Dictionary Article

Land of southern Mesopotamia. Politically, Babylonia refers to the ancient kingdoms that flourished in southern Mesopotamia, especially in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, whose capital city was Babylon (or Bab-ilu, meaning “gate of god”). The term can also be used geographically to designate a whole region (in present-day southeast Iraq). The adjective “Babylonian” has an even looser meaning; it may refer to the land or its inhabitants, to the kingdom or its subjects, or to a dialect of one of the principal ancient Mesopotamian languages.

The two principal features of Babylonia’s geography are the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Rising in mountainous eastern Turkey, they initially flow in opposite directions but converge near Baghdad and join farther south to flow into the Persian Gulf.

Politically, Babylonia largely corresponded to geographic Babylonia. Its centers, however, were not situated in the fertile alluvial plain between the two rivers, but rather on the banks along the main course and several side branches of the Euphrates. At times the kingdom reached eastward beyond the Tigris, into the flatlands and foothills of the Zagros Mountains, generally along the Tigris’s eastern tributaries.

Babylonia emerged as a culture as the result of Sumerian influence on the diverse peoples who had migrated into the area. The Sumerian civilization began to flourish in Babylonia sometime between 3200 and 2900 BC. (All dates given are approximate.) The two principal languages of the region were Akkadian, a Semitic language, and Sumerian, whose linguistic affiliation is still unknown. The earliest interpretable inscriptions from Babylonia, dated at 3100 BC, are in Sumerian, which was the written language throughout Mesopotamia for seven centuries. In fact, cuneiform, the wedge-shaped writing invented by the Sumerians, remained in use for almost 3,000 years.

Eventually the Akkadian way of life began to compete with the Sumerian. Political and cultural leadership was effectively wrested away from the south by Sargon I (Sharru-kin, meaning “true king”; 2339–2279 BC), who founded the capital Akkad (or Agade).

The Akkadian Empire, which lasted for nearly two centuries under Sargon and his successors (2334–2154 BC), was disrupted by the invasion of the Guti people, mountaineers from the east, who in turn were defeated by the Sumerian king Utuhegal of the city of Uruk. That event marked a period of revival of Sumerian power and culture in Babylonia, led by a dynasty of kings that established itself in the once-prominent Sumerian city of Ur.

At the same time, Semitic-speaking people from the west—the Amurru (or Martu), nomads from Syria—were exerting migratory and military pressures on Babylonia.

The Amurru—called by modern researchers “Amorites” after their language—were known in the pre-Sargonid period (before 2340 BC) and were looked upon as barbarians by native Babylonians, who scorned their manner of life. During the reign of Shar-kali-sharri (2254–2230 BC), the Amorites began to appear as a menace. A century later, during the early part of the Ur III period, the first major wave of Amorites moved into Babylonia; the second wave came during the reigns of the last two kings of the Ur III dynasty. That second migration coincided with a complex political situation in Babylonia. The undermining of Sumerian political power gave rise to the kingdom of Babylon under Amorite control.

The last Neo-Sumerian king, Ibbi-Sin, was faced with military threats to his kingdom from both east and west. He also had to deal with internal rebellion. Ishbi-Erra, vassal governor of the city of Mari, 500 miles (804.5 kilometers) up the Euphrates, took advantage of the Amorite incursions to revolt against the king and establish a rival kingdom with its capital at Isin, 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) from Ur. At the same time, in Larsa, less than 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) across the Euphrates from Ur, another new dynasty was established by a ruler with an Amorite name.

The founder of the first dynasty of the kingdom of Babylon was Sumuabum (1894–1881 BC). Little is known about him. He and his next four successors, all legitimate descendants—Sumulael (1880–1845 BC), Sabium (1844–1831 BC), Apil-Sin (1830–1813 BC), and Sin-Muballit (1812–1793 BC)—ruled peacefully and uneventfully for a century. They appear to have devoted themselves mainly to religious and defensive construction and to maintenance of an irrigation canal system, though there is some evidence of conquest and territorial acquisition. Still, the territory of the kingdom of Babylon probably extended no more than 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) in any direction from the capital. Hammurabi, the sixth king of that line (1792–1750 BC), enlarged the kingdom toward the dimensions of an empire. At its greatest extent it reached from the Persian Gulf up the Tigris to include some of the cities of Assyria and up the Euphrates to Mari. Babylonia’s glory, however, was short-lived; under the reign of Hammurabi’s son Samsu-iluna (1749–1712 BC) the realm shriveled. It lasted for another century, but within borders narrower than those established by Sumuabum. Minor dynasties took turns ruling over the area from 1600–900 BC. Then the Assyrians took control.

The earliest incursions of Assyria into Babylonia were by Shalmaneser III. In 851 BC the brother of Marduk-zakir-shumi, reigning king of the eighth dynasty of Babylon, made a bid for the throne with the backing of the Arameans. Marduk-zakir-shumi called on the Assyrians for aid. Shalmaneser defeated the rebels and entered Babylon, treating the ancient city and its inhabitants with great respect. Thereafter, advancing southward, he came to Sumer, inhabited by the Chaldeans, and pressed them back against the gulf. For whatever reasons, Shalmaneser did not annex Babylonia. Marduk-zakir-shumi remained on the throne, though he swore allegiance to the Assyrian king.

