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Striding Lion of Babylon
The striding lion of Babylon was made of molded brick with polychrome glaze and appeared along the side of the 'Processional Way' in ancient Babylon in 604-562 B.C.
The 'Processional Way' led out of the city through the massive Ishtar Gate, the lion was the symbol of the goddess Ishtar. There were some 120 lions such as this one decorated along the walls. This painting is from a wall relief at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. It is 90.3 cm high and 230.5 cm wide. It was purchased in Berlin in 1931. Neo Babylonian Empire. Under Nabopolassar, Babylon threw off Assyrian rule in 612 BC and became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian (sometimes and possibly erroneously called Chaldean) Empire. With the recovery of Babylonian independence, a new era of architectural activity ensued, and his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604–561 BC) made Babylon into one of the wonders of the ancient world.[13] Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including rebuilding the Etemenanki ziggurat and the construction of the Ishtar Gate – the most spectacular of eight gates that ringed the perimeter of Babylon. A reconstruction of The Ishtar Gate is located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. All that was ever found of the Original Ishtar gate was the foundation and scattered bricks. Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), said to have been built for his homesick wife Amyitis. Whether the gardens did exist is a matter of dispute. Although excavations by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey are thought to reveal its foundations, many historians disagree about the location, and some believe it may have been confused with gardens in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh. Chaldean rule did not last long and it is not clear if Neriglissar and Labashi-Marduk were Chaldeans or native Babylonians, and the last ruler Nabonidus and his son and regent Belshazzar were Assyrians from Harran. [Wikipedia] "For I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, And offspring and posterity," says the LORD. "I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, And marshes of muddy water; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says the LORD of hosts. Isaiah 14:22-23 Material - Molded brick with polychrome glaze Oriental Institute Excerpt STRIDING LION The Ishtar Gate (Arabic: بوابة عشتار) was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. Dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the gate was constructed using a rare blue stone called lapis lazuli with alternating rows of bas-relief mušḫuššu (dragons) and aurochs. The roof and doors of the gate were of cedar, according to the dedication plaque. Through the gate ran the Processional Way, which was lined with walls covered in lions on glazed bricks (about 120 of them). Statues of the deities were paraded through the gate and down the Processional Way each year during the New Year's celebration. Originally the gate, being part of the Walls of Babylon, was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the world until, in the 6th century AD, it was replaced by the Lighthouse of Alexandria. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way was built at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin out of material excavated by Robert Koldewey and finished in the 1930s. It includes the inscription plaque. It stands 47 feet high and 100 feet wide (14 meters by 30 meters). The excavation ran from 1902–1914, and, during that time, 45 feet of the foundation of the gate was uncovered. The gate was in fact a double gate. The part that is shown in the Pergamon Museum today is only the smaller, frontal part, while the larger, back part was considered too large to fit into the constraints of the structure of the museum. It is in storage.. [Wikipedia]
Kings of the Bible
David
The Kings of Israel (all wicked) Jeroboam I (933-911 BC) twenty-two years Nadab (911-910) two years Baasha (910-887) twenty-four years Elah (887-886) two years Zimri (886) seven days Omri (886-875) twelve years Ahab (875-854) twenty-two years Ahaziah (855-854) two years Jehoram (Joram) (854-843) twelve years Jehu (843-816) twenty-eight years Jehoahaz (820-804) seventeen years Jehoash (Joash) (806-790) sixteen years Jeroboam II (790-749) forty-one years Zechariah' (748) six months Shallum (748) one month Menahem (748-738) ten years Pekahiah (738-736) two years Pekah (748-730) twenty years Hoshea (730-721) nine years
The Kings of Judah (8 were good) Rehoboam (933-916 BC) seventeen years Abijam (915-913) three years Asa (Good) (912-872) forty-one years Jehoshaphat (Good) (874-850) twenty-five years Jehoram (850-843) eight years Ahaziah (843) one year Athaliah (843-837) six years Joash (Good) (843-803) forty years Amaziah (Good) (803-775) 29 years Azariah (Uzziah) (Good) (787-735) fifty-two years Jotham (Good) (749-734) sixteen years Ahaz (741-726) sixteen years Hezekiah (Good) (726-697) 29 years Manasseh (697-642) fifty-five years Amon (641-640) two years Josiah (Good) (639-608) thirty-one years Jehoahaz (608) three months Jehoiachim (608-597) eleven years Jehoiachin (597) three months Zedekiah (597-586) eleven years
Some Scriptures mentioning the name "Babylon"
2 Kings
24:7 - And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of
his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the
river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the
king of Egypt.
