Babylon: Mesopotamia’s Legendary Capital
Wikimedia CommonsA reconstructed section of Babylon.
Babylon, situated along the Euphrates River approximately 55 miles south of modern Baghdad near the town of Al-Ḥillah, is one of the most famous cities of antiquity — thanks in part to its hanging gardens.
Rising to prominence under the Amorite king Hammurabi (1792–50 B.C.E.), who conquered surrounding city-states and established it as capital of a kingdom encompassing all of southern Mesopotamia, the city became synonymous with power and sophistication in the ancient world.
Babylon reached its peak during the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II (605–561 BCE), who undertook massive rebuilding and fortification projects.
The city became a testament to this civilization’s creativity, showcasing remarkable urbanism and monumental architecture including palaces, temples, and the famous ziggurat that likely inspired the Tower of Babel legend. Under Persian rule after its capture by Cyrus II in 539 B.C.E., Babylon retained its prestige, though some ancient scholars like Herodotus mischaracterized Babylon to a degree.
Wikimedia CommonsBrick structures at Babylon in 2016.
While the scholar’s descriptions of Babylon often portrayed it as a splendid city, Herodotus also spoke of some “shameful customs” from the city, such as sacred prostitution in the temple of Aphrodite — a claim that was later proven wrong:
“In the sacred enclosure of Aphrodite sit great numbers of women with a wreath of cord abou their heads… Here when a woman takes her seat she does not depart again to her house until one of the strangers has thrown a silver coin into her lap and has commerce with her outside the temple…”
After Alexander the Great’s conquest in 331 B.C.E., the city briefly served as his intended imperial capital before his death there in 323. However, Babylon’s importance diminished significantly after the Seleucid dynasty built a new capital at Seleucia on the Tigris in 275 B.C.E., and the once-great metropolis gradually fell into ruin.
Archaeological excavations have revealed the property’s outer and inner city walls, gates, palaces, and temples, though approximately 85 percent of the site remains unexcavated. The site suffered damage from 20th-century reconstruction projects during the “Revival of Babylon” initiative in the 1980s, which built additions on archaeological foundations based on limited evidence.
Babylon was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, though conservation remains challenging due to the site’s critical physical condition and threats from illegal construction and environmental factors.
