ON THE MILITARY ARCHITECTURE OF BABYLON DURING

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S REIGN (6th century BC) (1)

Periklis Deligiannis

2

© 2009 Periklis Deligiannis, All rights reserved

3

Babylon was one of the most splendid and renowned cities in world History,

being an actual metropolis of the Near East and the political center of a large kingdom

and occasionally an empire which lasted more than a thousand years (18th-6th

centuries BC), sometimes under foreign dynasties. The Babylonian kingdom

remained nominally an independent political entity even when it was conquered by

invaders such as the Kassites (Kossaioi) or the Assyrians. Even after Babylon’s

capture by the Persians, she remained a very important city under the rule of the

Achaemenids, of Alexander the Great who had chosen her as his capital, and of the

Seleucids. Babylon’s gradual decline started in the Late Seleucid and the Parthian

Age and went on more densely during the Sassanid Persian period.

The first appearance of Babylon in the historical-archaeological records

possibly belongs in the 23th century BC, as a town of the Akkadian kingdom.

However it is possible that the town pre-existed as a Sumerian settlement. Its

inhabitants at that time seem to have been Akkadian Semite newcomers who had

already started to replace the Sumerians as the main population of South

Mesopotamia. We believe that a part of Babylon’s original population was Sumerian.

In this phase, there is no urban planning and Babylon was in fact a Sumerian-type

village or town because of the strong cultural influence of the indigenous people on

the Akkadians (2). The early town was established on the east bank of the Euphrates

River and it was rather of small importance compared to the neighbouring great cities

of Kish, Nippur, Akkad, Eshnunna and Sippar, all of them Sumerian except Akkad.

4

Around the 20th-19th centuries BC, the infiltration and occasional invasion of

the Amorites to Lower Mesopotamia was the fact that changed Babylon’s fortunes

and started her evolution to an important city and then to a metropolis. They probably

came mainly from the modern Syrian semi-desert areas, thus being a people of the

North-western Semitic group, and were Bedouin-type nomadic tribes. However they

gradually established themselves as upper classes and dynasties in many of the old

Sumerian and Akkadian cities of the land. They initially infiltrated small towns like

Babylon: indeed, the town is growing in this phase, probably due to the arrival of the

Amorites who are added to the earlier inhabitants. However Babylon still cannot be

compared to the neighbouring cities. Around 1895 BC, Babylon became the political

centre of an Amorite dynasty who overthrew the control of the neighbouring city-state

Kazalu. Babylon became an independent but small city-state and remained in this

status until it became the capital of the great Amorite king Hammurabi, the founder of

the Early Babylonian Empire. During his reign, Babylon became the largest city in the

world, overshadowing the aforementioned neighbouring cities which had been

conquered by Hammurabi. After his death, the Amorite dynasty remained in power in

Babylon; however the city became again a city-state and due to this situation, lost a

part of its population which could not be supported.

In 1595 BC Babylon was captured by the Hittites in a ‘Blitzkrieg’-type

operation of them against her. The city was looted and possibly partly destroyed,

consequently loosing an additional part of its population. It was then that the Kassites

(later Cossaeans, Kossaioi), an Indoeuropean or perhaps Hurrian people of the Zagros

Mountain Ridge found the opportunity to capture the city and hold it for more than

four centuries. The Kassites secured peace for Babylon which again started to grow in

5

population. Additionally, the Kassites were partly Babylonized but around 1150 BC

they were ousted from the city due to the Assyrian and Elamite military pressure.

In the 11th century BC new Semitic nomadic peoples, the Arameans and

Sutians, infiltrated Lower Mesopotamia and the former managed to control Babylon

for a while. They were finally absorbed and lost their rule but remained there as a part

of the population. The next two centuries the Chaldeans, another Semitic nomadic

population, entered the region and annexed some areas of the Babylonian territory. As

it will be mentioned below, they too will become a significant part of Babylon’s

multiethnic population. Due to those arrivals which increased the population, and to

the economic growth of the city, at the early 1st millennium BC there was a new

urban and at the same time architectural growth of Babylon. But then this situation

was abruptly stopped by the city’s total destruction in 689 BC by the revengeful

Assyrian king Sennacherib. However this destruction although possibly reduced the

population, it also benefited architecturally the city because the new Assyrian king

Esarhaddon rebuilt it at once in order to avoid the revenge of Marduk, Ishtar and the

other Babylonian gods.

Due to the advance of the Assyro-Babylonian civilization and the

‘opportunity’ of the destruction of the city, its urban planning was definitely improved

and the architecture and embellishment of the temples and buildings were possibly

improved as well. After all Esarhaddon made the city his capital, together with

Nineveh.

