Babylon

Babylon was the most magnificent and richest city of the ancient world.

The spectacular city straddled the Euphrates River and dominated western Asia from circa 2000-1000 BCE; as the capitol of an ancient empire, this city had no equal in size or material wealth; it was the pinnacle of culture and technical knowledge during the empire’s peak and was noted as the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, i.e. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The historian, Herodotus, is thought to have visited Babylon but the details he gave as to the city’s size are thought to be exaggerated; Herodotus said that the walls of Babylon were over 300 feet (91 meters) in height, 85 feet (26 meters) in thickness and were made of bricks bound with asphalt; the city was in the shape of a square approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) on each side which encompassed an area of 36 square miles (93 square kilometers).

Babylon was divided in half by the Euphrates River which provided for the various necessities required to sustain the enormous population; the city was virtually unassailable and, due to its reputation or its army, had never been captured by an aggressor; when threatened by an enemy, the Babylonians would retreat within their walls with enough supplies to withstand a siege lasting several years; this strategy worked until circa 535 BCE when the city was finally captured by the Persian king, Kyrus (Cyrus) the Great.

Kyrus stationed part of his army at the walls of the city where the Euphrates River penetrated the walls and took the remainder of his army upstream to divert the waters of the river so that the level of the water that flowed into the city would be lowered; when the water level was low enough, his army entered the city by means of the dried-up river bed; it was later reported by Aristotle, over a century after Herodotus, that the city was so large that it took two days for many of the Babylonian citizens to realize that the city had been captured.

After this first occupation by a foreign power, Babylon never again regained its independence and was thereafter doomed to be a mere “prize” as opposed to the most spectacular city ever realized in the ancient world.

Approximate east longitude 44.24 and north latitude 32.33.