BABYLON

[`bæbɪlɔn]

Вавилон

Babylon: übersetzung

Ruinenstadt am Euphrat.

Ba|by|lon: Ruinenstadt am Euphrat.

BABYLON: translation

   Ancient city on the river Euphrates, south of modern Baghdad. The name is the Greek version of the Babylonian Babili, which was rendered as “Gate of the Gods,” although the etymology is unclear.

   The river used to run through the city but has shifted its course, and the denuded site was left uninhabited for centuries, while the baked bricks used in the monuments were reused by local villagers for their own shelters. There are several scattered tells on an area that used to be enclosed by a wall of some 20 kilometers in length. Due to the high water table, archaeological levels lower than those of the later second millennium B.C. are inaccessible. The extensive archaeological site was excavated by the German Oriental Society starting in 1899, originally led by Robert Koldewey; more recently, Iraqi archaeologists have been at work at the sites. The most spectacular remains, such as the restored Ishtar Gate with its glazed tile reliefs of sacred animals, are in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Babylon always had a reputation as a sacred site. It was first mentioned in an inscription of the Akkad kingShar-kali-sharri, but it is unlikely that the city’s main temple, the Esagil, was founded by Sargon of Akkad, as a Babylonian Chronicle states. It was the seat of a governor during the Third Dynasty of Ur but only grew to some importance in the Old Babylonian period when Sumu-abum made it the capital of his kingdom. Hammurabi enlarged and fortified the city in the 18th century B.C. The MarduktempleEsagil and the first ziggurat may also have been constructed at this time, although there is no archaeological proof for this.

   The Hittiteking Mursili Idestroyed Babylon around 1595 B.C. It was rebuilt under the Kassite Dynasty, which promoted the cult of the venerable Babylonian gods. The city suffered another sacking (c. 1174) at the hands of the Elamites, who also abducted the statues of Marduk and his consort. It was NebuchadrezzarIwho vindicated this insult by invading Elam and bringing back the stolen gods.In subsequent centuries Babylon was under foreign influence and occupation, first by Elam and then by the Assyrians. While some Assyrian kings wrought havoc in the “sacred city” (e.g., Sennacherib in 698), others endowed the sanctuaries lavishly. However, it was during the time when Babylonia had regained its independence and became a powerful empire that the city began to be invested with magnificence. This was largely the work of NebuchadrezzarII. He used the enormous revenue generated from taxes and tribute to embellish the capital, which became the largest and wealthiest of cities in the Near East.

   It was surrounded by a strongly fortified double wall, some 20 kilometers long, pierced by several gates. Huge bulwarks of baked brick protected the wall at the places where the Euphrates entered the city. Nebuchadrezzar built new palaces and decorated the throne room with glazed brick wall designs, which have also been partially reconstructed in Berlin.

   Of particular importance was the sacred precinct of the god Marduk, with the temple Esagil and the ziggurat, remembered in the Bible as the Tower of Babel, which took 17 years to complete. It incorporated the remains of earlier structures under a casing of brick some 15 meters thick.

   A straight, walled street that served military as well as ritual purposes linked the temple to the western gate. It was used for the annual processions during the New Year festival, and glazed bricks lined the walls, showing the symbols of the main deities: the dragon of Marduk, the lion of Ishtar, and the bull of Adad (see ARCHITECTURE, RELIGION). When the Persianstook political control of Mesopotamia, they did not destroy the city. In the Seleucid period, a theater and a new market were built, while older temples continued to flourish. Despite the foundation of a new capital, Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, Babylon remained an important urban and especially religious center but declined when Parthian rule isolated Babylonia from the Hellenized world.

   See also KOLDEWEY, Robert; OPPERT, Jules.

Babylon: translation

   The Greek form of BABEL; Semitic form Babilu, meaning "The Gate of God." In the Assyrian tablets it means "The city of the dispersion of the tribes." The monumental list of its kings reaches back to B.C. 2300, and includes Khammurabi, or Amraphel (q.v.), the contemporary of Abraham. It stood on the Euphrates, about 200 miles above its junction with the Tigris, which flowed through its midst and divided it into two almost equal parts. The Elamites invaded Chaldea (i.e., Lower Mesopotamia, or Shinar, and Upper Mesopotamia, or Accad, now combined into one) and held it in subjection. At length Khammu-rabi delivered it from the foreign yoke, and founded the new empire of Chaldea (q.v.), making Babylon the capital of the united kingdom.This city gradually grew in extent and grandeur, but in process of time it became subject to Assyria. On the fall of Nineveh (B.C. 606) it threw off the Assyrian yoke, and became the capital of the growing Babylonian empire. Under Nebuchadnezzar it became one of the most splendid cities of the ancient world.

   After passing through various vicissitudes the city was occupied by Cyrus, "king of Elam," B.C. 538, who issued a decree permitting the Jews to return to their own land (Ezra 1). It then ceased to be the capital of an empire. It was again and again visited by hostile armies, till its inhabitants were all driven from their homes, and the city became a complete desolation, its very site being forgotten from among men.

   On the west bank of the Euphrates, about 50 miles south of Bagdad, there is found a series of artificial mounds of vast extent. These are the ruins of this once famous proud city. These ruins are principally (1) the great mound called Babil by the Arabs. This was probably the noted Temple of Belus, which was a pyramid about 480 feet high. (2) The Kasr (i.e., "the palace"). This was the great palace of Nebuchadnezzar. It is almost a square, each side of which is about 700 feet long. The little town of Hillah, near the site of Babylon, is built almost wholly of bricks taken from this single mound. (3) A lofty mound, on the summit of which stands a modern tomb called Amran ibn-Ali. This is probably the most ancient portion of the remains of the city, and represents the ruins of the famous hanging-gardens, or perhaps of some royal palace. The utter desolation of the city once called "The glory of kingdoms" (Isa. 13:19) was foretold by the prophets (Isa. 13:4-22; Jer. 25:12; 50:2, 3; Dan. 2:31-38).

   The Babylon mentioned in 1 Pet. 5:13 was not Rome, as some have thought, but the literal city of Babylon, which was inhabited by many Jews at the time Peter wrote.

   In Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; and 18:2, "Babylon" is supposed to mean Rome, not considered as pagan, but as the prolongation of the ancient power in the papal form. Rome, pagan and papal, is regarded as one power. "The literal Babylon was the beginner and supporter of tyranny and idolatry...This city and its whole empire were taken by the Persians under Cyrus; the Persians were subdued by the Macedonians, and the Macedonians by the Romans; so that Rome succeeded to the power of old Babylon. And it was her method to adopt the worship of the false deities she had conquered; so that by her own act she became the heiress and successor of all the Babylonian idolatry, and of all that was introduced into it by the immediate successors of Babylon, and consequently of all the idolatry of the earth." Rome, or "mystical Babylon," is "that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (17:18).

Babylon: translation

Babylon

    Babylon

    ^{† Catholic_Encyclopedia ► Babylon}

    The curial title of a Latin archbishopric, also of a Chaldean patriarchate and of a Syrian archbishopric.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company.Nihil Obstat.1910.