact that other sourc- 18 km, were made up of three lines of walls. The es give the same aggregate length for Babylon's innermost was 7 m wide and made of sun-dried walls, 1,200 nindanu,42 indicates that the number brick, and had towers attached to it 44 m apart. A had an importance. Sargon II of Assyria,the build- gap of 12 m separated it from the outer two walls, er of another city, Dur-Sharrukin,stated explicitly both in baked brick and running adjacent to one that the measure of the city walls was significant. In another. The middle one was 7.8 m wide, the one at his case it was 16,280 cubits, which he called "the the edge of the moat, 3.3 m.35The 12 m gap was numeral of my name," a reference we unfortunate- filled up with rubble, probably to the top, so that ly do not understand.43 Herodotus's claim that Babylon's walls were 50 royal cubits wide (25 m) and allowed a four-horse char- The City Gates iot to ride on them was probably not a fantasy.It is Walls protect, but they need to be crossed to en- no surprise, then, that Babylon's city walls ranked ter and exit the city. Gates are needed, and they among the seven wonders of the ancient world in present a paradox. They provide access, but they most early versions of that list.36 also exclude. The last role is especially crucial for

40 1998. George 1992, 135. 34Allinger-Csollich 41 35Koldewey1925, 1-6. The idea that the combined length of the wallsgiven in 36 E.g.,a second-centuryB.C. poembyAntipater (Ekschmitt the tabletBM 35385 amountsto four times 3,600 derivesfrom 1984,9). Unger (1932, 335). I have not found it repeated elsewhere. 42 37Koldewey1925, 148-53. George 1992, 135-6. 38Oppenheimet al. 1971, 331-2. 43VanDe Mieroop 1999b, 336-7. 39 George 1992, 28.

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Fig. 7. Partlyhypothetical plan of the inner city of Babylon.(After Oates 1986, 148; George1992, 24) how the city interactswith the chaos outside its walls. Babylon's gates were so effective that, according Gates need to hold back external enemies. On the to Herodotus and Xenophon, when Cyrus wanted one hand they breach the security provided by the to enter the city,he did not even try to capture them, city walls, thereby reducing their effectiveness; on but instead diverted the water of the Euphrates and the other hand, gates are great protectors them- marched his troops through the riverbed. The cu- selves. The tablet that lists Babylon's gates provides neiform record does not agree with this story,45but almost each one of them with an epithet that high- its existence again shows what an impression the lights its ability to keep the enemy out. city made on outsiders. The access as and CityGate: "The Enemy is Abhorrentto it"the Urash gates provided well, however, Gate; with them we can start a more detailed reading of CityGate: "It Hates its Attacker"the ZababaGate; the city, with a walk along some of its monuments. Gate:"Ishtar City Overthrowsits Assailant"the Ishtar Herodotus states that there were 100 gates in Baby- Gate; lon, a fantastic figure, as the inner city had only CityGate: "O Adad, Guardthe Life of the Troops!" the Adad Gate; eight. The most striking one known to us was in the CityGate: "O Shamash,Make Firm the Foundation northern wall, the Ishtar gate. It made such an im- of the Troops!"the ShamashGate.44 pression on the German excavators that they

44 George1992,67. 45Beaulieu1989,225-6.

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Fig. 8. The Ishtar gate as displayed in Berlin. (Photo by the author) shipped it in its entirety to Berlin to join the Perga- of copper and frenzied dragons,"48 metal statues mon altar and the market gateway from Miletus as most likely long since plundered by invading monuments of the accomplishments of the an- armies. The paradox of the gate is very strong here. cients (fig. 8). What one can see in Iraq today are The enemy felt surrounded and confronted by di- the remains of an earlier version, still preserved to a vine creatures protecting the city from his attack. height of some 12 m. The Ishtar gate was one of On the other hand, the visitor was drawn into the Nebuchadnezzar's favorite projects, and building city, already enveloped by its protective spirit for inscriptions state that he rebuilt it several times. Be- 200 m before entering its gate (fig. 9). fore reaching it, the visitor walked for some 200 m As a means of entrance, the Ishtar gate was im- in between two high walls on which were represent- portant in the annual New Year's festival. It was the ed 120 lions striding forward, molded in bas-relief point at which the statue of Marduk, which had and brightly colored on a glazed blue background. dwelt in the New Year's temple outside the walls for At night only the brightly colored bands and ani- a while, reentered the city. Another name for it was mals would have been visible, the blue of the walls "the entrance of kingship"49 and passing through merging into the dark.46 During the day the glazed it reconfirmed the king's power as it did for Mar- bricks of the background wall shone like the stone duk. The gate protected a processional way, as Neb- of a seal. This calls to mind the passage in the Erra- uchadnezzar indicates in an inscription on the sides epic where the god Ishum likens Babylon to "a gem- of the stone slabs that were used to pave the street.50 stone seal on the neck of the sky."47Visitors feel On the edge of each slab, unseen to the person surrounded by the goddess, walking among her lion walking over them, was written this text: symbols confronting them. Then, one faces the gate Nebuchadnezzar of son of itself, also colored dark blue. It depicted some 150 Babylon, Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, I am. In the street of Babylon used and bulls, the of the Marduk dragons symbols gods for the procession of the great lord Marduk I made and Adad, protectors of the city. Nebuchadnezzar the road smooth with limestone slabs. May Marduk, states that he also stationed at its sills "fierce bulls my lord, give a long-lasting life.51

46 48 A member of the audience pointed this out to me when George 1992,339-40. 49 I lectured at the Universityof Toronto. I apologize for being George 1992,341. unable to thank him properlyby name. 50Koldeweyl925, 25. 47 Foster 1993, 796. 51Langdon1912, 199, no. 30.

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Fig.9. Modelof the Ishtargate and processionalway. (Photo courtesy of StaatlicheMuseen zu Berlin)

The street itself made progress easy. Its center known, as it remains partly unexcavated, but the was paved with large white limestone slabs, its sides remains uncovered suggest that it was similar in with slabs of red breccia veined with white.52Once plan to the Southern Palace and even more luxuri- inside the city walls, the street led straight to the ous, with fragments of lapis lazuli-colored glazed center of the city where the sanctuary of Marduk reliefs and stone floor tiles found in it.54Nebuchad- was located. nezzar built this palace late in his reign,55perhaps in imitation of Assyrianpalaces, which typicallyover- The Palaces lay the city wall as if to indicate their importance Traveling toward the city center, the first monu- both to the city and the countryside.56The Haupt- mental building we encounter is a large royal resi- burg is often thought to have been the royal residential/defensive complex, located on both sides dence, while the Southern Palace would have been of the city walls, that Nebuchadnezzar built to con- reserved for official business. Within the Northern trol the point at which the Euphrates entered the Palace's ruins were found a number of objects rang- inner city. The main part is what we now call the ing from the late third millennium B.C. to Neb- Southern Palace, which stood inside the city walls uchadnezzar's time. Some scholars, especially Eck- and centered around a sequence of five courtyards. hard Unger,57once thought these artifacts formed One entered the complex from the east, in other a type of museum. Now it seems that this interpre- words from the street beyond the Ishtar gate. The tation was a figment of the imagination. The ob- throne room was located on the south side of the jects were not found together, nor were many of third courtyard, its facade decorated with glazed them visible in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.58On bricks representing lions and stylized trees. The the other hand, the presence of such ancient ob- room itself was enormous, 52 x 17 m, which "com- jects in the Neo-Babylonian palace should not be pares in size not unfavourably with the Gallery of fully discounted as meaningless. They included Mirrorsat Versailles (73 x 10.4 m)."53 what might have been war booty: late third-millen- The Northern Palace, or Hauptburg, was located nium statues and an eighth-century relief from the outside the city walls. The structure is not well land of Suhu on the middle Euphrates, and early

52Koldeweyl901. 56VanDe Mieroop 1999a, 91-2. 57 53Oatesl986, 152. Unger 1931, 224-8. 54Koldewey1925, 153-67. 5*Klengel-Brandtl990. 55Langdon1912, 112-21.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2003] READING BABYLON 269 first-millennium reliefs from northern Syria. A ed by one scholar that they never were in Babylon, building inscription by king Adad-nirari II (ruled but in the Assyrian city of Nineveh.61This proposal 911-891) was brought from the Assyrian capital. A would take away some of Babylon's luster, however, number of objects also were recovered from Babylo- and we might persist in looking for them in that nian cities, however.The oldest of these was a weight city, keeping in mind this statement in a recent inscribed with the name of the 21st-century king investigation: "Whateverthe Hanging Gardens re- Shulgi. Some building inscriptions commemorat- ally looked like, there is no basis for the idea, wide- ed work in Babylon itself, including by the Assyrian ly current, that the excavatorsat Babylon have failed ruler Assurbanipal (ruled 668-627) and his broth- to produce any likely site for them."62 er Shamash-shuma-ukin,who governed Babylonia The palace complex was the most prominent sec- from 667 to 648. Inscriptions of Neo-Babylonian ular building in the city. Its location at what seems building activity in other cities were kept there as to have been one of the crucial access points, the well. The most recent find was a copy of the Bisu- Ishtar gate, does indicate that royal power was not tun inscription left by the Persian ruler Darius in absent in the image of Babylon. Yet the visitor's at- the early fifth century when the palace was still in tention would not be detained long by it. Beyond use. This collection can still be regarded as evi- the Ishtar gate, the 200 m long facade that lined dence of the antiquarian interests of the period.59 the street was interrupted by only one small gate. The objects came from a wide geographical area Access was probably denied to most. Instead the and covered a long time span from the third mil- visitor was urged on to the center of town as the lennium to the period when the Northern Palace processional road continued for at least 800 m with was in use. Living kings added pieces of great polit- its smoothly paved surface. First a narrow canal was ical significance, such as the Bisutun inscription, crossed, called Libil-hengalla, "Mayit bring abun- to it. The collection tied the kings of the moment dance." Along the street a number of small tem- to those of the past; while ruling they could see ples, to the gods Ninmah, Nabu, and Ishtarof Agade physical evidence of their predecessors' existence. were located, but it is unclear whether they would It is perhaps then not such a surprise that they tried have been visible, since some lay at a distance from to establish how long ago these others had lived. the street, and we do not know whether other build- The last Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus, thought ings would have blocked the view. Also a domestic that the Kassite king Shagarakti-Shuriashruled 800 quarter was passed; it is called Merkes today and is years before him, Hammurabisome 1,500 years, and the only excavated residential area in Babylon. The Naram-Sin 3,200 years. While these numbers are layout differed from that of the overall city in that highly inaccurate, they do show a serious concern the plan was less regular and the streets not always on the part of this king to connect his own rule to straight. Yet this area was made up of large court- that of the rulers of the past. yard houses that are grouped into city blocks and This palace complex is often mentioned as the show a greater uniformity than other residential possible location for the famous Hanging Gardens neighborhoods known from Mesopotamia. of Babylon,60another wonder of the ancient world, which is enigmatic in many respects. Berossus, quot- The Marduk Temple Complex ed by Josephus, states that the gardens were laid Just south of the Nabu temple was a gate, the out by Nebuchadnezzar in order to please his Me- "Grand Gate," that indicated the border between dian wife, who felt homesick for the mountains; oth- two city quarters: the northern Ka-dingirra with its er classical authors, mostly inspired by Ctesias, talk palace, and the central Eridu. The latter was the about them as well. But several prominent classical religious center of Babylon. According to the texts sources that describe Babylon, including Herodot- it contained 14 temples, including the most im- us, fail to mention the gardens altogether, and no portant ones of Babylon, the Marduk temple and archaeological evidence is known that clearly sug- the ziggurat (fig. 10). The two were separated by a gests their location. Much ink has flowed (with lit- street 80 m wide. The Marduk temple, called Es- tle progress) in determining their exact where- agila "House whose Top is High"63 was essentially a abouts in Babylon and the technology used to water square building with a courtyard surrounded by them. In desperation, perhaps, it has been suggest- rooms, and two large courts on its eastern side. High

59Beaulieul994. 62Reade2000, 213. 60 63 E.g., Koldewey1925. George 1992, 59. 61 Dalley 1994.

