Babylon: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Babel • Bab-ilu • Bāb-ilim • Aṭlāl Bābil • Bavel

Photos and Videos

Reconstructed Ishtar Gate at Babylon near Al-Hillah, Iraq, featuring blue walls decorated with rows of yellow and white animal reliefs and a central arched entrance.

Hammurabi before Shamash

Black and white illustration of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, shown standing in elaborate robes and a tall crown, with a serpent-dragon at his side.

palace of Nebuchadrezzar throne room

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Ishtar Gate in Iraq, a tall blue structure with two towers, decorated with rows of yellow and white animal reliefs and geometric patterns around an arched entrance.

The number 258,458 in base 60

Mysteries of ancient Babylon

History of ancient Jerusalem and its people

What Happened to the Tower of Babel?

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Topics

Archaeology cuneiform Assyrian Babylonian Map of the World Ziggurat Aramaean Kassite Amorite Ishtar Gate Ur Nineveh Ctesiphon Calah Eridu Kūfah Ashur Nippur Hatra Kish

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monotheism: Babylonian religion

Major Events

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Battle of Cunaxa

carving of Hammurabi

Babylonia

ancient region, Mesopotamia

Iraq

country, Asia

Historical map showing ancient Mesopotamia with labeled locations of major archaeological and historical sites. Symbols and color codes indicate sites from the prehistoric era, Sumerian-Akkadian culture, Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian eras, Assyrian civilization, Hurrian era, late Persian, Greek, and Parthian eras, as well as marshland areas. The map covers the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, including present-day Iraq and surrounding areas.

history of Mesopotamia

historical region, Asia

ancient Middle East

ancient Middle East

historical region, Asia

Map showing the Neo-Babylonian Empire at its greatest extent, highlighted in green, stretching from the eastern Mediterranean coast and Egypt through the Syrian Desert, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia to the Persian Gulf. Major rivers like the Euphrates and Tigris, and mountain ranges such as the Taurus and Zagros, are labeled. Key ancient cities including Babylon, Jerusalem, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Susa, Tyre, Ashkelon, Harran, and Carchemish are marked within the empire's territory.

Neo-Babylonian empire

ancient empire, Asia

Key People

Alexander the Great

king of Macedonia

Hammurabi, limestone relief; in the British Museum

Hammurabi

king of Babylonia

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Tiglath-pileser III

king of Assyria

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Hormuzd Rassam

Assyriologist

Layard, drawing by G.F. Watts; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Austen Henry Layard

British archaeologist

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Darius II Ochus

king of Persia

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Robert Koldewey

German architect and archaeologist

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Megabyzus

Achaemenian general

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Claudius James Rich

British businessman

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Nearchus

Macedonian general and satrap

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

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Taj Mahal, Agra, India. UNESCO World Heritage Site (minarets; Muslim, architecture; Islamic architecture; marble; mausoleum)

Wonders of the World Quiz

Tomb of Mohammed Bin Ali, Salalah, Oman.

A View of the Middle East

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

History Buff Quiz