The final years of Shalmaneser III were darkened by revolts all over the Assyrian Empire. Two strong rulers emerged from the political confusion. In Assyria, Tiglath-pileser III (745–727 BC) usurped the throne. In Babylonia three years earlier a Chaldean, Nabonassar (747–734 BC), took the throne of Babylon as a successor king in the eighth dynasty.

At Nabonassar’s death, an Aramean chieftain, Nabu-mukin-zeri (731–729 BC), seized the Babylonian throne and established the ninth dynasty of Babylon. Tiglath-pileser defeated the usurper, ravaged the territory of his tribe, and had himself proclaimed king of Babylon—and thus, of Babylonia—under the name of Pulu (729–727 BC) and as the second king of the ninth dynasty. Little is known of his short-lived successor, Shalmaneser V (727–722 BC). He, too, was proclaimed king of Babylon as well as of Assyria. Under Shalmaneser a siege against the kingdom of Israel began, after its king, Hoshea (732–723 BC), rebelled against Assyria (2 Kgs 17:1-6).

Sargon II (722–705 BC) succeeded Shalmaneser. His rise to power is obscure; he was probably a usurper, which is why he chose the name Sargon (“true king”) like his Akkadian namesake 1,500 years earlier. Shortly before Sargon II came to the throne, Elam in the east had begun to take an active part in the affairs of Babylonia by instigating rebellions against Assyria.

After the brilliant successes of his other campaigns, Sargon attacked Babylon again in 710 BC, and this time succeeded in taking it. Although he had himself proclaimed king of Babylon, he acknowledged Merodach-baladan as king of the Yakin tribe. Merodach-baladan evidently took up residence in Elam at that time. In the year that Sargon’s son Sennacherib (705–681 BC) succeeded to the Assyrian throne, Merodach-baladan, assisted by Elamite officers and troops, reappeared. He raised the whole Aramean and Chaldean population of Babylonia against the Assyrians, took Babylon, and had himself proclaimed king again (705 BC).

During that brief period, Merodach-baladan sent an embassy to King Hezekiah of Judah (715–686 BC) “with letters and a present,” ostensibly to show sympathy for Hezekiah because of the king’s illness (2 Kgs 20:12). More likely, Merodach-baladan’s purpose was to secure another ally against Assyrian hegemony; the account of Hezekiah’s cordial reception of the Babylonian envoys shows his willingness to join the alliance. Evidently the king’s vanity overruled his political sense, and he treated the Babylonians to an extensive tour of his treasury. The proud gesture was rebuked by the prophet Isaiah, who predicted Babylonia’s later conquest of Judah, when the king’s storehouse would be sacked and his family carried off captive (2 Kgs 20:13-19; Is 39).

Sennacherib was able to quickly dislodge Merodach-baladan from the Babylonian throne, force him into exile, and replace him with a king of his own choice, Bel-ibni.

Sennacherib’s successor and youngest son, Esarhaddon (681–669 BC), came to the throne of Assyria after a bloody war of succession with his brothers. One of his first acts was to rebuild and enlarge the city of Babylon. Esarhaddon thus won the friendship of many of his Babylonian subjects, who enabled him to enjoy a peaceful reign in that part of his empire. Three years before his death, Esarhaddon named his son Ashurbanipal as his successor (669–627 BC), and another son, Shamash-shum-ukin (668–648 BC), as viceroy in Babylonia.

The empire was not divided by having two sons on two thrones. Ashurbanipal had precedence over his brother, bearing responsibility for the whole empire. Shamash-shum-ukin and his Babylonian subjects, on the other hand, enjoyed sovereignty; as viceroy, he was granted full authority within his realm. That arrangement lasted for 17 years until Shamash-shum-ukin, backed by the Elamites and numerous Arab tribes, rebelled against Ashurbanipal. The revolt was brutally suppressed by 648 BC, and a Chaldean noble, Kandalanu, was appointed Babylonian viceroy. Shortly afterward, Ashurbanipal launched a punitive expedition, devastating Babylonia and completely destroying Elam in the process.

Both Ashurbanipal and Kandalanu, his viceroy in Babylon, died in 627 BC. For a year, Babylonia had no recognized ruler. Then the throne was seized by the Chaldean prince Nabopolassar (625–605 BC), who established the 10th dynasty of Babylon, which has come to be called the Chaldean or Neo-Babylonian dynasty.

Aided by Media, the kingdom of the Iranian Plateau, Nabopolassar put an end to the Assyrian Empire. By 612 BC Assyria’s chief cities had fallen: Asshur, then the religious center; Nineveh, the administrative center; and Nimrod, the military headquarters. The last light of Assyria was snuffed out by Nabopolassar in 609 BC. Under his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BC), Babylonia fell heir to the Assyrian Empire. For a moment in history, Babylonia was master of the whole Near East. Nebuchadnezzar brought about the end of the Hebrew kingdom of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, deporting part of its population to Babylonia in the event referred to as the exile (2 Kgs 24:1–25:21).