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Fig. 10. Plan of the Marduktemple complex. (AfterWetzel and Weissback1938, pl-2) walls enclosed the complex, and its access was most lowed entrance to it. The viewer outside may not likely restricted to select cult personnel. Its outer have been able to really appreciate the high struc- wall was pierced with seven gates, protected by stat- ture within it. The ziggurat may only have been ful- ues of dragons, as we know from an inscription of ly visible from a distance, from well outside the city. King Neriglissar (ruled 559-556), who states that he placed two dragons each on four of the gates, all The New Year'sFestival made of copper.64 There is no doubt that this area was the center of Similarly, high walls protected the ziggurat called the cult and that the religious focus of Babylon was Etemenanki. Nine gates provided access to its court- here. Year-round the gods of the pantheon found yard. The main one, on the eastern side, was set 80 m their home in this central city. The Esagila was the away from the street deep into a niche flanked by "palace of the gods."65 The centrality of Marduk's high walls surrounding the courtyard. As with the sanctuary for the entire city and its surroundings Ishtar gate, the visitor would have to walk between became especially prominent during the New Year's these walls, probably also decorated with divine sym- festival. That festival took place during the first 12 bols, before gaining access, and the same paradox days of the month Nisannu, which included the of exclusion and invitation would be felt here as spring equinox, around March 21. The details of well. The ziggurat complex had a large open court- the festival are relatively well known, since the cer- yard (some 350 m2), but it is unclear who was al- emonies of days 2-5 are described on two tablets

64 65 George 1992,85. George 1999a, 69.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2003] READING BABYLON 271 from the later Seleucid period, but probably reflect millennium. The connection between the god of older practices as well.66The festival dates back to Babylon and those of other cities was not limited to the early history of Babylon, however, and probably the time of the festival alone. Several of the city the general outline of the ceremonies remained gates of Babylon were named after the gods who similar over time. New Year festivals also were im- visited at the time: Ishtar, Zababa, Urash, Shamash, portant in the cultic calendars of other cities, and Adad, and Enlil.71They connected Babylon perma- from the third millennium on, a parallel festival nently to the dwellings of these deities in other took place around the autumn equinox.67 Some- cities, such as Enlil in Nippur, Shamash in Sippar, times information from the other festivals at Assur and so on, like the spokes of a wheel radiating from or Uruk, for example, helps us to reconstruct the the hub. events in Babylon. There were multiple natural, The gods' visit had both a cosmic and a political cosmic, and political aspects to the festival, summed meaning. In cosmic terms it repeated the gather- up as follows: ing of the gods described in the Babylonian cre- 1. an attempt to celebrate or ensure the success ation myth. That composition was important in the of the spring harvest of barley, New Year'sfestival, and it was recited on the evening 2. a patronal festival of the city-god, Marduk, in- of the fourth day. In the story, Marduk defeated cluding his enthronement, chaos, personified by the sea goddess Tiamat and 3. a symbolic representation of certain episodes her demons, and as reward he was granted king- in the Epic of Creation, ship of the gods by the assembled deities. They 4. the marking of the calendrical New Year, built the city of Babylon as his royal residence. The 5. the affirmation of the king as high priest of recital of the literary composition reminded the Marduk, owing his kingship to the god: but audience of the beginning of the time when Mar- not as a substitute for or representative of the duk organized the universe, and of the status of god, and Babylon created then. The original assembly of the 6. the reception and enthronement of the god gods, as described in the creation myth, took place Nabu.68 in a place named ubshu-ukkina ( CreationMyth, Tab- I focus here on how the space of Babylonwas used let 6, lines 162 and 165). The Sumerian term, not in the ceremonies and how the latter enhanced the fully clear to us, was given the Akkadian paraphrase architecturalimage of Babylon on a cosmic and po- kisalpuhurHi, "the court of the gods' assembly."72As litical level. While the Marduk temple was the phys- we have seen for the primordial hill of creation, ical center of the festival, two aspects linked it with du6-ku,the specific historical moment became con- the rest of the city and the wider world: the other tinuous within Babylon's temple. So we find in the gods visited Mardukin Babylon;and he traveledwith Marduk temple a shrine called ubshu-ukkina, his entourage outside the city to stay overnight in a where the gods assemble in perpetuity. It is simul- building called the akitu-house. The voyage was a taneously the place where the great gods estab- procession that presented the visual high point of lished destiny; the du6-kuacted there as the seat of the festival and used the city as its background. the seven deities who decree fate.73Three aspects During the festival, gods from all over Babylonia of time merged together: the specific moment, the visited Babylon. Most prominent in the rituals was cyclical, and the eternal. The specific was the mo- the visit of Marduk'sson, Nabu, who was brought in ment at the beginning of time when the gods in from the neighboring city of Borsippa by the king. assembly decreed the fate of Marduk to become He arrived with his wife Tashmetum on the fifth their king. The cyclical was the annual repetition day, but had to wait one night at the city gate.69Oth- of that event during the New Year's festival. The er deities arrivedas well: Anu from Uruk, Enlil from eternal was the constant presence of a divine as- Nippur, Nergal from Cutha, Zababafrom Kish, and sembly in Marduk's temple, constantly re-establish- so on.70 They were represented by their statues, ing the god's function as king. which were brought to the capital probably by boat, Politically, the visit by gods from other cities of following a tradition that dated back to the third the state during the New Year's festival indicated

