Babylonia appears to have been divided into the two large provinces of
Sumer or Shinar (South Babylonia), and Accad or north Babylonia. The
capital of this latter province was, like Babylon, built on both banks
of the Euphrates, the larger half being called Sippara of Samas, the
sungod (the modern Abu Habba), and the smaller half Accad or Agade. The
latter was afterwards named “Sippara of the moon-goddess.” The greater
part of Babylonia is now included in the modern Turkish province of
Bagdad.
Ancient Babylonia also contained a number of other large cities and
there was a succession of famous capitals: Babylon, of the Babylonian
Empire, and afterwards of the Persian; Seleucia, founded by Seleucus,
king of Syria, after the death of Alexander the Great; Ctesiphon,
capital of the Parthian Empire; in modern times, Bagdad.
=Babylon=, on the Euphrates, is first mentioned in a tablet of 3800
B. C. From 2250 B. C. it became the capital of Babylonia and the
holy city of western Asia. The name Babylonia is the Greek form of
Babel, meaning “The Gate of the God.” Its Persian name was Babirus.
It was according to the accounts of Greek writers, the greatest city
of antiquity.
Nebuchadnezzar, who took more pride in the buildings constructed
under his auspices than in his victorious campaigns, concentrated
all his care upon the adorning and beautifying the city. To this end
he completed the fortification of the city begun by his father
Nabopolassar, consisting in a double inclosure of mighty walls which
were strengthened by two hundred and fifty towers and pierced by one
hundred gates of brass. The city itself was adorned with numerous
temples, chief among them Esagila (“the high-towering house”),
temple of the city and of the national god Merodach (Babylonian
_Marduk_) with his spouse Zirpanit. In the neighborhood of it was
the royal palace, the site of which was identified with the ruins of
Al-Kasr. Sloping toward the river were the Hanging Gardens, one of
the seven wonders, the location of which is in the northern mound of
ruins, Babel.
THE TOWER OF BABEL, which is supposed to be the temple of Nebo in
Borsippa, not far from Babylon, represents the most imposing ruin of
Babylonia. It is termed in the inscriptions _Ezida_ (“the eternal
house”), an ancient sanctuary of Nebo, and was restored with great
splendor by Nebuchadnezzar. It represents in its construction a sort
of pyramid built in seven stages, whence it is sometimes called
“temple of the seven spheres of heaven and earth,” and it is assumed
that the narrative of the “Tower of Babel” which the builders
intended to carry up to heaven, was connected with this temple.
In the conquest of Cyrus, 538 B. C., the city of Babylon was spared.
Darius Hystaspis razed its walls and towers. Xerxes (486-465 B. C.)
despoiled the temples of their golden statues and treasures.
Alexander the Great wished to restore the city, but was prevented by
his early death. The decay of Babylon was hastened by the foundation
in its neighborhood of Selencia, 300 B. C., which was built from the
ruins of Babylon. The last who calls himself in an inscription “King
of Babylon” was Antiochus the Great (223-187 B. C.)