Beauty of Ancient Babylon: A Look Into Its Ancient Allure

^{Photo by حسين احمد رحيم سلمان}

The beauty of ancient Babylon is something that we often don’t think about because when people talk about Babylon, they’re often talking about what happened in it and not the actual place.

Many historical fiction lovers know this since they love diving deep into literature and reading a lot of fictional works based on historical figures. A brilliant author who writes historical fiction is Wilma Forester, who wrote The Adventures of Nagel of Ancient Babylonia and created a historical fiction about Babylonia with an amazing story and character.

What I’d like to do here today is showcase the beauty of Babylon during ancient times so that you can better envision what it looks like in your next historical fiction reading that’s centered around Babylon!

Magnificent Babylon: The Ancient World’s Shining Jewel

Throughout history, this city in the midst of Mesopotamia has been both wanted and loathed. It was governed by Hammurabi, rebuilt by Nebuchadrezzar (or Nebuchadnezzar), conquered by Cyrus, and is still talked about to this day.

The “land between two rivers,” or Mesopotamia, is where many of the first major cities in history were founded. Among them was the magnificent metropolis of Babylon, which is situated 97 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad in between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Babylon was adaptable, arising from its personal ashes time and time again, even when new conquerors arrived and took control. This is in contrast to the numerous cities that collapsed and vanished.

Greek and Roman writers were fascinated by Babylon, even beyond the biblical tradition. They were the ones who contributed to the vast collection of legends which have persisted to this day. Legends and confusions may also have contributed to popular accounts of Babylon’s amazing constructions, such as the Hanging Gardens and the Tower of Babel.

But in the eyes of archaeologists and historians, Babylon is a physical location at the heart of the thriving Mesopotamian civilization that it ruled for hundreds of centuries.

The City of Cities: A History of Rebuilding Beauty

In what is now Iraq, the location of Babylon was first discovered in the 1800s. Subsequent excavations conducted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey revealed that the city had been constructed and reconstructed multiple times, most notably on an extravagant scale by its monarch, Nebuchadrezzar II (ruled 605–561 B.C.E.).

The beauty of ancient Babylon is displayed by the enormous and splendid blue Ishtar Gate. People can take a look at the reconstructed gate because it’s on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. If you’re looking for a historical fiction about Babylonia, read The Adventures of Nagel of Ancient Babylonia. Although it doesn’t focus on what Babylon looked like, it still mentions the beautiful Babylon that was the jewel of the ancient world.

The Golden Age of Babylon

Throughout the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., Babylon was very prosperous and thought to be the biggest metropolis on Earth. Early in the sixth century B.C.E., the Chaldeans, a tribe, established a new monarchy that overthrew the Assyrians. Nebuchadrezzar II, the second Chaldean king, rose to prominence as a notoriously ruthless and extravagant person.

Nebuchadrezzar is probably the most infamous person in Babylon. His name is one of the things that gave Babylon some of its infamy. After all, Nebuchadrezzar was the monarch who destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Jews to the center of his newly established and progressively more potent regional empire.

The people of Babylon believed their city to be a paradise. However, in Hebrew tradition, Nebuchadrezzar was seen as a tyrant and Babylon as a place of pain.

Appreciate the Beauty of Ancient Babylon More With Historical Fiction

While Babylon was far from being the perfect city, it was a beautiful place at some point. The Ishtar Gate and Hanging Gardens are wonderful displays of architecture and art combined. Babylon certainly deserves a spot on any list of beautiful ancient cities.

And if you want to read a work of historical fiction with Babylon as a setting, grab a copy of The Adventures of Nagel of Ancient Babylonia by Wilma Forester. Read and enjoy a historical fiction about Babylonia written by an excellent author by visiting Wilma’s website at https://www.wilmarforester.com/order/ and ordering one today.

Read another article from our team and join us as we take a questionable look at history from the victors’ lens!