66 For an English translationof the text, see Sachs 1969. 69VanderToorn 1991, 335. There is a large literatureon the akitu-festival,which has not 70Pongratz-Leisten1994, 133-6. 71 been systematicallyused in the discussionhere. Geome 1992, 22-3. 72 67Thureau-Dangin1921, 87. George 1999a, 73. 68 73 Black 1981. George 1999a, 73-4.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 272 MARC VAN DE MIEROOP [AJA107 Babylon'srole as the capital of a wider territory.Only No single well-preservedtext describes such a char- those cities that were under its control would send iot, but references in fragmentary records are nu- statues, so the presence or absence of a god was a merous. For example, a royal inscription from the meaningful indication of Babylon's political second half of the second millennium relates that strength.74We can easily imagine that when Nip- the king constructed for the god Enlil a chariot of pur, for example, was outside Babylon's control, the dark wood, covered with a variety of semiprecious god Enlil did not attend the ceremonies. Another stones, so that it would shine like the light of day political aspect of the gods' assembly is clear from and the crescent of the new moon.78Nabu's chariot the events at the akitu-house. During their stay was elsewhere said to be of shining bronze, and there, part of the ritual included the distribution when Assurbanipal brought Marduk's statue from of the previous year's campaign booty to the assem- Assur to Babylon he stated that it was covered with bled gods, and a request for predictions about the gold, silver, and precious stones.79Seleucid period success of future campaigns.75The king used the texts from Uruk indicate that the beer brewers of New Year's festival as an occasion to provide indi- that city had obtained the right to pull the chariot vidual cults with donations and to obtain the reli- of the local god Anu, something that brought great gious and local support for his military plans. prestige.80That the same privilege with Marduk's The New Year'sfestival took Mardukand his com- chariot was sought after at Babylon is clear from a panion deities outside his city. They would spend prayer by Nebuchadnezzar81 and other passages three nights in the akitu-house, a temple whose from that king's inscriptions.82 exact location we do not know. A procession with Since war booty was distributed to the gods when carefully marked stages took the statues there late they spent the night in the akitu-house, it is likely in the festival,76starting inside the temple itself, that it was carried alongside the statues, adding a moving from the cella to the ante-cella and into the rich visual dimension to the procession. Nebuchad- courtyardwith rituals at each stop. The statues then nezzar mentions that every year he brought "gold, came into public view, moving along the proces- silver, splendid gems, shining sapsu, the bounty of sional road, in between the temple and the ziggu- mountains and seas, the best of all that is good, rat and then northward. This was probably the only fattened choice bulls, fine long-fleeced sheep, a moment in the year when the general public could variety of fish of the sea and birds of the sky, geese, see the statue of the god Marduk.Unfortunately we ducks, wild birds, turtle-doves, gerboas that flour- do not know the details of the event, but we can ish in the swamps, abundant vegetables the delica- piece together information using a variety of sourc- cies of gardens, red-gold fruits, abundant produce es on Babylon and assuming that the processions at of the orchards, dates, Dilmun-dates, white figs, rai- other Mesopotamian cities were comparably orga- sins, beer, honey, butter, sweet cakes, milk, the best nized.77The king probably accompanied the stat- oil, splendid abundance, luxuriant produce, the ues, since his role was crucial in the festival, and we best of all lands, countless libations of beer and know that without him the akitu-rituals could not wine as if it were water."83 take place. If this was offered during the New Year'sfestival, The visual importance of the event cannot be the convoy itself must have been an incredible sight, underestimated. What was usually invisible to the carrying animals, garden produce, metals, and public became visible. Both the temple and the stones along in wagons. Moreover, the city's monu- palace were well-guarded, walled complexes with ments probably provided a background for rituals. very restricted access, and most people were barred The inscriptions regarding the Ishtar gate empha- from them. Thus their only opportunity to see the size its position on the processional road, so one god and the king may have been at this time. Mar- would imagine that some important episode of the duk was accompanied by the gods from other cit- festival occurred there in that stage setting. The ies, and their voyage through Babylon took place in real Ishtar gate in this sense does not seem that far special chariots, which were luxuriantly decorated. removed from D.W. Griffiths'.

