A}Icient Babylon: from Gradual Demise to Archaeological Rediscovery

A}ICIENT BABYLON: FROM GRADUAL DEMISE TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL REDISCOVERY

J. Paul Tanner JordanEvangelical Theological Seminary Amman Jordan

INTRODUCTION sampy and incorporated it with that of Assyria, though western portions were made a separateunit. The Neo-Batlylonian Empire was founded under Somelarge landed estates were confiscated,and the the rule of Nabopolassar (Nabt-apla-usur), who country in generalwas heavily taxed. In terms of its reigned from 626-605 B.C. For severalhundred years temples,it is probablethat someof themfell into ruin prior to his rule, Babylon had been a vassal state through lack of maintenancein the following cen- under the rule of the Assyrians to the north, and had turies rather than through violent destruction,in that suffered destruction by Assyrian king Sennacherib in Esagila and other sancfuariesare mentionedin later 689 B.C.1 Following the death of the Ashurbanipal in texts(Roux 1992:409). 627 8.C., the Assy'ian Empire rapidly decreasedin Despitethis setbackdestruction, Babylon contin- power until finally in 612 B.C. the great city of ued to flourish until Alexanderthe Greatdefeated the Nineveh was defeatedby the combined forces of the Persians.His victory at the battle of Gaugamela,on Babylonians, Medes and Scythians. Octoberl, 331 B.C.,opened the roadto Persiaand Under the rule of Nabopolassar's son, Babylon. Alexanderwas warmly welcomedby the Nebuchadnezzar Il (Nab0-kudurri-usur, 605-562 citizens of Babylon, and after making sacrifice to B.C.), the Neo-Babylonian Empire reachedthe zenith Marduk he ordered the restoration of Esagila and of its power. However, by 539 B.C., the Babylonians resolvedto make Babylonhis easterncapital.3 His were defeated by the armies of Cynrs the Great, king planswere cut shortby his deathin Babylonn 323 of the Medes and Persians. The city of Babylon itself B.C. in the ancientpalace ofNebuchadnezzx. By the was not destroyedin 539 B.C., but continued to thrive time of his death,he had actuallybegun rebuilding the and remained a key city of the Persian Empire for greatziggurat, but was only in the initial stagesof its many years. It even became part of the richest satrapy restoration.aAs a result of Alexander's death, in the empire and was regarded by Herodotus Babyloneffectively saw the end of its role as a capi- (Histoies 1.178) as the world's most splendid city. tal city. Under the PersianKing Darius, it even received some FollowingAlexander's death, his generalsstrug- improvements including an arsenal, a palace for the gled for control of his empire, and eventually crown prince and an apadana, i.e. a hall supportedby Seleucus(a former satrapof Babylon) gainedcontrol columns, in the Persian style (Roux 1992: 409). of the Asian province that contained the city. The ln 482 B.C., Babylon revolted against Xemes. prestigeof Babylonwas significantlyreduced when This led to the destruction of Babylon's fortifications Seleucusordered the foundingofa newcity, Seleucia- and temples, as well as the melting down of the gold- on-the-Tigris, about 90 km north of Babylon.s en image of Marduk, Babylon's primary deity. From Antiochus I (281-261 B.C.), the successorto classical authors,2we know that Xerxes captured the Seleucus,made Seleuciathe royal city, and then rebellious city after a siege of several months. After orderedthat the civilian populationof Babylon be being sacked, its fortifications were demolished, the moved there. Seleucia-on-the-Tigris(Tell'Umar, great temple of Marduk and others were burnt to the probably on the site of Upd (Opis) opposite ground, and the statue of Marduk was caried away as Ctesiphon),was the largestcity of the whole Seleucid a spoil of war (Oates 1986: 138). Xerxes dealt with kingdom,with a populationof about600,000 (Roux the Babylonians quite severely. He abolished the 1992:415). Had Babylonremained the Seleucidcap- ll t2 TANNER NEASB 47 ital city, her prestigewould havehad a greaterchance Parthians, though he found little there except for of survival. Althougha remnantofpeople still inhab- mounds, stones and ruins (Dio Roman History ited the ancient site, the city's importance never 68.30.1) However, Pausanias(Descriptio Grseciae recovered.Nevertheless, some efforts