FEATURE
Babylonian Empire
BABYLON was indeed an impressive city—with towering walls, its Processional Way, the famous Hanging Gardens, and upwards of 50 temples.
Very early in man’s history, Babel (later named Babylon) became a prominent center of worship that defied the true God, Jehovah. (Ge 10:9, 10) Jehovah thwarted the purpose of its builders by confusing the people’s language and scattering them from there throughout the earth. (Ge 11:4-9) Thus it came about that false worship spread from Babylon to other lands.
Babylon’s defiance of Jehovah eventually led to its downfall. In prophecy, Jehovah depicted Babylon as a lion having eagle’s wings; he also foretold its fall and its eventual desolation. On October 5, 539 B.C.E., in one night, Babylon was taken by Cyrus the Great, whom Jehovah had foretold by name. Babylon fell in the very manner foretold. Eventually the city became “piles of stones,” never to be rebuilt.—Jer 51:37; see Isa 44:27–45:2.
MAP: Babylonian Empire
A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate
Ziggurat at Ur. The tower erected at Babel was likely a religious ziggurat such as this
This inscription sets out the boasting of Nebuchadnezzar II regarding all he did to enlarge and extend Babylon (Compare Da 4:30)
Walls of Babylon. The city appeared to be impregnable. It was protected by a massive system of double walls. A second set of walls surrounded the eastern part of the city; a wall also served as a protection along the eastern bank of the Euphrates, which ran through the city. The temple of Marduk was the central feature of Babylon. Associated with it was the tower of Etemenanki (viewed by some as the Tower of Babel), which reached to a height of 91 m (300 ft)
Decoration from Babylon’s Processional Way. Interestingly, Babylon is symbolized in the Bible by a lion (Da 7:4)
Clay model of a sheep’s liver, inscribed with omens and magical formulas; used in Babylon for divination (Compare Eze 21:20-22)
Nabonidus, the last supreme monarch of Babylon, with symbols of his gods (crescent of the moon-god Sin, winged disc of the sun-god Shamash, star of Ishtar). Looking to the heavenly bodies, and the gods that were associated with these, did not save Babylon (Isa 47:12-15)
This is claimed to be the oldest remaining example of a horoscope; from Babylonia; believed to date from the fifth century B.C.E.
The ruins of ancient Babylon testify to the reliability of Bible prophecy. Babylon was once “the decoration of kingdoms”; now it is “a desolate waste” (Isa 13:19-22; Jer 50:13)
The fall of Babylon
Nabonidus Chronicle—a cuneiform tablet that confirms the sudden fall of Babylon to Cyrus