74 79 Pongratz-Leisten1994, 11. Pongratz-Leisten1994, 193-5. 75VanderToorn 1991, 333. 80 1994, 4. 76 Pongratz-Leisten Pongratz-Leisten1994, 37-84. 81"Let me wellinto old 77 pullyour chariot-pole my age,"Lang- Poneratz-Leisten1994. don 1912, 176 B X 34-5. 82 78Zimmern1906, 153-5. Other very fragmentarymanu- Reiner etal. 1984, 312. scriptsof the text have been published since, but the entire 83Langdon1912, 168 B VII 12-30. compositionremains poorly known.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2003] READING BABYLON 273 When the procession reached the Euphrates, ETERNAL BABYLON the divine statues boarded ships that were also The city of Babylon contained a myriad of signs lavishly built. King Nebuchadnezzar boasted that to the visitor, but one message seems to have been he had made a boat for Marduk using 14 talents dominant: it was the place of order in a world of and 12 mina of red gold (426 kg) and 740 semi- chaos. Simultaneously,while it was clearly delineat- precious stones, so that the ship would shine like ed by its straight walls, meticulously protected, it a blinking star. He decorated it with the represen- was an organizing principle for the entire universe. tations of spades and dragons, insignia of Marduk.84 On a vertical axis it tied all the levels of the uni- For other deities, similar ships are attested. Once verse together as a large post in its center. On a the procession left the inner city, it took on larger horizontal axis, with its size and its widespread con- dimensions. Its aim was to reach the uncultivated tacts, it extended that order throughout the regions steppe, far outside the city walls, and by doing so, of the world. Physical dimensions were reformulat- it turned the entire countryside into a sacred land- ed. Babylon was limited, but at the same time it was scape. As in other ancient cultures, such as Rome,85 limitless: by itself, it was the entire universe. Its own natural phenomena were turned into a context role as a microcosm reflecting the entire cosmos for the cult. They were tied together in being visit- was repeated by the temple at its heart. Marduk's ed by the procession, and specific features gained sanctuary,as clearly delineated as the city itself, was a cultic role. an entire universe on its own, housing all the gods, The fact that the procession left Babylon for the representing universal order. At an even smaller countryside was very important, as it crossed from level, all of the functions of Babylon as a whole could the world of order into that of chaos. By visiting the be embodied in one cult platform only, the dufi-ku countryside Marduk extended his organizing pow- that was the eternal place of creation. ers into disorder itself.86In some texts, Marduk's The role of Babylon as being both enclosed and boat is said to be the body of Tiamat,87the sea mon- open was made possible by its gates, which, para- ster that embodied chaos and whose defeat was thus doxically, gave access but also denied it. The gates made permanent: Marduk repeated his conquest of Babylon protected against invaders, but also cre- of chaos as depicted in the Babylonian creation ated connections to other cities. In this respect as myth. This brings us full circle: the role of the city well, the entire city and one of its parts had exactly as an organizing principle in the universe was also the same function. The gates were among the most the role of its god Marduk, the one who brings or- prominent architectural features of the city. But the der to the universe. Both god and city were forces entire city was also a gate as its name tells us: Baby- of order in a world of chaos. The entire layout of lon is Bab-ili, the gate of the gods. While the origin Babylon and the cult that dominated it emphasized of the city name was probably very different, from this message. the late third millennium on the idea that it was Certainly,other visual messages were to be found the gods' gate was commonly accepted. When the in Babylon as well. After all, it was an enormous city name of the city was rendered in Sumerian, the with many neighborhoods. People with various oc- words used stated "Gate of the gods," Ka-dingirra.88 cupations inhabited the city, and undoubtedly spe- In Mesopotamia, the name was not accidental to cific streets were reserved for some trades: black- the named: it revealed the true identity. So those smiths, potters, shoemakers, and so on. It was a city who heard the name of Babylon heard a message with people from all over the Babylonian empire on the city's true role as the gate through which the and beyond: Medes from western Iran,Judeans from gods came to bring their benefits to the human the Levant, Egyptians, and others, rubbed shoul- world. They came through Babylon, just as at the ders with Babylonians and other long-term resi- time of creation when they had asked Marduk to dents of the region. Many still spoke their native organize the world. languages- "a confusion of tongues"- and proba- The city constantly played this role by its sheer bly wore their distinctive dress. City quarters with physicality and by its name. The time of creation people of diverse origins existed, each with their was constantly repeated in it, and time itself was own atmosphere, smells, and sounds. This is a Baby-^ reformulated in it. And creation to the Mesopota- Ion we can only imagine. mians was organization, the bringing of order. Mar-