were made by 8.33.3) wrote that the temple of Bel (Marduk) and the the Macedonianrulers to revive its half-ruined state. city walls were still standing, though most of the city A royal inscriptionof Antiochus| (281-260B.C.) has was abandoned. According to Septimius Severus been found on which he calls himself "provider of (A.D. 193-2ll), the site was desertedby A.D. 200. EsagilaandBzida," and like the Chaldeankings, also The Parthian kingdom finally fell under Sassanian claims to have brought the first bricks of thesetem- domination in A.D. 227. But traces of Parthian occu- ples from "Hatti" (Syna).A tablet datedin the reign pation have been found in the excavationsofBabylon, of SeleucusIII (225-223B.C.) further indicatesthat as well as numerous other sites in southern Iraq. regular offerings were made to a number of Subsequently, the site of Babylon remained virtually Babyloniangods in their own shrines(Roux 1992: lost until the seventeenth centurv. 416, 420). Archaeologistshave discovered the remainsof Hellenistic architectureon the mound of Early Explorers Bdbil as well as the siteof Nebuchadnezzar'spalace. During the reign of the Antiochus[V (175-164B.C.), Ibn Hawkal, a tenth-century A.D. Islamic geog- Babylon receiveda gymnasiumand a splendidGreek rapher, was one of the first to rediscover the ancient theater which was later enlarged by the Parthians site of Babylon and describe its remains. He noted (Witzel,Schmidt and Mallwist 1957:3-21). The reli- that Babel was a small village, yet one of the most giousfrrnctions of Esagilaand a collegeof priests(the ancient in all lraq. He says that the'Vhole region is 'Anu-Enlil priesthood)were still in operationlate in denominatedBabel from this place," and the "kings of the Seleucidperiod (Oates 1986: 142). Canaan [sic Chaldea] resided there; and ruins of great After the Parthiansconquered Babylonia in 126 edifices still remain" (Maurice l8l6: 6). B.C., the Seleucidkingdom was greatlyreduced. At Benjamin Bar Joanna, a learned Jewish merchant that time. Artabanus II assumedcontrol over the of Tudela (in the kingdom of Aragon in Spain), trav- Tigris-Euphratesvalley, and Babylon remainedunder eled to the Ancient Near East in A.D. l160 and made Parthianconhol for quite some time, except for two significant notes on Nineveh and Babylon. He brief periods of Roman occupationunder Trajan appears to have confused the site of Babylon with (A.D. 98-ll7) andSeptimius Severus (A.D. 193-2ll). Borsippa, which is slightly to the south, seeing the The repressionfollowing the revolt of Hymerosin Tower of Babel in the massive ruins of the ziggurat of 127B.C. andthe civil war betweenMithridates II and Borsippa. His interest was more with the Jews in the Orodesin 52 B.C. may havebrought about irrepara- vicinity and their synagogues than with Babylon ble damageto Babylon,perhaps even more so thanat itself. Neverthelesshe made two important observa- thehands of Xerxes(Roux 1992: 421). tions. He reported that ten thousandJews lived in the The Greek geographerand historian Strabo village of Al Hillah, six miles from Babylon, and (Geography16.5) describedBabylon as empty and noted that they had an active synagogue in Babylon, desolatefor the mostpart. In the first centuryB.C., one mile from the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar'stemple, DiodorusSiculus (Bibliotheca Historica 2.9) indicat- probably the temple of Marduk (Adler 1905:514-30). ed that Esagilaalong with the royal palaceshad sunk A German physician and explorer named into ruins and that only a small area of the city was Leonhard Rauwolff traveled to Baghdad about 1575 still inhabited. There was some continuanceof a and claimed to have seenthe ruins of Babylon, though Babyloniancity andpeople even until the first centu- from his remarks it appears that he was confused ry A.D., though of very little importance. Pliny regarding the true location (Wellard 1973: 2l). In (NaturalisHistoria 6.30) suggeststhat Esagilawas 1583 the English merchant John Eldred also traveled still in existence. to the region ofBabylonia, though he appearsto have In A.D. 115or 116,the RomanEmperor Trajan mistaken the Tower of Babel for another located at the 'Aqar wintered in Babylon during his campaignagainst the Kassite city of Quf (ancient Dur Kurigalzu) 2002 ANCIENT BABYLON 13

