Babylon, Iraq
Located south of Baghdad — and home to the legendary Hanging Gardens – Babylon is one of ancient Mesopotamia’s first cities. It housed an advanced civilization with well-developed literature, medicine, and religion. It also employed a legal system dating back to the third millennium B.C.
The term “eye for an eye” stems from this ancient city; written by King Hammurabi who created the Babylonian empire. The city eventually collapsed in the 7th century A.D., after centuries of foreign domination.
Babylon probably owes its infamy to the many references to it in the Bible — all of which are unfavorable. However, it was these references which led to the expedition by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey. He first excavated the ruins of Babylon in 1899.
