Babylon: the gate of the god
Babylon, whose name means "the gate of the god", was the cult center of the god Marduk. Administrative capital during the dominance of Ur which extended over the whole Mesopotamia south central (2112 –2004 B.C.), in the 18th century it became the capital, spiritual and temporal power of Mesopotamia under the Amorite king Hammurabi (1792 –1750 B.C.).
Hammurabi, fifth king of the first Babylonian dynasty, was undoubtedly the most prestigious ruler: he established a powerful empire which included southern Mesopotamia and which coincided with the territory in the past under the suzerainty of Ur.
A diorite stele discovered in Susa at the beginning of this century, on which the drafting of a code was engraved, reveals all the genius of its unifying action.
A bas-relief represents King Hammurabi receiving the text of the laws from the god Shamash, patron of justice. The stele which was to be erected in the temple of Shamash in Sippar or in Babylon itself was transported to Susa as loot by the king of Elam Shutruknakhunte towards the 1200 B.C. The code issued by Hammurabi was not the oldest: three centuries earlier the Sumerians had already created one.
The coherence and breadth of the code traditionally make it the main source for the reconstruction of Babylonian society. No statue of Hammurabi's Babylon was found at the site. Only those are known that the Elamites brought to Susa after overthrowing the Kassite dynasty, whose kings had adopted the Babylonian culture.
It is also difficult to judge the achievements of the first Babylonian dynasty in the field of urban planning and architecture as the Babylon of this period remains inaccessible under the subsequent reconstructions of the city. At the end of the 12th century, the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar expelled the Elamites by destroying their capital, Susa, and recovered the stolen statues of the gods of Babylon.
In the first millennium, the city fell under the rule of the Assyrians, but the rebellions never ceased and, therefore during the seventh century BC, the Assyrians destroyed it twice. In 625, its governor, Nabopolassar, made himself independent by proclaiming himself king and allied himself with the Medes to overthrow Assyria by destroying its capital, Nineveh, in 612 B.C.
Nebukodonosor II, his son, defeated the last outposts of Assyrian resistance and, during his reign (604 –562 BC.C) dedicated himself to an intense building activity: the remains of the city, still visible today, belong to this reconstructive phase. The exploration of Babylon took place only at the end of the 19th century (1899) by German archaeologists, led by the architect Robert Koldewey, who, systematically, for eighteen consecutive years (until 1917) brought to light the monuments of the eastern part of the famous city, greatly increasing the knowledge of architecture and urban planning.
The city extended on both banks of the Euphrates, but the main buildings were on the east bank. An external wall, approx. 18 kilometres, enclosed an almost uninhabited territory, but which could serve as a refuge for peasants in times of war. This outer line of defense was reinforced to the north by a fortress, which still stands today 22 meters, which protected the king's palace.
A long, quadrilateral-shaped double internal wall 8 kilometers long, bordered by a canal, which served as a moat, defended the agglomeration proper. The inner walls had 8 gates, all placed under the protection of a divinity, among which the most famous is the one consecrated to the warrior goddess Ishtar.
It was a double gate, as it crossed two walls, flanked by two advanced towers and by rooms that opened inside the walls themselves and served as a guardhouse; the main gate was decorated with smooth brick figures of dragons (emblem of the god Marduk) and glazed brick towers (an animal associated with the storm god Adad).
The gate, of which only the foundations were found, was rebuilt up to a hypothetical height of 14.30 meters, based on the glazed bricks found there.
A street with glazed brick walls and figures of lions (emblem of the goddess Ishtar) passed under the Ishtar gate and skirting the double protective wall of the royal palace led into the heart of the city, where it connected the Esagila (which means "temple with a high roof") or temple of Marduk at the extra-urban temple of the bit akitu, where the twelve-day new year festival (akitu) took place every spring.
The royal palace of Nebukodonor on one side was defended by the Euphrates river and by a massive fortification, on the other side it had protective walls. It consisted of five courts opening onto reception rooms, on the southern side: the main court opened onto a throne room of 50 per 15 meters approximately and with the walls covered with bricks glazed in yellow and blue on which there were depictions of columns and volute capitals surmounted by palmettes.
The famous Hanging Gardens described by Diodorus Siculus as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but never mentioned in any Babylonian text, have been hypnotically identified in the north-east corner of the royal palace characterized by parallel vaulted corridors. From the palace, the street continued to the great temple of Marduk, the most important god of the Babylonian pantheon. The temple was a square-plan fortress, with a central tower, where there was the statue of the god that had to be carried in procession. At the side of the temple, but isolated by a wall (temenes) stood theziggurat (the "tower of Babel").
This, called Etemenanki, which means "House of the foundation of heaven and earth", was a square tower about 90 meters, built in raw bricks covered with fired bricks. Having become the object of repeated plundering for the recovery of materials, today only the negative of the enormous square base is appreciated; at that time, however, it dominated the city with its seven floors crowned by a temple where, according to the interpretation of a passage from Herodotus, the sacred marriage of the god and goddess would have taken place, mimicked by the king and the high priestess in the course of ceremonies for the new year.
