New Babylonians: A History of Jews in Modern Iraq

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The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC) of the Akkadian Empire. [2] Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city; like the rest of Mesopotamia, it was subject to the Akkadian Empire which united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the Gutian people for a few decades before the rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which encompassed the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon.

Beaulieu, P. A. (2005). "World Hegemony, 900–300 BCE". In Snell, D. C. (ed.). A Companion to the Ancient Near East. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-4051-6001-8.The surviving sources suggest that the justice system of the Neo-Babylonian Empire had changed little from the one which functioned during the Old Babylonian Empire a thousand years prior. Throughout Babylonia, there were local assemblies (called puhru) of elders and other notables from society which among other local roles served as local courts of justice (though there were also higher "royal" and "temple courts" with greater legal prerogatives). In these courts, judges would be assisted by scribes and several of the local courts would be headed by royal representatives, usually titled sartennu or šukallu. [54] [55]

a b Sayce, Archibald Henry (1878b). "Babylon–Babylonia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol.III (9thed.). p.182. British Museum – Cun Spar, Ira; Jursa, Michael (2014). The Ebabbar Temple Archive and Other Texts from the Fourth to the First Millennium B.C. Cuneiform Texts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol.IV. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp.288–290. ISBN 978-1-57506-327-0. Archived from the original on 2020-05-18 . Retrieved 2019-08-18. The Statue of Marduk was the physical representation of Marduk housed in Babylon's main temple, the Esagila. [50] Although there were actually seven separate statues of Marduk in Babylon; four in the Esagila, one in the Etemenanki (the ziggurat dedicated to Marduk) and two in temples dedicated to other deities, the statue of Marduk usually refers to Marduk's primary statue, placed prominently in the Esagila and used in the city's rituals. [52]Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy Keraunos Ptolemy II Philadelphus Arsinoe II ♀ Ptolemy III Euergetes Berenice II Euergetis ♀ Ptolemy IV Philopator Arsinoe III Philopator ♀ Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra ♀ Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soter ♀ Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III ♀ Ptolemy IX Lathyros Cleopatra IV ♀ Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III ♀ Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra V ♀ Cleopatra VI Tryphaena ♀ Berenice IV Epiphanea ♀ Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator ♀ Ptolemy XV Caesarion Arsinoe IV ♀ Uruk VI dynasty: Alila-hadum Sumu-binasa Naram-Sin of Uruk Sîn-kāšid Sîn-iribam Sîn-gāmil Ilum-gamil Anam of Uruk Irdanene Rim-Anum Nabi-ilišu Hotepsekhemwy Nebra/Raneb Nynetjer Ba Nubnefer Horus Sa Weneg-Nebty Wadjenes Senedj Seth-Peribsen Sekhemib-Perenmaat Neferkara I Neferkasokar Hudjefa I Khasekhemwy Babylon" is a song by Lady Gaga that uses allusions to ancient Biblical themes to discuss gossip. [ non-primary source needed] In the Book of Genesis, [118] Babel (Babylon) is described as founded by Nimrod along with Uruk, Akkad and perhaps Calneh—all of them in Shinar ("Calneh" is now sometimes translated not as a proper name but as the phrase "all of them"). Another story is given in Genesis 11, which describes a united human race, speaking one language, migrating to Shinar to establish a city and tower—the Tower of Babel. God halts construction of the tower by scattering humanity across the earth and confusing their communication so they are unable to understand each other in the same language.

The first attested mention of Babylon was in the late 3rd millennium BC during the Akkadian Empire reign of ruler Shar-Kali-Sharri one of whose year names mentions building two temples there. Babylon was ruled by ensi (governors) for the empire. Some of the known governors were Abba, Arši-aḫ, Itūr-ilum, Murteli, Unabatal, and Puzur-Tutu. After that nothing is heard of the city until the time of Sumu-la-El. After around 1950 BC Amorite kingdoms will appear in Uruk and Larsa in the south. [37] Old Babylonian period [ edit ] Map showing the Babylonian territory upon Hammurabi's ascension in 1792BC and upon his death in 1750BC Old Babylonian cylinder seal, hematite. This seal was probably made in a workshop at Sippar (about 65km or 40mi north of Babylon on the map above) either during, or shortly before, the reign of Hammurabi. [38] It depicts the king making an animal offering to the sun god Shamash. Linescan camera image of the cylinder seal above (reversed to resemble an impression) The sign 𒆍 (KA₂) is the logogram for "gate", 𒀭 ( DIG̃IR) means "god", and 𒊏 (RA) represents the coda of the word dig̃ir (-r) followed by the genitive suffix -ak. The final 𒆠 ( KI) is a determinative indicating that the previous signs are to be understood as a place name. Boiy, T. (2004). Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Vol.136. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. p.233. ISBN 9789042914490. Archived from the original on 2015-10-15 . Retrieved 2015-06-20. Another attested spelling for the city of Babylon is TIN.TIR.KI, attested sparsely in the Old Babylonian period but grew in popularity in the Late 2nd Millenium BCE and was in widespread usage in the 1st Millenium BCE. [21] The spelling E.KI also appears in the 1st Millenium BCE. [24] [21]Babilonas ( Lithuanian name for "Babylon") is a real estate development in Lithuania. [ non-primary source needed] Adad-nirari II Tukulti-Ninurta II Ashurnasirpal II Shalmaneser III Shamshi-Adad V Shammuramat ♀ (regent) Adad-nirari III Shalmaneser IV Ashur-Dan III Ashur-nirari V Userkaf Sahure Neferirkare Kakai Neferefre Shepseskare Nyuserre Ini Menkauhor Kaiu Djedkare Isesi Unas Dalley, Stephanie (1997). "Statues of Marduk and the date of Enūma eliš". Altorientalische Forschungen. 24 (1): 163–171. doi: 10.1524/aofo.1997.24.1.163. S2CID 162042269. Only a small portion of the ancient city (3% of the area within the inner walls; 1.5% of the area within the outer walls; 0.1% at the depth of Middle and Old Babylon) has been excavated. [31] Known remains include:

