Babylon, a city that became a legend and turned to ruins before it was even founded. How is that possible? Let us race across a thousand years of history and try to resolve this contradiction. We will tell the story of Babylon's greatest rulers, Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II. How the Tower of Babel was built and what the hanging gardens of Semiramis really were. We will soar above the Ishtar Gate and touch the lives of ordinary Babylonians whose lives were governed by laws that Europe would not match for another 3 and a half thousand years. Searching for the origins of Babylon is like peering into fog. We do not know who founded the legendary city or when. The first written mention of

Babylon dates to the 23rd century B.CE during the reign of Sargon of Akad's grandson. Back then the city was called Karding which in Sumerian meant gate of god. The more familiar name emerged in the Acadian language. Locals called the city Pub Ilu which also translates as gate of God. Gradually Aadian displaced Sumerian and the name stuck. From there it passed into ancient Greek and took on the sound the world still knows today, Babylon. The history of Babylon begins after the fall of the Sumero Acadian kingdom around 2000 B.CEE. Babylon was seized by nomadic Amorite tribes. Roughly a century later, an Amorite chieftain named Sumu Abum founded the first Babylonian dynasty. Historians

call the era of this dynasty's rule the old Babylonian period. Upon becoming ruler of Babylon, Sumu Abum erected defensive walls around the city, dug canals to supply it with water, and built new temples. Then Sumu Abum launched military campaigns. He captured and destroyed the neighboring city of Kazalu. With the rulers of Kish and Sipar, he formed an alliance. By the end of his life, Sumu Abum had expanded his domain to include the cities of Dilbat and Kuther. And so from an unremarkable little town, Babylon transformed into the capital of a future celebrated power. Let us return to the Sumero Acadian Kingdom and examine the conditions in which Babylon existed before its rise.

The Sumero Acadian Kingdom was a mighty state in the territory of ancient Mesopotamia. At its peak, it stretched from the coast of the Persian Gulf to the north of Mesopotamia. The kingdom endured for one century from the late 22nd to the late 21st century BCE. During this period, Mesopotamia was concluding the early Bronze Age and people were transitioning from copper tools and weapons to bronze. Babylon at that time was an insignificant city within the Sumero Acadian Kingdom. The empire began to crumble toward the end of the 21st century B.C.E. e Amorite tribes constantly attacked, leaving nothing in their wake. The devastated locals rose up in hungry revolts. In the south, the Elommites rebelled, demanding

independence. The Sumero Acadian kingdom weakened and ultimately fragmented into separate states. After this, Mesopotamia became an arena for endless wars. The main feuding centers were the city states of Ein and Lassa. In addition, the kingdoms of Assyria and Mari formed in the north, Eshnuna in the east, and Ilam in the south. Individual states could form alliances, but more often they clashed with one another over expanding their borders since none of them held a decisive advantage. The whole situation resembled chaos. Later, the Babylonian king Hammurabi would become the one to unite all the waring states of Mesopotamia into a single power, the Babylonian kingdom.

Hammurabi came from the first Babylonian dynasty and was the sixth ruler of Babylon after Sumu Abum. The exact meaning of his name is unknown. Some scholars read it as Hamurabi, meaning the ancestor is great, others as Hamurabi, meaning the ancestor is a healer. Hammurabi was born in the early 19th century BCE. Around the same time on the other side of the world in prehistoric Britain, the construction of Stonehenge was completed. Hammurabi inherited a kingdom stretching from Sippar to Marad in what is now modern-day Iraq. At the time, this was not the most powerful state. Far greater threats were posed by the neighboring kingdoms of Lassa, Eshnuna, Elam, and the realm of Shamshi Adad I. By waring

with some and cooperating with others, Hammurabi by the end of his life had subjugated all the lands of Mesopotamia. But let us take it in order. In his early years of rule, Hammurabi apparently did not wage wars of conquest. Upon ascending the throne, the young king first forgave the debts of all his subjects. Over the following years, he built and restored temples, strengthened the city walls, and dug canals. Only in his seventh year of rule did he go to war with the cities of Isin and Uruk, conquering them at once. Ein and Uruk were then under the control of Rimsin, the ruler of Lassa. Yet Rimin did not respond to Hammurabi with war, seeding him two important cities. This may have been because before the attack, Hammurabi had

formed an alliance with Shamshi Adad I, the leader of the upper Mesopotamian kingdom. Rimsin apparently decided to prepare and start a war later. A year later, Rimsin sent troops against Hammurabi and reclaimed Een and Uruk. From then on, a long peace was established between them. Hammurabi would expand his borders in other directions. In his 11th year of rule, Hamurabi rejected a proposal for alliance from the king of Eshna. Instead, he allied with Shamshi Adad I, who controlled all the major cities of Upper Mesopotamia. At the time, this was the most powerful ally available.

Hammurabi's decisive victorious campaigns began only in his 30th year of rule. He then defeated the combined forces of Eshnuna, Malgium, and Ilam. After this triumph, Hammurabi declared for the first time that the borders of the Babylonian kingdom encompassed all the lands of lower Mesopotamia. Such a declaration meant that Hammurabi no longer recognized the authority of Rimsin and war with Lassa was inevitable. Hammurabi marched his troops to the walls of Lassa. Rimsin held out under siege for a month but was ultimately defeated. His subsequent fate is unknown. From the vanquished king Hammurabi inherited the title father of the Amorites. After the death of Shamshi Adat, Hammurabi's ally.

The kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia collapsed. The states of Assyria and Mari gained independence and in his subsequent campaigns Hammurabi subdued them. In his 38th year of rule, Hammurabi captured Eshnuna and repelled the onslaught of nomadic tribes. After this, all of Mesopotamia fell under his control. Hammurabi was a masterful negotiator and strategist. He chose his allies carefully and waged war successfully, even far from his homeland. These skills helped him transform Babylon from an unknown town into the capital of a celebrated kingdom. But this was only one side of his extraordinary personality. Hammurabi also became one of the first lawmakers in history. This brought Babylon to its golden age.

Having consolidated his power, Hammurabi launched judicial reforms. Under his direction, a code of laws was compiled that defined the rights and responsibilities of the Babylonian kingdom's inhabitants. The laws were carved into a diorite stale crowned with an image of Hammurabi and Shamash, the god of the sun and justice. Hammurabi wielded absolute power. He was revered on par with a god who rules over society and establishes its laws. In earlier times, things had been different. Rulers had to take the opinions of the high priesthood into account in order to maintain their position. Babylonian society consisted of three estates with unequal rights.

The majority of inhabitants were free people. They were called aum, meaning man. They lived in communities and owned their own land. Hammurabi largely did not interfere in their lives. He even ensured that officials did not seize communal lands from the people. Nevertheless, Awome paid taxes. The second estate comprised the freed dependent or mushkinum, meaning one who prostrates himself. Most often they came from palace or temple slaves. Though free people and even nomads could be among them, Mushkenum had no roots in any community or had voluntarily severed ties with one. Some gave up their land after going bankrupt. Others did so seeking advancement in service.

Mushkenum held land on royal territory and served the government. Their activities were managed by city administrators, many of whom were themselves Mushkenum. This estate could simultaneously include both lesser status farmers and state officials. Finally, the third estate consisted of slaves or wardom. Among them were captured warriors or people who had lost their freedom after committing a crime or failing to repay debts. Slaves could belong to the king, a temple, or a private individual. All of a slave's meager possessions were considered the property of their master.

Slaves were legally equivalent to objects that could be sold or pledged. If someone maimed a slave or took their life, it was considered nothing more than damaging or destroying someone else's property. The guilty party compensated only for the material loss. But here is the crucial point. In Babylon, no one was born without rights. If a slave woman and a free man had children, those children were free. Even if the father did not acknowledge them, the enslaved mother could not be sold. She remained in the household with her children. Many of Hammurabi's laws were based on the principle of Talion, equal retribution, an eye for an eye. However, liability for crimes depended on social standing. For instance, if a free man

damaged the eye of another free man, the offender's eye was destroyed in return. But if a free man knocked out the eye of a mushkenum, the accused paid about£1 of silver for injuries inflicted on a slave, a fine equal to half the slaves value was imposed. Under Hammurabi, the high priests and the temple lost their influence over lawmaking. For the first time in history, crimes began to be treated in a purely legal sense, not as violations of sacred commandments, but as offenses against human life and the foundations of society. Judges were now appointees of the king drawn from the city's inhabitants. While priests served only as assistants, a judge who disregarded the law could be stripped of

his position. Hammurabi's laws protected the rights of women and children to the extent possible in that era. A woman was a full person and an independent member of the family. After marrying, she could leave her husband if he turned out to have premarital debts. If her spouse was unfaithful, accused her of adultery or assaulted her, she could take her case to court and upon proving her claims, dissolve the marriage. She was then free to remarry. If a wife was childless or fell seriously ill, the husband had the right to take a second wife. However, he could not choose a concubine on his own if his wife herself offered him a slave woman for cohabitation.

A husband could not abandon a sick wife either. If a man's wife died, he could not claim her diary. The entire inheritance went to their children. If a man had children, both from his wife and from a lawful concubine. Then after his death, every child received an equal share of his property. The concubine mother and her children were granted their freedom. Of course, not all residents of Babylon enjoyed equal rights. Yet, the honored position of women in the family and the protection of children from a father's tyranny speak to the sophistication of society at that time. Hammurabi took the first step toward ensuring that the strong shall not oppress the weak. So, it is stated in his laws. After Hammurabi's death, the Babylonian

kingdom lost its influence in Mesopotamia. Five centuries later, Babylon came under pressure from Assyria, which had become a mighty power by that time. To repel the Assyrian threat, Babylonian kings sought support from neighboring countries. The standoff between Babylon and Assyria would stretch on for the next 5 centuries. In the 8th century B.CE., Babylon was weakened by the onslaught of the Calaldanss. Finding themselves in a vulnerable position, Babylonian rulers asked for help from their very enemies, the Assyrians. Babylon and Assyria formed an alliance, a fateful decision. The Assyrian king helped defeat the Calaldanss, but in return sent his own governor to Babylon. And so the Babylonian state found itself under Assyrian control. And the Babylonians

soon realized the weakness of their position. Assyrian kings had always appointed their eldest sons as governor of Babylon. But this tradition was broken by Sinakaribb. He had previously tried to rule Babylon directly. But the city constantly rebelled. So Sinakaribb decided to change his approach. He placed on the Babylonian throne a young Babylonian aristocrat named Belibnney who had been raised at the Assyrian court. The calculation was simple, familiar to the Babylonians yet loyal to Assyria. Sinakaribb himself called him a puppy raised in my palace. But the puppy quickly bared its teeth. Belni conspired with the Babylonians and raised a revolt.

Sonakaribb crushed the rebellion and removed Belibnney. This time he appointed his own son, Asha Nadin Shumi, as governor, but he too did not last long. The Elummites invaded Babylonia, captured the prince, and in all likelihood executed him. After this, revolts in the city erupted one after another. Then Sakaribb returned to Babylon with a single intention to destroy the city. This is how he recorded his ruthlessness. With the bodies of Babylonians I filled the squares of the city. Gold and precious stones I divided among my people. The gods who dwelt in the city were seized by the hands of my warriors and smashed. The city and its houses from foundation to wall I destroyed and consigned to fire. In the end, Sinakaribb ordered the

charred ruins flooded. His soldiers breached the Araku River that ran through the city and water filled the streets. Thus was Babylon destroyed. And then something happened that contemporaries perceived as a direct act of the gods. In 681 B.CEE, Sinakaribb was killed by his own sons. For the people of Mesopotamia, this was no palace conspiracy. It was the verdict of Marduk. The god whose statue had been taken from Babylon had exacted his revenge through blood. Babylon's restoration began immediately after Sakaribb's death. The work took about 20 years and the finest builders participated. New palaces were erected on the sights of destroyed ones with unprecedented splendor. The Babylon whose ruins have largely survived to our

day was laid down precisely then in the 7th century B.CEE. The city's restoration was carried out under the Assyrian king Assahadon. And it was around this time that a new chapter in Babylon's history opened the Neoablonian period. The surviving Babylonians gradually returned home. Along with them came the Calaldanss who by that time already populated Mesopotamia. The very same Calaldanss whose raids Babylon had once repelled began to intermingle with the local population, gain rights and influence the affairs of state. Among these Calaldanss was Nabopolasar. He served as one of the military commanders of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. When the Assyrian Empire began to decline and lose its

grip over its subject nations, Nabopolasar raised a rebellion along with his army. He renounced Assyrian authority and marched toward Babylon, conquering one city after another. In time, Nabapolasar became one of the most powerful rulers of Mesopotamia. In the conquered Babylon, he ascended the throne and founded the 10th Neoablonian dynasty, also known as the Calaldian dynasty. Later, in 612 B.CEE, his forces brought down the capital of Assyria, Nineveh. And so, a Calaldian rebel brought the lands of Mesopotamia under his rule. After Nabopolasar's death, power passed to his son, Nebuchadnezzar II. He continued his father's work and became the one who led Babylon to a new golden age.

Nebuchadnezzar II was born around 6:30 BCE at roughly the same time in ancient Greece. The future poetesses Sappo and the future founder of democracy Solon were born. They were all nearly the same age. Nebuchadnezzar's name in Aardian sounded like Nabu Kuduri Usur meaning Nabu protect my firstborn. The god Nabu in Aadian mythology was considered the patron of wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar II inherited an empire that already stretched across all of Mesopotamia. Yet he continued his father's conquests. He pushed its borders even further. The only unconquered rival remaining was Egypt. And this was because the two

sides were equal in strength. Under Nebuchadnezzar II, the Neoablonian kingdom experienced its golden age. Tribute from subject cities that had previously flowed to Nineveh was now directed to Babylon. Residents of other cities relocated to the capital. Plenty of hired work appeared and the population grew rapidly. Early in his reign, Nebuchadnezzar decided to restore the ziggurat from the time of Hammurabi. This ziggurat was called etani which translates as house of the foundation of heaven and earth and its construction was overseen by an architect named Arad Aeshu. Once rebuilt, etani became the tallest structure in Mesopotamia and

later the inspiration for the myth of the tower of Babel. It was dedicated to Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon. The construction of city walls, canals, and palaces was carried out primarily by hired workers. Their labor was paid for by temple officials who simultaneously oversaw construction projects in the capital. The funds came from the temple's reserves which consisted mainly of royal gifts, gold, silver, and war spoils. Captured foreigners provided only supplementary labor. But the grand construction of Babylon did not end there. for his wife Amitis Nebuchadnezzar built the legendary hanging gardens, the second of the seven wonders of the world.