Under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon became the fabled city of luxury and splendor with which its name is commonly associated. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, son-in-law, and grandson within the space of six years. Thereafter, one of his high diplomatic officials, Nabonidus, took the throne (555–539 BC). During his reign, the Medes, formerly allies of the Chaldeans, came under a new ruler, Cyrus II of Persia (559 BC), who over the next 10 years conquered an empire nearly 3,000 miles (4,827 kilometers) in extent, from the Aegean Sea to the Pamirs (mountains in central Asia).

During Cyrus’s decade of conquest, Nabonidus was strangely absent from Babylon, residing in Arabia. Although the book of Daniel relates events occurring in the court of Babylon during Nabonidus’s reign, his name is never mentioned. Instead, Belshazzar, whom Nabonidus appointed regent in Babylon during his absence, is described as king (Dn 5:1). Perhaps because of his extended absence or perhaps because of his attachment to the moon god Sin and Sin’s city, Haran, rather than to the Babylonian national god Marduk and Marduk’s city, Babylon, Nabonidus lost the support of the Babylonians. When he finally returned to Babylon, it was on the eve of Cyrus’s attack on the city (Dn 5:30-31). Instead of offering resistance, however, the Babylonian army defected to Cyrus and the city gave itself up without a battle (October 539 BC). That surrender ended the Chaldean dynasty and the history of an independent Babylonia.

The Excavation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon

Much of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was excavated by Robert Koldewey for the German Oriental Society in a series of campaigns beginning in 1899. Koldewey discovered that Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was the largest city in antiquity, with an area of about 2,500 acres (1,013 hectares). The older part of the city was completely enclosed by two walls made of unbaked mud bricks. The inner and higher wall, which was more than 21 feet (6.4 meters) thick, was separated from the outer wall by a military road 23 feet (7 meters) wide. The outer wall, though thinner, was still more than 12 feet (3.7meters) thick. Both walls were buttressed by massive fortified towers at intervals of about 65 feet (19.8 meters). Outside the wall was a moat that reached a width of more than 200 feet (61 meters) in places.

One of the most magnificent finds was the Ishtar Gate, a double gateway 40 feet (12.2 meters) high covered with enameled brick reliefs of 575 bulls and dragons in vivid colors. (Ishtar was a goddess of love and fertility.) Through that gate ran the Procession Way, a road covered with limestone slabs 3 feet (.9 meter) square. An inscription credited the road to Nebuchadnezzar. The walls along the Procession Way were overlaid with enameled bricks decorated with 120 lions representing Ishtar. The road led to the temple of Marduk and its adjacent ziggurat.

The Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar’s time appears frequently at the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and in the early part of Daniel. Ezra and Nehemiah record the subsequent return of the remnant of Judah from their Babylonian exile.

Among the prophetic books, Isaiah speaks of Babylon during the period of Assyrian dominance. A century later Jeremiah warns of the threat of Nebuchadnezzar, and Ezekiel and Daniel speak of Babylon from the later viewpoint of those exiled. There are as many references to Babylon in the last half of Jeremiah as in all the rest of the Bible.

Babylon: A Symbol of the Enemy of God’s People

Several times in the NT, reference is made to the capital city of Nebuchadnezzar to which the Jews had been deported in 586 BC (Mt 1:11-12, 17); in 1 Peter 5:13 and the book of Revelation, Babylon is used symbolically. “She who is at Babylon” (rsv) was the apostle Peter’s way of referring to the church in Rome, a city that had become as immoral and idolatrous as ancient Babylon. Just as that ancient cultural center had oppressed the Judean exiles, so Rome was now persecuting the Christians living there.

In Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; and 18:2, 10, 21, Babylon was again used as a symbol for first-century AD Rome. It was pictured as the notorious prostitute, who sits upon the many waters. She was gorgeously arrayed like a queen, sitting on a scarlet beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. She was “drunk with the blood of the saints,” and on her forehead was written: “Babylon the Great, Mother of all Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World” (17:5, NLT).

An angel helped to interpret the apocalyptic symbolism for John (Rv 17). The “many waters” symbolize nations and peoples. The “seven heads” are seven mountains, which most commentators view as representing the seven hills of Rome. Seven times Babylon is called “the great city” and is described as a dreadfully immoral center of wealth and commerce, ruling over the kings of the earth and especially persecuting the saints of God. The wickedness personified in Babylon clearly symbolizes the historic manifestation of iniquity in first-century Rome.

Revelation 18 completes the picture. “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!” (v 2). God’s final judgment upon her will be severe, repaying her a double penalty (v 6). The main reason for her destruction is her immorality and persecution of the saints (19:2). The kings and merchants of the earth will mourn her demise (18:9-19), but the pronouncement is made in order that the saints might rejoice and worship God.

Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary