Babylon’s Kiln-Fired Bricks Almost Erased The City From History

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - King Nebuchadnezzar II (c. 605 BC – c. 562 BC), the greatest ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, had no intention of letting enemies enter the mighty city of Babylon.

Babylon was a symbol of greatness, power, and destruction. It was a place you either feared or loved. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered his workers to build temples and other buildings using tough kiln-fired bricks to protect Babylon from intruders and make the city magnificent.

His hope and goal was that palaces, temples, and walls would last longer if they were constructed with such building material, as opposed to the frequently used sun-dried bricks that were often unstable.

King Nebuchadnezzar II Wanted Babylon To Last

King Nebuchadnezzar II wanted to leave behind an everlasting legacy, and his architecture surpassed the accomplishments of most of the Assyrian kings in the history of Mesopotamia.

He built extraordinary fortification walls, gates, palaces, temples, roads, bridges, and ziggurats. King Nebuchadnezzar II also designed the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which archaeologists still haven't located. However, one expert on the Babylonian language proposed an ancient script that does in fact, reveal the location of this mysterious place.

King Nebuchadnezzar II turned Babylon into the most powerful empire of its day, and he was correct about the building material. The structures did last, and Babylonians could be proud of their city. However, the hard kiln-fired bricks were just as much a blessing as a curse.

Detail of a terracotta cylinder of King Nebuchadnezzar II, recording the building and reconstruction works at Babylon. 604–562 BC. From Babylon, Iraq, housed in the British Museum. Credit: Public Domain

The chosen building material did protect Babylon, and King Nebuchadnezzar II could boast about his architectural marvels. Still, as we are soon about to find out, the hard kiln-fired bricks almost erased the city from history.

Fall Of Babylon

Sooner or later, everything comes to an end, and Babylon's glorious times were over.

As previously mentioned in our article, Glory And Fall Of Babylon Dedicated To The Cult Of Marduk, "in 539 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, but under Persian rule, the town still flourished; it became a center of learning and science.

The city became the administrative capital of the Persian Empire and remained very important for more than two centuries.

The Persian kings made several attempts to protect religious ceremonies in Babylon, but the Babylonian people protested against Persian dominance.

Walls of Babylon and the ziggurat Etemenanki were destroyed, and the golden statue of Marduk – disappeared."

Brick structures in Babylon, photographed in 2016. Credit: Public Domain

When Alexander the Great became the ruler of Babylon, he tried to restore the city's glory, but he failed because he died in the city.

According to a tablet dated 275 BC, the inhabitants of Babylon were deported to Seleucia, and thus, Babylon became insignificant as a city.

Babylon, A City Almost Erased From History

In 764 A.D., when Bagdad, Iraq's capital, was founded, Babylon had long lost its glory, and there was not much left of the ancient city.

Parts of early Bagdad were built with kiln-fired bricks taken from Babylon's ruins. Workers also needed building materials during the Middle Ages, and the kiln-fired bricks offered the perfect solutions to many architectural constructions. Babylon was slowly but consistently taken apart, bit for bit.

Babylon in 1932 - image via Wikipedia

In 1898, when German archaeologist Robert Koldewey (1855-1925) started to excavate in the region, it was almost impossible to see this was where a magnificent ancient city had once stood. Fortunately, Koldewey and his team could eventually discover the ancient ruins of some incredible structures raised by King Nebuchadnezzar II 2,500 years earlier.

Koldewey spent 18 years excavating Babylon, and during this time, he unearthed only a small portion of this magnificent ancient city. Still, we thank Koldewey for discovering the famous Ishtar Gate, the foundations of the ziggurat Marduk, the outer walls, and inner walls, and the foundation of Etemenanki, a temple sometimes identified as the "Tower of Babel".

Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein who called himself the "successor" to King Nebuchadnezzar II spent millions rebuilding the ancient site of Babylon, reconstructing the city's walls and palaces.

Archaeologists digging in Iraq still find precious ancient ruins and artifacts, but the instability in the region makes the work extremely difficult. Somehow, it feels as if King Nebuchadnezzar II's dream of keeping Babylon alive was never meant to last.

Written by Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

Updated on November 4, 2024

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