Babylon

BABYLON, PROVINCE OR KINGDOM OF, the country of which Babylon was the capital. Dan 2:19; Dan 3:1, Jud 4:12, 1 Kgs 20:30; Dan 4:29, Its boundaries and history are involved in much obscurity. It was originally known as the " land of Shinar " and the "land of Nimrod," Gen 10:1; Mic 5:6. It was chiefly between the Euphra- BAB BAB tes and Tigris Rivers. Asshur or Assyria and Mesopotamia were on the north, Elam and Media on the east, Chaldea on the south. As Chaldea gained in power its name was applied to the whole country, including Babylon. See Chaldea. The early kingdom of Babylon is generally regarded as covering an extent of about 27,000 square miles, rich of soil and abundant in resources, the home of one of the earliest civilized nations. After the time of Nimrod, Babel or Babylon appears to be displaced in Scripture history by Chaldea until the time of Joshua, Josh 7:21; after this both again disappear until about the time of the Captivity. At the fall of Nineveh, b.c. 626, Babylonia speedily extended its sway over most of western Asia and Egypt, and under Nebuchadnezzar became a vast empire, lasting, however, less than a century, and fell before the Medians under Cyrus and Darius, b.c. 538, and soon after dropped out of history as a separate country. General History. — Bernsus gives a list of ten mythical kings, including Xisithrus, who ruled Babylonia before the Flood; while the inscriptions so far discovered on the tablets and monuments give three mythical kings before the Flood, and four after it. From the inscriptions, long lists of kings during the historical period have also been deciphered. The earliest list of twelve kings in this period begins with Izdubar, who is identified with Nimrod by George Smith. To this list he adds from the inscriptions the names of six viceroys, six kings of Ur, five kings of Karrak, six of Erech and Larsa, five of Akkad, and four Elamite kings; and among the latter is Chedorlaomer of Gen 14:1-17. Five native kings were contemporary with these Elamite kings, and twenty other kings ruled successively until the accession of an Assyrian dynasty in b.c. 1271. The last list given by George Smith from the inscriptions covers the period from b.c. 1150 to 539, and includes Sargon, b.c. 710, Merodach-baladan III., restored b.c. 705, Esarhaddon, who rebuilt Babylon, b.c. 681, Assurbanipal, b.c. 648, Nebuchadnezzar III., the Nebuchadnezzar of Scripture, b.c. 605, Amil-maruduk, the Evil-merodach of the Bible, b.c. 562, and Bel-sar-uzar, the Belshazzar of the book of Daniel, and who reigned with his father until the fall of the Babylonian empire, b.c. 538. It is not certain how far back the records of Babylonia reach, but George Smith regards it as certain that they reach to the twenty fourth century before Christ, and some scholars would stretch them nearly two thousand years beyond that early period. The civilization, literature, and government found in Babylonia two thousand years before the Christian era could not have sprung up in a day, but further explorations only can determine its age. Among the biblical cities named in the earliest inscriptions — those of Izdubar — are Babylon, Cuthah, and Erech, thus adding new light to the truth of Scripture history. See George Smith's Assyrian Discoveries, 1875, chap. 23. The Babylonian Empire. — Upon the fall of Nineveh, b.c. 625, the Chaldaeans and Babylonians controlled all the southern and western portions of the former Assyrian empire. This Babylonian empire extended, therefore, over Susiana, Elam, Mesopotamia, Syria including Palestine and Phoenicia, Idumaea, northern Arabia, and lower Egypt. Among the important cities of the empire were Babylon, Borsippa, Sippara or Sepharvaim. Isa 36:19, Cuthah, 2 Kgs 17:24, Orchoe or Erech, in Babylonia; and in the provinces, Susa, Carchemish, Harran, Hamath, Damascus, Jerusalem, Tyre, Sidon, Ashdod, Askelon, and Gaza. Of those in the provinces, Susa was of the first importance, and may be regarded as the second city of the empire. It had a royal palace, where the Babylonian kings spent a portion of their time, Dan 8:2, doubtless during the heat of summer. The dominant people in the Babylonian empire were, according to Rawlinson and others, a mixed race, mainly descendants of the earlier Chaldaeans (who were chiefly Cushites), mixed with those of the later Assyrians, who were of the Semitic type. The Babylonians were celebrated for their wisdom and learning, Dan 1:4; Jer 50:35; Isa 47:10, especially for their knowledge of astronomy. They were also a commercial, avaricious, and luxurious people, Hab 2:9; Jer 51:13; Isa 47:8, though they were likewise valorous and war BAB BAG like. Their princes were proud and boastful. "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built ... by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?'' was the boastful speech of its greatest king, Nebuchadnezzar. Dan 4:30. In architecture, sculpture, science, philosophy, astronomical and mathematical knowledge, and in learning the Babylonians made original investigations and discoveries not surpassed by any other ancient people. " To Babylonia," says G. Rawlinson, "far more than to Egypt, we owe the art and learning of the Greeks." --Five Ancient Monarchies, iii. 76. In religion the Babylonians differed little from the early Chaldaeans. Their chief deities were Bel, Merodach, and Nebo. The names of these gods frequently appear in the names of noted princes, as Bel-shazzar, Nabo-polassar, Merodach-baladan, Evil-merodach Abed-nebo or -nego. Their gods were worshipped with great pomp and magnificence. The temples erected in honor of the gods and devoted to their worship were celebrated for their vastness, and for the massiveness and finish of their sculptures. Of the precise mode of their worship little is known. It was conducted by priests, through whom the worshippers made offerings, often of great value, and sacrifices of oxen and goats. Images of the gods were exhibited, probably on frames or sacred vehicles, and, as some suppose, were some times set up in a public place, as on the plain of Dura, Dan 3:1; but late investigations indicate that the image there set up was a statue of Nebuchadnezzar. See on this text Canon Cook's Bible Commentary, 1876. Some of the principal temples of their gods noted by Rawlinson were that of Bel at Babylon, another of the same god at Niffer, one of Beltis at Warka or Erech, one of the Sun-god at Sippara or Sepharvaim, and one of Nebo at Borsippa. The empire began with the accession of Nabo-polassar, b.c. 625: was in its greatest prosperity during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, lasting forty -four years, to b.c. 561. See Nebuchadnezzar. Under the less able rulers who followed, the power of the empire declined, and it fell a comparatively easy prey to the Medo-Persians under Cyrus, b.c. 538. See Chaldaea, Assyria, and Media. For sketch-map see Assyria, and also map at the end of this volume.