(Haklu,'t1965). Pietro della VaIe was an Italian noblemanwho visitedBabylon in 1616and Ur in I625. Severalear- lier travelers had attempted to jdenti$' the site of Babylon, but thought it lay elsewhere. Pietro dolla Valle correctlyidentified the site ofBabil in 1616. H€ noted that villagen were mining and selling Babylon'skiln-fired bricks. He broughtback some bricks to Europeon which wer€ inscdbedwritng m certain unkno*n chamcters.6He was apparontlythe first to scnd copiesof cutreifolm hscriptions back to Eu'opeand lhe firsrlo engaeein limrrcdrurnmagiDg amongthe ruins of Babylonwith the aid of a pick (Vos1 979: 263). His chiefinterest was in theancient writingofth€ region. Saggs(1995: 9-10) reports, "ln a lctterin 1521he gavecopies of somcofthe signs, composedof groupsof wedges.and in 1625he was comrnentingon wedge-shapedinscriptions on bdcks he had collectedfiom nins at a site identifiedcen- turieslater as an€ient Ur." Th€rcwas aiready a wod usedto expressthe senseofwedge-shaped, the Latin- derivedword "cuneiform"used by the scienceof Anatomy,and from 1700 onward this word was adoptedas the standardterm in Englishfor this kind of w'iling. KarstenNicbuhr (1733-1815) also equated Babii with Babylon,as hadEmmanu€l Ballyet jn l?55. In 1761,Mebuhr (fig. l) had beensent out by the king of Denmarlg Frcderick V on a scientific mission ro gatlcr as much informaLionas possibleon \arious subj€ch, including archaeology. When he found numerous inscribcd bricks lying around the great Fig. 1. KarstenNiebubr (Pope 1999: 9s). mohds at Hillah on the Euphrates,he deduccdthat rhc sitc wasprobably Babylon ir,elf. Howcvcr.hc, some of his greatestdiscoveries. He collect€d lil,c othcrsbelore him. mttakenlybelrevcd Ihe ruin. inscribedbricks and othersmall artifactsthat were jn Borsip r were tbose of th€ Babylonian towcr brought back to France. He also made detailed and (Klengel-L,,ndr lqq-: 251). \everthclcss,rhe accumteaccounts ofBabylon, andnoted the existence numerous inscriptions that bis team copied from ofmassiveinscribed cylinders thougb hc wasunable Persepolis werc made available to philologists to to obtain one. Unfortunately,the interestin inscrib€d study. bricks may have caused greater discoveriesto be loscph dc Beau€hamp,a distinguished Frcnch overlooked. Workmen we.e €mployed to dig for abb6 and astronomcrwas thc papal vicar-generalat bricksin thcHillah mound. In thecourse ofdoing so, Baghdad.During thc years1780 and l?90, h€ rnade howcvcr,they found largc,thick walls androoms con- visits to the ruins ofBabylon and conductedwhat are tainingclay vessels,engaved marbles, and bronze believedto be th€ fiIst minor excavationsofthe site. statues. On€ room was saidto be decoratedwith fig- He cut the tust archa€ologicaltrenchcs in the mourds mes of cows on vamishedbdcks (referenceevidently of Hillah and El Ka$ (the Castle),thc latter being the ro the enam€ledbulls later found by Koldewey along mound on wbich Rob€rt Koldewey would later make the length ofthe ProcessionalWay). According to the t4 TANNER NEASB4?

vast walls shall hereafterbe acculatelytr.ced by still morc assiduouslocal rcsgarch."

Minor Explorrtiotrs

Following the work of Rich, there werc several minor explorationsat lhe site of Babylon in the first h4lfofthe nircteedth cenfrry. Robert Ker Porter,an English painter,mapped the ruins ofBabylon, record- ed his impr€ssions,and illustrated them with rom&l- tic views of the ruios in 1818. Yet he identified the Tower ofBabel with Bhs Nimrud. In 1827James S. Flg.2. Sealfound by Rich(Saggs 1995: 12). Buckinghamand Mellino madefuther sudaceexplo- rations of the site. tn 1828 Robert Mignan made soundings. He cut a shaft and removeda nmbet at worknen,other briok showedpiohues of lions,the clay tablets,as well as an inscribedclay cylinder In sun.the moon.and so forth, Yet all theseatifacts 1841, Coste and Flandin made lhrther mapr of the werethrcwn asideas worthless to the buildgrs,who runs. simply watrtedthe hard,kiln-baked bricks (Wellard Hetrrycreswicke Rawliffon (1810-1895) is not 1973t23\. noted for archaeologicalwo* at Babylon,but he Neverthel$s,his r€porb led to an interestin madesome significant conflbutions to the decipher- antiquitiesby theBritish Eastlodia Companycircles ment of the Alkadian languageutilized by xhe of London. The latrerauthorized representadves in Babylonians,an achievementwhich would prove Baghdadto conductarohaeological prGpecting. iflvaluablefor archaeologisbafter him who would und€dakea thoroughexcavation and study ofxhe site. ARCEAEOLOGYAT BASYLON Rawlinso!(f19. 3) himselfwas an excellentlinguist.