According to 2 Chronicles 36 of the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus later issued a decree permitting captive people, including the Jews, to return to their own lands. The text found on the Cyrus Cylinder has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroborative evidence of this policy, although the interpretation is disputed [ by whom?] because the text identifies only Mesopotamian sanctuaries but makes no mention of Jews, Jerusalem, or Judea. Monumental architecture encompasses building works such as temples, palaces, ziggurats (a massive structure with religious connections, composed of a massive stepped tower with a shrine on top), city walls, processional streets, artificial waterways and cross-country defensive structures. [85] The Babylonian king was traditionally a builder and restorer, and as such large-scale building projects were important as a legitimizing factor for Babylonian rulers. [86] Due to the interests of early excavators of the ancient cities in Babylonia, most of the archaeological knowledge regarding the Neo-Babylonian Empire is related to the vast monumental buildings that were located in the hearts of Babylonia's major cities. This early bias has resulted in that the makeup of the cities themselves (such as residential areas) and the structure of smaller settlements remains under-researched. [87] Brinkman, J. A. (1984). Prelude to Empire: Babylonian Society and Politics, 747–626 B.C. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. ISBN 978-0-934718-62-2. Vedeler (2006), pp. 8–15. "However, this later tradition is almost certainly a simplification or even a reworking of the actual events surrounding Sumu-abum, who was never regarded as an actual ancestor to the other kings of the Babylon I dynasty (Edzard 1957:122); in reality the relationship of Sumu-abum to Babylon was much more complex. It was long been noted that many of Sumu-abum's year names are identical or virtually identical to the year names of Sumu-la-el, whom we know for certain was king of Babylon. Goddeeris (2002:319–320) sums these parallels up as follows: Sa 1 and 2 / Sl 5 and 6: building the wall of Babylon. Sa 9 / Sl 'b': building the wall of Dilbat. Sa 13/14 / Sl 20/21: the destruction and seizure of Kazallu." Ninurta-kudurri-usur II Mar-biti-ahhe-iddina Shamash-mudammiq Nabu-shuma-ukin I Nabu-apla-iddina Marduk-zakir-shumi I Marduk-balassu-iqbi Baba-aha-iddina (five kings) Ninurta-apla-X Marduk-bel-zeri Marduk-apla-usur Eriba-Marduk Nabu-shuma-ishkun Nabonassar Nabu-nadin-zeri Nabu-shuma-ukin II Nabu-mukin-zeri

Cultural importance [ edit ] Woodcut in 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle depicting the fall of Babylon "The Walls of Babylon and the Temple of Bel (Or Babel)", by 19th-century illustrator William Simpson– influenced by early archaeological investigations The Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible refers to Babylon many centuries after it ceased to be a major political center. The city is personified by the " Whore of Babylon", riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, and drunk on the blood of the righteous. Some scholars of apocalyptic literature believe this New Testament "Babylon" to be a dysphemism for the Roman Empire. [126] Other scholars suggest that Babylon in the book of Revelation has a symbolic significance that extends beyond mere identification with the first century Roman empire. [127] Babylon in art [ edit ] Nebuchadnezzar II also built a second palace, the North Palace, on the other side of the inner city wall. This palace also adjoined the Processional Street on its eastern side, but its ruins are poorly preserved and as such its structure and appearance are not entirely understood. There was also a third royal palace in the city, the Summer Palace, built some distance north of the inner city walls in the northernmost corner of the outer walls (also constructed by Nebuchadnezzar II). Non-royal palaces, such as the palace of a local governor at Ur, share design features with Babylon's South Palace but were considerably smaller in size. [88] Reconstruction of the Etemenanki, Babylon's great ziggurat.