According to legend, Amitis was a median princess. She was weighed down by dusty, scorching Babylon, and longed for her homeland, the shady forests and high mountains of Media. To ease his wife's sorrow, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of the hanging gardens where she could hide from the bustle and lose herself in memories. In literature, the hanging gardens bear the name of the mythical queen Seamis. The prototype for Semiramis was Shamuramat, a ruler of Assyria who lived two centuries before Nebuchadnezzar was born. Perhaps then the second wonder of the world should be called the hanging gardens of Amitas. And yet to this day it remains unknown whether the hanging gardens actually existed. Not a single

Babylonian text from Nebuchadnezzar's time mentions them. Everything we know comes from Greek and Roman authors writing centuries later. This is the only one of the seven wonders of the world whose very existence remains in question. But even if the hanging gardens are merely a beautiful legend, what Nebuchadnezzar built around Babylon was absolutely real and arguably far more impressive. Nebuchadnezzar erected a double wall around the city with a combined thickness of about 90 ft. That is the width of a four-lane highway. Chariots drawn by teams of four horses could race along the top of these walls and still have room to turn around. For

comparison, the Great Wall of China is 15 to 30 ft wide. Babylon's walls were 3 to six times wider. It calls to mind the walls from Attack on Titan. The city itself covered roughly 2200 acres, roughly comparable to downtown Chicago. Its population, by various estimates, reached 200,000. Does that not sound so impressive? Then here is some context. In those same years, Athens had about 90,000 inhabitants, and Rome was still a village. Babylon most likely became the first city in human history to cross the 200,000 mark. Now, the Ishtar Gate, this was the main entrance to the city, and it was designed so that anyone approaching it would have the breath taken right out of them. The gate rose

50 ft above the ground, while its foundation extended another 46 ft below. The total height of the structure was 95 ft. The height of a 9-story building. But it was not just the height that was staggering. The entire facade of the gate was covered in glazed bricks of vivid cobalt blue. This was not paint. It was a thin vitrius layer that gleamed in the sun so intensely that from a distance the gate appeared to be carved from lapis lazuli, the most precious blue stone of antiquity. Nothing like it existed anywhere else in the world. Against the blue background were laid out figures 575 mushu dragons and bulls arranged in 13 rows. Each figure was assembled from individually molded bricks like a

mosaic. Now imagine you have passed through the Ishtar Gate and found yourself on the processional way. It stretched for over half a mile up to 65 ft wide, wider than Broadway in New York. On both sides rose walls 50 ft high, adorned with 120 life-sized glazed lions. Each lion was about 6 and 1/2 ft long, assembled from 46 individual bricks. And here is a detail that shows just how deliberate all this construction was. The lions on the eastern wall stepped forward with their left paw, while those on the western wall led with their right. If you walked along the road toward the gate, it seemed as though two columns of lions were bearing down on you from both sides.

The history of the Neoablonian kingdom did not last long, roughly one century. The reign of Nebuchadnezzar II coincided with the rise and prosperity of Babylon, while a swift decline began immediately after his death. As early as 539 B.CEE, the Persian king Cyrus II conquered Babylon. From there, Persian power only grew. Key territories were stripped from Babylon, though the city itself retained self-governance for several more decades. Everything changed in 481 B.CEE. The Babylonians raised a revolt against the Persians. But the Persian king Xerxes crushed the uprising and devastated Babylon. As a final symbolic gesture, the Persians carried away the statue of Marduk. And so the divine protector of

Babylon departed his city, the once reborn capital began its long descent into twilight. And now the most important part. Remember the paradox we started with? Babylon became a legend and turned to ruins before it was even founded. Now you know how that is possible. The Babylon of Hammurabi, that same celebrated legendary Babylon, was destroyed by Sakaribb and drowned beneath the waters. It is gone. The ruins that archaeologists unearthed, the ones that stand today in the Iraqi desert, those belong to a different Babylon, built by Nebuchadnezzar on the site of the one that was destroyed. The legend was born before the stones that remain from it. We know Babylon by its second life, but we remember it for its first.