Bible Synapse
Babylon
Site · 626–539 BC · Assyria and Babylon · also called Babil
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- 626–539 BC (Babylon as capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire)
- Found
- Babylon, near Hillah, Iraq, 1899. Excavated by Robert Koldewey for the German Oriental Society from 1899 to 1917, and by German and Iraqi teams since. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2019.
- Now
- At the site (Babylon, Iraq), Hillah
- Passages
- 2 Kings 24:15, Psalms 137:1, Isaiah 13:19, Jeremiah 51:37
What it is
The ruins of the city on the Euphrates, 85 km south of Baghdad, that was capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire from 626 to 539 BC. Within its inner and outer walls lie mounds with the remains of palaces, gates and temples, among them the Esagila temple of Marduk and the base of the temple tower Etemenanki, both rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II. From 1978 the Iraqi government rebuilt parts of the city, including the Southern Palace, on top of the ruins.
How it connects to the Bible
Babylon was where the people of Judah were taken in exile (2 Kings 24:15), and it is remembered in the lament “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down” (Psalm 137:1). It is the setting of much of Daniel and the subject of Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s prophecies of its fall.