Claudiu8James Rich fl?87-l821) sewed as resi- dentof the British EastIndia Companyin Baghdad ftom 1808until his deathabout the yearl82l (from cholera).He wasfluent in sevenloriental languages itrcluding Turkish and Anbic, aBd wmte some informativememoi$ otr Babylon,Nheveh and other Mesopotandansites. He mrde surface explorations of Babylonb 1811-12ad agai!in 1817,producing the flrst accurateplan of the site of Babylon,which was publishedin 1815.Through him, the first antiquities includingsome cylinder seals (frg. 2) foundthet way to Europe, !o both the Louvre and the British Museum.Thomas Maudce (1816: 30), a contempo- rary of Rich lamentedthat the famousancient walls of Babylonsrill remained a myslery. He wrole, -. . . althoughwe havedoubd$s ascertained the site,and ftom evidenceboth extemal and inlsmal, many ofthe publicedifices ofBabylon; yet theactual exteft ofthe circumferenceof lhal Feat city. from lhe varyine accountsof the ancied historians,remains stil dis- putable,and rnust ever do so,unless the vestiges of its Fig. 3, HenryRawli'rsotr (Pope 1999: 110). 2002 ANCIENT BABYLON l5

Having sefled a,san intelligence offrcer in the East India Compatryin Indis, he was postedas a military advtuerto Peniain 1835.BytheendoflS43,hewas sppohted British Residentand CoDsulin Baghdad, atrd iD the ensuing years played a major role in the deoiphement of the famous trilingual B€histun inscdptiod. By the autumn of 1846,he rras able to msl(e ssnseout ofmany ofthe cuneiform inscriptions on bdcks ftom Nebucbsdnezzar'sBabylotr (with aboux50% accuraoy). By 1850 with the help of a Kurdish boy he was able to publish his decodingof $e cueiform scripx. Rawlinaonrctumed to England in 1855,and there devotadhihselfto the translation aod publication of coneiformtexts. HeDryAuotsn Layard (1817-1894) was famous for his archaeological work at Nimdd (biblical Calah) and NiDeveh. He wad commissiodedby ahe Briibh Mweum to direct their work itr Mesopogmia. Itr I 847,he removedtwo ofthe mostspectacular finds ftom Nirnrud, a colossalbull and lion, for display in the British Museum. In the sameyear, he managedto publish aa accountofhis excavationsi! the form ofa travel joumal that quickly becames best-sell€r He also published a volume oontoining the principal cueiform t€xts ao well !s drawingsof his finds. A seco[d a\pedition to M$opotamia was conducted Ftg.4, AustenLaysrd (Saggs 1995: 14). during the years | 848-5L Duritrg this time he atter- nat€d betweendigs at Calah and Nineveh and con- FulgenceF esnel,along wid| the C€nnatrAsslriolo- centratedon SeDnaoheribtpalace 6t Nineveh and the gist Jules Oppert aDd an architect mmed Felix ziggurat of Cal.h, His wolk at Kuyunjik (Nineveh) Thomas, made the first rystematio exoavafionsof was particularly rewarding, and included a group of Babylon in July-November ofl852. Basedon tbeir ted colossalbulls which formed the graDdentrance to worlq Oppert (1859) published the first relatively a pabce, as well aB some fine bas-reliefs depicting detailed map ol Babylon. They found numerous battle scenes, among them the siege of biblicai inscriptions, though unforhmately their finds (41 Lachishby Sennacheribd$crib€d in 2 Kings I8i 13- dates) were lost when a boat contrining them l? (Saggs1995; l5). Morc impo.ta4 however,was founderedat Qurna on the Tigris in May | 855. By the discoveryofa major archiveofcuneiform hblets, 1869,howev€r, Oppefi recognizedtlat the third lar- pad of a library collectedby Asslrian kirys, chiefly guageofthe Behishminscription was Elamito. Ashurbaripal in the seventhcentury B.C. La)€rdh Homuzd Rassarn(1826-1910), a native ftom successo(Homuzd Rassam.went on to excavatethe Mosul, had been the assistantto Layard during the site in 1853. The tablets ftom Kuyunjik, trow in the time oftheir work in Assyria, and succeededhim dur- British Museum, rcmain one of the most impofiant ing the 1850s. He was the kother ofthe locally bom sourcesfor cuneiform studies. British ConsularrcE€sentative in Mosul and evenhr- In 1850,Inyard (fig. 4) was able !o take sound- ally becametho Supervisor of Excavationsfor the ings at Babylon. He dug into thrce momds (includ- British Museum. Rassam(fig.5) becamefamorls in ing the mou ofBabel and the hill ofKasr) but sootr his own dght for his work at Nimrud, and was com- concludedlhal the placewas not wo4h his lime. mhsioned to rcopen excavationsin Babylon in 18?6. A French counseland oriedalist by the nameof In drc courseofhis wo*. he uneart]'eda larse collec- 16 TANNER NEASB 47