In the late 7th century, Babylon came under the rule of the Chaldean dynasty

of Nabopalassar; the Chaldeans already being a significant portion of her population.

Between 612-606 BC the Babylonians, Medes, Scythians and Persians managed to

destroy the Assyrian Empire, and Babylon became the political centre and metropolis

6

of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Nabopalassar started a new age of architectural

activity for Babylon, but it was his son, Nebuchadnezzar II (Nabu-kudurri-usur II)

(reign 604-562 BC but he was earlier co-regnant with his father) the one who led the

city to the peak of her power and wealth. He ruled her and the Neo-Babylonian

Empire for more than 42 years and provided Babylon with an advanced urban design

and several magnificent buildings and constructions. He ordered the complete

reconstruction of the imperial buildings, including the Great Ziggurat (E-temen-anki),

and the construction of the Ishtar Gate.

Military architecture also reached a high level in this new Babylon. According

to the Greek historian Herodotus (Book I, 178-186) the city had the form of a gigantic

square. Modern archaeologists estimated the maximum extent of its area to around

900 hectares or 2,200 acres. This enormous for the ancient standards, area was

protected by strong fortifications. The main protection was provided by a formidable

defensive system which included a double defensive wall and a deep encircling moat.

This system encircled the inhabited area on both banks of the Euphrates. The walls

were made of unbaked bricks, according to the Mesopotamian standards. The inner

wall (of the double wall system) was more than 6 metres thick but its exact height is

difficult to be estimated. It was interrupted by towers regularly located every 18

metres. The inner wall was separated from the outer one by a space more than 7

metres large. The outer wall had a thickness of 3.5 metres and the towers on it were

regularly located every 20 metres.

The defensive moat encircled the outer wall. Its bed was lined with burnt

bricks and bitumen; the water in the moat was provided by the Euphrates through

canals. It has been hypothesized that there was a number of bridges over the moat

which could be moved off in an emergency.

7

The magnificent Ishtar Gate provided the ‘official’ entrance to the city.

Despite the elegant view of this main gate, it was protected by a complicated system

of defensive towers that made it look almost unconquerable. Today a reconstruction

of the Ishtar Gate is located at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and another one near

the archaeological site of Babylon. The large Northern Fortress outside the double

wall was protecting with its system of towers the road towards the gate. As it was

generally common in the cities of the ancient Near East, the towers had a major

defensive role. The Ishtar Gate seems to have been the most ‘official’ one but there

were seven more gates, fortified at an analogous style. These eight great gates

including the Ishtar Gate, were protected with massive doors covered with bronze.

The old city, on the east bank of the Euphrates, was protected by an additional

outer fortification system. It has been estimated that Nebuchadnezzar decided its

construction in order to protect the most important part of the city (‘Old Babylon’) but

on the evidence of inhabitation inside this outer fortification system, we believe that

he had estimated a further growth of the population, thereby he wanted to ensure a

protected space for this future expansion of the city. There is a theory that the area

protected by this additional outer fortification system was covered with gardens. I

believe that there is not enough evidence for this view.

The additional outer fortification system comprised another double wall and

perhaps a shallower moat without a bricked bed. It started from Euphrates’ east bank

around 2,5 kilometres north of the Ishtar Gate where it was protecting the king’s

Summer palace, ran in a direction to the south-east and then turned south-westwards

to meet again the Euphrates, around 400 metres south of the inner fortification

system.

8

Babylon’s defence had almost no aid from the geophysical status of the city’s

site. The almost flat area of the site, despite some hilly ground, did not provide a

strong geophysical obstacle in which the defence of the city could be based. Only the

Euphrates could be used as a very strong defensive line for the Babylonians in order

to protect one of the two parts of their city, if the other part had already been lost to

the enemy. This lack of geophysical aid for Babylon’s defence was one of the reasons

for her advanced military architecture.

In conclusion, the fortification system of Babylon during Nebuchadnezzar’s

reign was perhaps the most potent of its time, equal to an imperial capital. An

invading army would have to defeat the numerous and well trained Babylonian army

in the open field, outside the outer fortification system, then capture the latter through

bloody fighting, then capture the outer wall of the inner fortification system, and then

conquer the inner wall of the same, through even more bloody fighting. But this

would not be the end: the invaders would have to conquer every urban block through

street fighting and also the smaller gates inside the city; but the latter never actually

happened.

The canals of the city would also offer strong lines of defence, especially the

old canal Libil-hegalla meaning ‘may it bring welfare’ in Babylonian. The origin of

this canal is sometimes attributed to Hammurabi twelve centuries ago, but it was

Nebuchadnezzar who reconstructed it lining its bed with burnt bricks and bitumen.

