Ancient site · City
Babylon
The great city on the Euphrates south of Baghdad, capital of Hammurabi's kingdom in the 18th century BCE and of Nebuchadnezzar II's empire in the 6th century BCE. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt it with massive walls, the blue-glazed Ishtar Gate and the temple of Marduk with its ziggurat, Etemenanki.
The Hanging Gardens may never have existed: no Babylonian text mentions them. Babylon became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.
- Dates
- c. 2300 BCE – c. 1000 CE; first mentioned c. 2200 BCE
- Still standing
- Yes
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 32.54° N, 44.42° E
How we know
Babylon appears in thousands of cuneiform texts, in Greek histories and in the Bible.
Nearby sites
- Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Babylon origins perhaps 18th century BCE; rebuilt 7th–6th century BCE; demolished 323 BCE
- Tower of Babel (legend) Legend; no date can be given
- Uruk (Eanna and the White Temple) c. 5000 BCE – c. 700 CE; Eanna and White Temple c. 3500–3100 BCE
- Ur (ziggurat and Royal Cemetery) c. 3800–500 BCE; Royal Cemetery c. 2600 BCE; ziggurat 21st century BCE
- Eridu c. 5400–600 BCE
- Jarmo c. 7090–4950 BCE