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A}Icient Babylon: from Gradual Demise to Archaeological Rediscovery

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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).
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