Interesting Facts About Babylon
1. Babylon lay approximately 90 kilometers from Baghdad, the modern-day capital of Iraq. It was a true megacity of its time, with its population reaching 200,000 during its heyday, which was substantial even by modern standards.
2. The size of the city was also impressive, spanning the banks of the Euphrates River. According to Herodotus, Babylon had the shape of a massive quadrilateral, with each side measuring 22 kilometers, totaling an area of 440 square kilometers.
3. The most famous Babylonian ruler was King Hammurabi of the First Babylonian Dynasty. His exemplary reign spanned from 1793 to 1750 BCE. Hammurabi's Code is the oldest known legal codex in the world. His laws were inscribed on a stone pillar over 2 meters tall. Several such pillars were erected in different regions of the Babylonian Empire. Hammurabi believed that his laws would bring "forever prosperity to the land," and anyone who did not abide by them or dared to abolish or alter them would be severely punished by the "father of the gods, Anu."
4. Physicians in Babylon were highly respected, but their work was challenging. For example, a physician who misdiagnosed a patient would have their hand cut off. Therefore, if a physician realized they could not cure an illness, they considered it better to refuse treatment altogether. Magical and ritualistic practices were widely used in medicine.
5. The Sumerians wrote on clay tablets with wooden sticks. While the clay remained soft, it was easy to correct mistakes in the text. Only in the 19th century did German philologist Grotefend partially decipher the script of the ancient Sumerians.
6. In the 4th century BCE, Babylon was conquered by Alexander the Great. The great military leader was preparing for a serious battle, but to his surprise, Babylon surrendered without a fight. Babylonian residents sent envoys to Alexander inviting him to enter the city peacefully, and they greeted him as a hero. Astonished by such reception, Alexander ordered not to plunder the city. Moreover, on Alexander's instructions, some previously ruined temples were restored. Babylon was declared the capital of Alexander's Asian state. It was in Babylon that Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE.
7. The Hanging Gardens of Semiramis are one of the wonders of the ancient world. Despite being mentioned in the works of several ancient authors, some historians doubt their existence. There is even a version that the gardens were created by Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife, Amytis, who was born and raised in Media and missed the lush vegetation that she lacked in Babylon. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar decided to make such an original gift to his wife. Queen Semiramis, after whom the gardens were named, ruled two centuries earlier.
8. The Bible mentions that the inhabitants of Babylon attempted to build a tower to the heavens, for which they were punished by God, who divided them with different languages so that they would not understand each other. In Mesopotamia, indeed, a number of tall structures were built, called ziggurats. They were used for religious rituals, and astronomical observations were made from the tops of the towers. The tallest ziggurat was 90 meters high. Many travelers mistakenly mistook it for the ruins of the famous Tower of Babel. The exact location of Babylon remained unknown for a long time. Large-scale excavations began only at the end of the 19th century by German archaeologist and historian of architecture Robert Koldewey. Koldewey conducted the first reconnaissance expedition here in the winter of 1897/1898. After that, he set a condition for his sponsors: funding for excavations for at least five years, payment for the work of a whole team of archaeologists and excavators. The total budget for the work was estimated at a grandiose amount for that time - half a million marks. Even a railway branch was built to the excavation site. The expedition lasted not for five years, as initially planned, but for eighteen. It ended only in 1917, when English troops approached Baghdad. Throughout this time, Koldewey allowed himself to go on vacation to his homeland only three times. After completing the work, the archaeologist received a position at the Berlin Museum as director of external relations.
9. The Babylonian numbering system was sexagesimal. Its echoes have reached our days. For example, we still divide one minute into 60 seconds, and an hour into 60 minutes.
