Babylon

Babylon is an ancient Mesopotamian city located in central Iraq, famed for its size and cultural influence during the second and first millennia BCE. The site is one of the best-known archaeological localities of ancient Mesopotamia and contains monumental remains from multiple periods.

Highlights at the site include large mudbrick terraces, palace foundations and the remains of a ceremonial gateway decorated with glazed bricks. The most prominent visible features today correspond to the Neo-Babylonian rebuilding campaign of the late 7th and 6th centuries BCE by a prominent ruler of that period.

The city emerged as a major urban centre in the early second millennium BCE and rose to great prominence under rulers of the Hammurabi era and later under the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. It served as a political and religious centre, underwent cycles of construction and decline, and was later abandoned and covered by alluvium and sand after the classical era.

Geographically the archaeological site lies near the modern town of Al Hillah in central Iraq, on the Euphrates floodplain roughly south of the modern capital Baghdad.

• Historic artifacts: Archaeological remains include sections of the original Ishtar Gate and Processional Way; many glazed bricks were removed in the 19th and early 20th centuries and are now displayed in overseas museums.

What to See #

• Ishtar Gate and Processional Way: A monumental glazed-brick entranceway and ceremonial passage that was part of the city's Neo-Babylonian reconstruction in the 6th century BCE.
• Nebuchadnezzar's palaces: Royal palace complexes and administrative buildings largely rebuilt and expanded under the Neo-Babylonian king who ruled in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE.
• Ziggurat platform (Etemenanki): The ziggurat platform traditionally associated with the city; archaeological remains suggest a large stepped structure at the site.