Babylonia in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
Babylonia is a plain which is made up of the alluvial deposits of
the mountainous regions in the North, where the Tigris and Euphrates
have their source. The land is bounded on the North by Assyria and
Mesopotamia; on the East by Elam, separated by the mountains of
Elam; on the South by the sea marshes, and the country Kaldu (Chaldaea);
and on the West by the Syrian desert. Some of the cities of the
lower country were seaport towns in the early period, but now are
far inland. This land-making process continues even at the present
time at the rate of about 70 ft. a year. This plain, in the days
when Babylonia flourished, sustained a dense population. It was
covered with a network of canals, skillfully planned and regulated,
which brought prosperity to the land, because of the wonderful
fertility of the soil. The neglect of these canals and doubtless,
also, the change of climate, have resulted in altered conditions in
the country. It has become a cheerless waste. During some months of
the year, when the inundations take place, large portions of the
land are partially covered with swamps and marshes. At other times
it looks like a desolate plain. 1. Mounds: Throughout the land there
are seen, at the present time, ruin-hills or mounds of accumulation
of debris, which mark the site of ancient cities. Some of these
cities were destroyed in a very early era, and were never rebuilt.
Others were occupied for millenniums, and their history extends far
into the Christian era. The antiquities generally found in the upper
stratum of the mounds which were occupied up to so late a period,
show that they were generally inhabited by the Jews, who lived there
after the Babylonians had disappeared. 2. Explorations: The
excavations conducted at various sites have resulted in the
discovery, besides antiquities of almost every character, of
hundreds of thousands of inscriptions on clay and stone, but
principally on the former material. At Tello more than 60,000
tablets were found, belonging largely to the administrative archives
of the temple of the third millennium BC. At Nippur about 50,000
inscriptions were found, many of these also belonging to temple
archives. But about 20,000 tablets and fragments found in that city
came from the library...
Babylon in Naves Topical Bible
1. CITY OF Built by Nimrod Ge 10:10 In the land of Shinar Ge 10:10;
11:2 Tower of Ge 11:1-9 Capital of the kingdom of Babylon Da 4:30;
2Ki 25:13; 2Ch 36:6,7,10,18,20 Gates of Isa 45:1,2; Jer 51:58 Walled
Jer 51:44,58 Splendor of Isa 14:4 Peter writes from 1Pe 5:13
Prophecies concerning Ps 87:4; 137:8,9; Isa 13; 14:4-26; 21:1-10;
46:1,2; 47; 48:14,20; Jer 21:4-10; 25:12-14; 27:1-11; 28:14; 32:28;
34:2,3; 42:11,12; 43; 46:13-26; 49:28-30; 50; 51; Eze 21:19; 26;
29:17-20; 30:10; 32:11; Da 2:21-38; 4:10- 26; 5:25-29; 7; Hab
1:5-11; Zec 2:7-9 -FIGURATIVE Re 14:8; 16:19; 17; 18 -2. EMPIRE OF
Founded by Nimrod Ge 10:10 Called LAND OF SHINAR Ge 10:10; 11:2;
14:1,9; Isa 11:11; Da 1:2; Zec 5:11 SHESHACH Jer 25:26; 51:41
MERATHAIM Jer 50:21 Called also CHALDEA, which see Divisions of 2Ki
17:24; 24:7; Isa 23:12,13; Da 3:1; Ac 7:4 Extent of, at the time of
Nebuchadnezzar Da 2:37,38; 4:1; 6:1 At the time of Ahasuerus Es 1:1;
8:9; 9:30 Armies of, invade ancient Canaan Ge 14 Samaria 2Ki 17:5-24
Judah 2Ki 24:1-16 Jews carried to 2Ki 25; 1Ch 9:1; 2Ch 33:11;
36:17-21; Jer 32:2; 39; 52 Colonists from, sent to Samaria Ezr
4:9,10; with 2Ki 17:29-32 Conquest of Egypt by 2Ki 24:7 Prophecies
of conquests by 2Ki 20:16-19; Jer 20:4-7; 21; 22; 25:1-11; 27; 28;
29; 32:28,29; 34; 36:29; 38:17,18; 43:8-13; 46:13-26; Eze 12; 17;
19; 21; 24; 26; 29:18-20; 30; 32 Prophetic denunciations against Ps
137:8,9; Isa 13; 14:21; 43:14-17; 47; Jer 50; 51 GOVERNMENT OF A
limited monarchy Es 1:13-19; 8:8; Da 6:8,14,17 Tyrannical Es 3:7-15;
Da 3
Babel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Babel (Hebrew) means Babylon; so that "the tower" should be
designated "the tower of Babel." Capital of the country Shinar
(Genesis), Chaldea (later Scriptures). The name as given by Nimrod
(Genesis 10:10), the founder, means (Bab- il), "the gate of the god
Il," or simply "of God." Afterward the name was attached to it in
another sense (Providence having ordered it so that a name should be
given originally, susceptible of another sense, signifying the
subsequent divine judgment), Genesis 11:9; Babel from baalal, "to
confound; .... because the Lord did there confound the language of
all the earth," in order to counteract their attempt by a central
city and tower to defeat God's purpose of the several tribes of
mankind being "scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,"
and to constrain them, as no longer "understand one another's
speech," to dispel The Talmud says, the site of tower of Babel is
Borsippa, the Bits Nimrud, 7 1/2 miles from Hillah, and 11 from the