niquesfor folowing mudbrick walls, following foun- dation trenchesand observing soil colors and other advarcedmethodologies for the time. After a teach- ing stint in Gitrlitz, Gematry, he chose the site of Babylon in 1897for a najor excavationand was able to obtain the backing ofth€ Geman Orie al Society (Fasatr1997:303). For nearly l8 yearche canied out his archaeologicalwork at Babylon with very little if,terruption, until forced in March of 1917 to close down his excavationsby the apFoach of the Bdtish Expeditionary Force under Gene€l Maude, ihough his projecxedlabors were far irom finished. Koldewey startedwork at the sile on March 26, Fig. 5. HormuzdRassam (Roaf 1996:152). 1899, when his Xeamcut an exploratorytsen€h on the east side of KasL a mound of 1,6 km near the tion ofbusiDessdooumonts ofthe houseofEgibi and EuphmtesRiver Canot 1958:21).By 1900,his team the famousCfus Cylinder had worked otr the Processioml Way, the lemple of During the latter pan of the i 800s, the site con- Ninmach (a goddessofthe dead),the palaces,and the tinuedto be damag€d(Klengel-Brandt 1997:252). In centerof themound Amran ibn Ali, wheretbe siteof additionto the continualplund€ring ol the baked the fahed Esagila (Temple of Marduk) was found. bricks from the ruins, the local population also took Theexcavation ofthe Ninurtatemple in 1901and the stonemonuments, which they bumed for glpsum. As Ishtar gare in 1902 soon followcd. Orher major a result, many impotant buildings were so thorough- effo.ts werc directed at the Persian buildings ly destroyedthat it was later impossible to identiry (1906/07),Merkes (1908), and thc rest of the Kasr their ground plans. (1911-12).Thc outerwalls of th€ templeof Esagila wereidcntified in iate 1910and earlv l9l l. In th€ THE EXCAVATIONS OF ROEERT KOLDEWEV

Following ihc work of E, Sachau(minor cxcava- tions in | 897-98),th€ n€wly-formedGerman Ori€ntal Society (Deutsche Orienlceseilschaft) took over respotrsibility for thc excavationsof Babylon (Margueron19921 563). RobertKoldewcy (1855- 1925)was then put in chargeand caried out scientif- ic excavationsthroughout the years1899-1917. His goals includcd the uncovering of the city plan, th€ inv€stigationof Babylonianarchitectue, and a defm- itive identification of the Tower of Babel. Although the high ground-water levels pr€v€nted them fiom reaching the Old Babylonian strata, they wcrc suc- cesstulin exposinglayers fiom rhe Neo-Babylonian period. Koldewey (fig. 6) began his career as a field archaeologistin Assusof westemTurkey in 1882. ln I88?, be worked with Robert Moritz at Sulgul and al- Hiba in soulhemlraq. Therebc gainedexperience in prepariDgsurveys, maps, drawings, and refined tech- Fig.6. RobertKoldewey (Hanis 199s: 100). 2002 ANCIENT BAB'I'LON t7