Other canals brought prosperity to the gardens of the city on the west bank and to the

suburbs on both sides of Euphrates, consisting at the same time defence lines against

an invading army.

Α big disadvantage for Babylon’s defense was the lack of a high hill in which

a citadel could be built, that would significantly strengthen the protection of the larger

9

city. However in the flat area of Babylonia, the high hills are rare. The lack of such a

natural defensive obstacle which could be used as a powerful base for a counterattack

against an invading army that had already conquered the lower city, is probably one

of the main reasons of the eventual conquest of the city by several enemies.

Concerning the buildings and constructions inside the inhabited area of

Babylon, they included mainly according to Herodotus the following. There were 100

smaller brass gates inside the city. The main temples and sanctuaries included the

magnificent E-temen-Anki Ziggurat, the Great Temple of Marduk (Esagila) and fifty

two other temples including the ones of Ninmah, Ishtar in the ‘Old City’, Ishtar in the

‘New City’, Nabu, Ishhara, Ninurta, Enlil, Adad and Ea. Inside probably the Great

Temple, there was the Golden eidolon of Baal and the Golden Table, both of them

made of solid gold. There were also at least two golden lions and a gold human statue

5.5 meters high. Herodotus mentions also another architectural construction of

Nebuchadnezzar: the famous “Hanging Gardens”, being one of the ‘Seven wonders

of the Ancient world’. But many researchers including the writer of this paper, believe

that they were actually in Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, and not in Babylon and of

course they were not a attainment of Nebuchadnezzar. Their mention as “Hanging

Gardens” probably concerned that they were much elevated in comparison to the rest

of the city (Nineveh). Some kind of Royal Gardens were also constructed as well in

Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar being a standard construction for the Assyro-Babylonian

capitals but they were not the architectural success of Nineveh’s ‘Hanging Gardens’.

There were 180 altars to the goddess Ishtar sparse in Babylon. Her main streets were

covered with stone slabs of around one square meter. Nebuchadnezzar’s palace was a

magnificent building according to the ancient tradition. This was rather the case,

taking into account other palaces of Assyro-Babylonian style.

10

As it was mentioned the city was ‘cut’ into two parts by the Euphrates. The

old and the new city were linked by at least one long bridge. But the two parts had

also been linked through drawbridges (closed at night) and ferry vessels. The old city

was always somewhat larger than the city on the west bank.

NOTES

(1) This article is actually a summary of the chapter on Babylon from my new book:

Military architecture of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world (to be

released, available only in Greek).

(2) Some scholars believe that the Akkadians were also indigenous of southern

Mesopotamia, but I do not share this view.

SOURCES AND SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Herodotus: Histories, Loeb Classical Library.

• Oates J., Babylon, London, 1986

• van de Mieroop, M., The Ancient Mesopotamian City, Oxford, 1997.

11

• Sags H., Everyday life in Babylonian and Assyria, London 1965.

• Finkel I.L. and Seymour M.J., Babylon, Oxford 2009.

• “Babylon”, Encyclopædia Britannica.

• Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 1, Part 1, New edition, Cambridge

University Press.

© 2009 Periklis Deligiannis

12

DIAGRAMS,

RECONSTRUCTIONS,

IMAGES

13

Α diagram of Babylon in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign based on the archaeological

evidence.

14

A reasonable reconstruction of the city of Babylon according to the archaeological

evidence; view from the Gate of Ishtar. Note in the front level the double wall of the

inner defensive system, and the heavy fortifications of the Gate of Ishtar (painted

blue). In the deeper level, note the Etemenanki Ziggurat and behind it, the Esagila

(Temple of Marduk). It must be noted that reconstructions like the one of the image

are largely hypothetical but they are very helpful in order to understand the urban

substance of an ancient city.

15

The reconstructed Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin (Wikimedia

commons).

16

Another archaeologically reasonable representation of the ‘Old City’ of Babylon

(view from the ‘New city’). Note in the front level the formidable double wall

protecting the Great Ziggurat and the Temple of Marduk. It must be noted that

reconstructions like the one of the image are largely hypothetical but they are very

helpful in order to understand the urban substance of an ancient city.

17

The modern archaeological site of Babylon, together with a reconstructed part of her

fortifications and buildings (Wikimedia commons).

18

A representation of the heavy fortifications of the Gate of Ishtar. Note the

complicated system of towers covering one another, and all together the royal gate.

Note also in the front level the towers of the Northern Fortress outside the double

wall, protecting the road towards the gate. Representation in the Pergamon Museum,

Berlin (Wikimedia commons).

19

20