northern ruins of Babylon. The French expedition found at Borsippa a
clay cake, dated the 30th day of the 6th month of the 16th year of
Nabonid. Borsippa (the Tongue Tower) was a suburb of Babylon, when
the old Babel was restricted to the northern ruins. Nebuchadnezzar
included it in the great circumvallation of 480 stadia. When the
outer wall was destroyed by Darius Borsippa became independent of
Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar's temple or tower of Nebo stood on the
basement of the old tower of Babel. He says in the inscription, "the
house of the earth's base (the basement substructure), the most
ancient monument of Babylon I built and finished; I exalted its head
with bricks covered with copper ... the house of the seven lights
(the seven planets); a former king 42 ages ago built, but did not
complete its head. Since a remote time people had abandoned it,
without order expressing their words; the earthquake and thunder had
split and dispersed its sun-dried clay." The substructure had a
temple sacred to Sin, god of the mouth (Oppert). The substructure is
600 Babylonian ft. broad, 75 high; on it Nebuchadnezzar built seven
other stages. God had infatuated His will that "the earth should be
divided," the several tribes taking different routes, in the days of
Peleg ("division"), born 100 years after the flood (Genesis 10:25;
Genesis 10:32; Deuteronomy 32:8). Another object the Babel builders
sought was to "make themselves a name"; self-relying pride setting
up its own will against the will of God, and dreaming of ability to
defeat God's purpose, was their snare. Also their "tower, whose top
(pointed toward, or else reached) unto heaven," was designed as a
self-deifying, God-defying boast. Compare Isaiah 14:13; God alone
has the right to "make Himself a name" (Isaiah 63:12; Isaiah 63:14;
Jeremiah 32:20). They desired to establish a grand central point of
unity. They tacitly acknowledge they have lost the inward spiritual
bond of unity, love to God uniting them in love to one another. They
will make up for it by an outward forced unity; the true unity by
loving obedience to God they might have had, though dispersed. Their
tower toward heaven may have marked its religious dedication to the
heavens (sabeanism, worship of the tsaba, the hosts of heaven), the
first era in idolatry; as also the first effort after that universal
united empire on earth which is to be realized not by man's
ambition, but by the manifestation of Messiah, whose right the
kingdom is (Ezekiel 21:27). "The Lord came down to see the city and
the tower, which the children of men builded," i.e. (in
condescension to human language), Jehovah took judicial cognizance
of their act: their "go to, let us," etc. (Genesis 11:3-4), Jehovah
with stern irony meets with His "Go to, let us," etc....
Related Pages: The Babylonian Captivity - Archaeology Ancient Babylonia - History of Babylonia Ancient Babylonia (Babylon the Great) Ancient Babylonia - The Ishtar Gate Ancient Babylonia - Nebuchadnezzars Babylon Ancient Babylonia - The Fall of Babylon Ancient Babylonia - The Babylonian Chronicles Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Bible History Online) Ancient Babylonia - The Ziggurat Map of the Babylonian Empire - 550 B.C. (Bible History Online) Ancient Babylonia - Neo Babylonian Period The Babylonian Captivity - Jewish Encyclopedia The Babylonian Captivity - Treatment of the Jews in Babylon The Fall of Babylon (Every Empire has an Achilles Heel) Ancient Babylonia - Archaeology The Story of the Bible: The Babylonians - The Old Testament Ancient Babylonia - Questions about Babylon Answered in the Bible Ancient Babylonia - The First Dynasty of Babylon List of Kings Cyrus Captures Babylon Account Ancient Babylonia - Babylonian Myth of the Flood Ancient Babylonia - Babylonian Gods Ancient Babylonia - Biblical Timeline Ancient Babylonia - Predictions Concerning Babylon The Story of The Return From Babylon - The Old Testament The Babylonian Captivity - The Deportation of Judah The Babylonian Captivity - Seventy Years in Babylon Map of The Babylonian Captivity Bible History Online - Ancient Lion of Babylon on Ishtar Gate Ancient Babylonia - Religion of the Ancient Near East Bible History Online - Nebo, God of Babylon Ancient Babylonia - Nebuchadnezzar II Bible History Online - Nebuchadnezzar Brick (Biblical Archaeology) Map of the Nations Defeated by King David Map of the Kingdom of David and Solomon Solomon in Smith's Bible Dictionary Solomon's Temple in Easton's Bible Dictionary Israel - The Center of the Ancient World Israel - Archaeology Links and Resources The Destruction of Israel in the Old Testament Archaeological Resources - Israel
Bible History Online - Fallen Empires (Biblical Archaeology) The Destruction of Israel - Kings of Israel, Judah and Assyria
Timeline 800 - 700 BC |
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