Fig. 7. Ist r Gate(Oates 1986: 145.) cou$e of his excavations, Koldewey discovered tify four other gateswith reasonablecertainty. To th€ cuneiform inscdptions, statues, stela€! t€na-cotta norlh was the Gate of Sin, the rnoon god, with th€ r€liefs, cylindo seals,pottery, glassware, and jcwelry Gat€sofEnlil, the sky god, and Shamash,the sungod Koldewey was abl€ to locate most of the eight to the south. Or the west was $e Gate ofAdad, the major city gates,each of which was dedicatedto one Stom god. The most fmnousof thesewas the Ishtar ofrhe pnncipaldeiLiesworsbiped by !h€BabylotriaDs. Gate (fig. 7), located on the north side of the city, The names of these gates arc known by virtue of which he excavatedalong with three others. descdptionsof the city found on cunciform docu- Excavation of the site posed seveml challenges ments(Oates 1986: 152). To the eastwere the Gates for Koldewen not th€ leastofwhich was the weather. ofMarduk andNinurt4 god ofhunting and ofwar; to Working yom-roundproved a grueling task, as sum- the south was the Gate of Urash, an old Atkadian me^rslEde tempcratrres often r€ached as high as deity of the holy city of Dilbat not far south of 50 C. The river andwater levelsalso complicated his Babylon(Campdor 1958: 145). H€ wasabl€ to iden- task. The Dresentcourse of the EuDlrates River is ,IA.NNER l8 NEASB 47 different than that of ancienttimes. It presentlyflows primary importance was the temple precinct of farther west of its original location,which divided the Esagila,lying under the mound of Amran ibn Ali, in inner city into two sectors.The bulk of the excavation which stoodthe cult rooms of the chief god Marduk, work was largely concentratedin the older eastem of Ea (godof waterand wisdorn), of Nabu(god of the sector, where most of the principal buildings were scribal craft), and of other gods and goddesses located. Much lessis known of the areathat original- (Klengel-Brandt 1997: 254). Just to the north of ly lay west of the river, and which is now partly Esagilawas the templeprecinct of Etemenanki,which beneathits bed. Becauseof the proximity to the river, housedthe remainsofthe fabledBabylonian ziggurat. the excavatonencountered serious limitations to their It consistedof six tiers of steps,each one set back work. Campdor(1958: 125) notesthat at forty feet from the one below it. At the top, as the seventhtier, down lay ruins dating to the time of Hammurabiand stooda high temple to the cult of Marduk. the First Dynasty of Babylon. However, due to the Despite the interferencebrought on by World rise in the waterlevel it wasimpossible to investigate War I, Koldewey'sexcavations at Babylonwere nev- below theseruins. In addition to thesediffrculties, erthelesshighly successful(cf. Koldewey1914), and there was also the immensity of the ancientcity that standas one ofthe greatarchaeological achievements had to be considered,and the moundsthemselves of all time. were widely scattered(Parrot 1958:22-23). The ruins ofBabylon extendover an areaof some850 hectares SI]MMARY OF NEWER EXCAVATIONS and constitute the largest ancient settlement in Mesopotamia(Oates 1986: 144). By way of compar- From 1955 to 1968, the Iraq Departmentof ison, greaterNineveh is about750 hectares,and the Antiquities carried out further clearances. Under moundof Ur only 55 hectares. Heinrich J. Lenzen, the German Archaeological When approachingthe site from the north, the Instituteconducted further brief excavationsin 1956 Bdbil mound(also called Mujelibe) is the first to be at the Greektheater. In 1958,they beganwork on encountered.Rising aboat22m abovethe level ofthe restoring the Emakh temple, part of the Ishtar Gate, plain, it is roughly squarewith sides approximately the ProcessionalWay and the palacecomplex. They 248 m long. A great quantity of the bricks had also built a hallsize model of the completeIshtar alreadybeen removed for building materialelsewhere Gate(fig. 8) at the enfanceto the site. Much of the before the archaeologistseven arrived. Fortunately, vast, extraordinarypalace of Nebuchadnezzarwith its due to inscriptions,it was possibleto identify the massivethrone room (ca. 54.86m x 60 m), located remainsof the summerpalace of NebuchadnezzarlI just southwestofthe IshtarGate, has now beenrecon- (605-562B.C.). This had beenprotected by a wall, structedwith financial supportfrom the Iraqi govern- parts of which still remainedon the north and east. ment. In 1966,H. J. Schmidtcarried out excavations About a mile or more to the southon the site now at the site of Etemenanki.In 1978, the temple of known asthe Kasr,the primary gatewayto the ancient Nabu-sa-hare,which borderedon the Etemenanki city is located. From herethe city extendsfor more precinctand contained a largelibrary wasuncovered. than a kilometer along the bank of the river. A museumand rest house have been built on the site, The famous ProcessionalWay (about 250 m. which is also partially coveredby the village of long and20-24 m. wide) led to the IshtarGate. From Djumdjummahat the southernend. In May of 2001, the Ishtar Gate, it ran to the southern corner of when the present writer last visited the site of Etemenanki.From there, it curvedin the directionof Babylon, the Iraqi govemmentwas working diligent- the Euphrates,where a large bridge (spanningover ly to reconstructmany of the walls and ancientbuild- 120m.) crossedthe river. ings,and in otherways to makethe site accessibleto The complexesof Esagila and Etemenanki visitors. formedthe heartof the ancientcitv of Babvlon. Of 2002 ANCIENT BAXIT-ON 19