87 84Pongratz-Leisten1994, 78. Reiner etal. 1999,410a. 85Cancik 1985-1986. 88Fora surveyof the city'sname in Sumerianand Akkadian, 86Pongratz-Leisten1994, 78. see George 1992, 253-6.

This content downloaded from 130.253.4.14 on Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:43:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 274 MARC VAN DE MIEROOP [AJA107 duk had done this by defeating Chaos as repre- of its original message. Neither record is superior too sented by Tiamat. That work was constant, however; to the other: the archaeological remains seem it never ended. The city continued to defeat chaos, scanty, the ancient testimonies too muddled by But through it the gods continued to select Marduk as hyperbole and misunderstanding. jointly they the one who fulfilled this role. The cosmic impor- lead us to understand the ideological role of Baby- and creation. tance was so great that no mortal could be responsi- lon, especially its relationship to order ble for it; it was a task for the gods. Babylon, found- Other ancient cities may reveal their own message evi- ed at the time of creation, was a pivot of the uni- to us if we read the textual and archaeological verse, a fortress that kept chaos at bay. All mortals dence together, as we did here for Babylon. could do was to help the city in perpetuating its beneficial role, by carefully repairing the damage 603 KENT HALL done to individual buildings. The emphasis was COLUMBIAUNIVERSITY not on innovation, but on a careful copying of the NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1OO27 old. The kings realized that temples like the Esagi- MV 1 ©COLUMBIA.EDU la dated back to very early times and were careful not to alter their plan, but to follow the ancient Cited foundations. The Assyrian king Esarhaddon, who Works rebuilt after the violent destruction his fa- Babylon Albrecht, S. 1999. "Der Turm zu Babel als bildlicher My- ther wrought, stated: "I laid its foundation platform thos: Malerei-Graphik-Architektur."In Babylon:Focus directly on top of its ancient footings, according to mesopotamischerGeschichte, Wiege fruher Gelehrsamkeit, 553-74. Saar- its original plan: I did not fall short by one cubit, Mythosin derModerne,edited byj. Renger, Saarbrikker Druckerei und nor did I overshoot half a cubit." Some 120 years briicken: SDV Verlag. by W. 1998. "BirsNimrud II: 'Tieftempel' later the Nabonidus said: "Asa facsimi- Allinger-Csollich, - Babylonian - 'Hochtempel'. Vergleichende Studien Borsippa I drew its I measured le of its blueprint up plan [...] Babylon." 