Ftg. 8.IshtarGate Reconstructioo (photo by J. P Taorer).

NOTES

lKlengel-Brardt (199?: 251) points out that fie earti- buih lsrEelv wtb materi&l brouclt Aom BalvloD and il6 efl m€ntionof the tower (or ziggunD in a hiebncal irucrip- foundi.Ds-niarkthe end ofBabvl-on , Dolrlical ;orncecc. tion com6 from tbe record! of Senn&cherib,itr which hc Seleucia-wasDoDulated with Macedoiiars and creok and clanns m have desboyed Esagila and fie temple !ow.r also ircluded- niaDy Jews ud Slnans. Avidius Cassius Sennacheribs son, Lsarhaddo, ( 680-669B.C.), rffcinded bumed S€lcuciaiD A.D. 164. ed \r,ho SeDtiDiusSeverus his tuther'spolioy andudertook the rebuilding of Babylon, lass.d tl'rousl fE rcgion on lis Panhiar campaigr of 198 though relaining the iruge of Marduk itr Asslria that tll€ sit€ was cornplerelyabardoEd." Sennacheribhad Emovea 6By the time of C. J. Rich (rcus y 200 )€m aftq ,Herodotu! (Itirro"g, 1.183)saw that Xenes look the della VaIe), lhis pEcli@ of cani,g otr f'e tricks had tate, oolossal gold$ stalue of Mardut fion Beagila. ArriE a hea'y loll oD the archa€ologi&l site. Regardirg the (Ahabarix |.11.2), Cre6ias(Percrk Eptt 52-53) and Strabo moud ofAM which includEdEsagila, Rich Mot€, (Geograpnr 16.r.5') e'uggestth8r the city warb were dis- ". . . the greatestsupllies havebeen and are now coNtantly mmiled ed the templesrazed to rhe Sround. dEM fion it, fiey appearstill to be abundant. But the oDemtiooof exbactirE $e bids bls causedlreat @blu- 3In th€ first centuryA.D., Quint6 Cutiu RufiB wote sid dd cotrtribured;uh lo incEse the dt tfiitltv of deci- a hisrory of Alexuder rlrc Grc r (Ei!tuna Alerotdn phering the onsinal design of tf is noun4 as in 3eirch of Magrt. This accoul itrcluded Alexuder's exploits in rhemrhe wmktneD lise inlo i! i! everydiFctim,tollow- Babylon andth6 lnonunenlal intentioa that he plan ed f.r ine out deepElirs od prLs,od thowing up therubbrsb in hearsoD the surfa@. In someDla@s lhev havebored into the soiid ms, fomiDs windins cavetr Ald subteEueu aThe towe. ibelf had been tom down in th6 time of passases.rhrcb- from fie; beins lefi witlour adequre sup- Alexm.le. lh€ Gr$l wiih the idention of rebuildhs it Don.fteqGnrlv bw rheworkmen in be rubbish fquored' (Klmgel-Brudr 1997:254). ; rho.is MaGcd 1816, 22). sReSddinSSeteuci4 Irsor (19881385) notes."it wa! 20 TANNER NEASB 47

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