5«M29:93-330. its dimensions [with] the large aslu cubit-standard, Al-Rawi, F. 1985. Nabopolassar s Restoration Work on to its ancient designs."89 the Wall Imgur-Enlil at Babylon." Iraq47:1-14. according TheSemi- When at one saw how the world Barthes, R. 1988. "Semiology and Urbanism. In looking Babylon, otic 191-201. New York:Hill and benefited from its existence: as the of Challenge, Wang. place origi- Beaulieu, P.-A.1989. TheReign of Nabonidus,King of Baby- nal creation it continued to bring order forever. lon 556-539 B. C. New Haven: Yale University Press. This plan was visible from afar when looking at the . 1994. "Antiquarianism and the Concern for the the entire city, and nearby when looking at its details. It Past in the Neo-Babylonian Period." Bulletin of was revealed in its festivals, ceremonies Canadian Societyfor MesopotamiaStudies 28:37-42. ephemeral P.-R.1970. "Das nach den that were and tied the entire Berger, Neujahrfest Komgsin- repeated every year schriften des babylonischen Reiches." would have been ausgehenden cultic year together. That message In Actesde la XVIPRencontre Assyriologique Internation- presented loud and clear to all who saw Babylon ale, edited by A. Finet, 155-9. Ham-sur-Heure: Co- and understood the cosmology that inspired it. mite beige de recherches en Mesopotamie. Even the Biblical authors have this, Black, J. 1981. "The New Year Ceremonies in Ancient may perceived Bel the Hand' and a Cultic Pic- the around: while the Babylon: 'Taking by and turned message Babylo- nic." 1 1 :39-59. to establish God them Religion nians sought order, punished . 1998. ReadingSumerian Poetry. London: Athelone. with confusion. The Greeks seem to have missed Boncquet, J. 1987. DiodorusSiculus (II, 1-34) overMeso- the message, however. They could only marvel at, potamie:Een historischeKommentaar. Brussel: Koninklijke Academie voor Letteren en Schone or disapprove of, Babylon's enormous size. Wetenschappen, we can no see that as it was in Kunsten van Belgie. Today longer city Cancik, H. 1985-1986. "Rome as Sacred Landscape. the sixth B.C. ruins massive century Only remain, VisibleReligion 4-5:250-61 . in the surface they cover but paltry when compared Dalley, S. 1994. "Nineveh, Babylon and the Hanging to what the buildings originally were. Modern re- Gardens: Cuneiform and Classical Sources Recon- constructions and archaeologists' plans add some ciled." /ra<76:45-58. . 1996. "Herodotos and OLZ91.525-32. substance, but cannot recreate the Yet Babylon." city. reading de Certeau, M. 2000. The CerteauReader. Edited by G. the traces carefully in conjunction with the state- Ward. Oxford: Blackwell. ments of those who saw the city (or had heard about Eco, U. 1972. La structureabsente: Introduction a la recher- it from people who did) allows us to uncover some chesemiotique. Paris: Mercure de France.

89 George 1992, 123.

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