BAB

BAB ed by Nimrod as the beginning of his kingdom, Gen 10:10; built on the phiin of Shinar. See Babylon.

BAB 300 miles from the Persian Gulf, and about 60 miles south-west from the modern city of Bagdad. The valley is broad, and the Euphrates is now about 600 feet wide and 18 feet deep at this place. Extent of the City. It was the largest known ancient city in extent. According to Herodotus, the city was a vast square on both sides of the Euphrates, enclosed by a double line of walls, about 56 miles in circuit and including about 200 square miles. Ctesias and others make the circuit about 42 miles, enclosing about 106 square miles. The walls, according to Herodotus, were about 335 feet high and 75 feet broad. Ctesias, quoted by Diodorus, states that they were 200 feet high and built by 2,000,000 men. Later writers, regarding these measurements as incredible, give the circuit of the walls at about 40 miles, their height at 75 to 190 feet, and their width at 32 feet, or wide enough to allow two chariots to pass each other on the top. M. Oppert and Rawlinson as explorers hold that the ruins warrant the statement of Herodotus as to the extent of Babylon. Its size --if 200 square miles --largely exceeded that of any modern city. The area of London is 122 square miles; Paris, 30; Pekin, 50; New York (1873), 42; and Philadelphia, 129 square miles. The wall of Babylon was surmounted by 250 towers, and it had 100 gates of brass. Jer 51:68; miumiu 財布 激安 Streets and Buildings--Babylon is described as cut into squares some say 676 --by straight streets crossing each other at right angles, those at the river being closed by brazen gates, as the banks of the river were fortified by high walls; the river was crossed by drawbridges and lined with quays; the two palaces on opposite sides of the river were connected by a bridge, and also by a tunnel under the river. Among the wonderful buildings were, (1.) Nebuchadnezzar's Palace, an immense pile of buildings, believed to be nearly 6 miles in circumference. (2.) The Hanging-Gardens one of the Seven Wonders of the world, built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his queen, Amytis, who longed for her native mountains. These gardens were 75 feet high and covered 3 1/2 acres, enclosed in an area of larger extent, some say 1000 feet on each side. Upon this mountain was soil of depth to support the largest trees, and water was drawn up from the river by means of a screw. (3). The Temple of Belus, a vast pyramid or tower, 600 feet square, having eight stages, or stories, and according to Rawlinson 480 feet high, with a winding ascent passing around it, and a chapel of a god at the top. Scripture History. Babylon is named over 250 times in the Bible. It was founded by Nimrod, Gen 10:10; its builders dispersed, Gen 11:9. Then, except some allusion to Shinar, Gen 14:1, the Chaldaeans, Job 1:17, and the Babylonish garment, Josh 7:21, it drops out of Scripture history until the era of the Captivity. It was often subject to Assyria, 2 Chr 33:11, and was the residence of at least one Assyrian king. After the fall of Nineveh, b.c. 625, it became an independent kingdom, and under Nebuchadnezzar was enlarged, beautified, and reached the height of its magnificence. See Isa 13:19; miumiu 財布Isa 47:5; Jer 51:41, where it is called " the glory of kingdoms," " the golden city," " the praise of the whole earth," etc. It was the home of the chief of the captive Jews, Dan 1:1-4, and was taken by the army of Cyrus under Darius, Dan 5. Its desolation was frequently foretold. Isa 13:4-22; Jer 25:12; Jer 50:2-3; Jer 25:51; Dan 2:31-38; Hab 1:5-10. It was taken by Alexander the Great, who died there. It gradually became a complete ruin, fulfilling the prophecy, Babylon " shall never be inhabited, . . . wild beasts of the deserts shall lie there." Ruins--Though for centuries Babylon has been the source of building-material for the towns of all the adjacent region, yet the ruins are very extensive, covering, according to Oppert, 200 square miles. Among them are, (1.) The Babil or Mujelliha, 600 feet square and 140 feet high, probably the site of the ancient temple of Belus. The mound is mainly built of sun-dried brick and filled with burnt brick, the latter bearing the name of Nebuchadnezzar. (2.) The Kasr, or Nebuchadnezzar's palace, south of Babil, about 2100 feet long by 1800 feet broad, and 70 feet high. It is composed of bricks, tiles, and fragments of stone. Some of the bricks are glazed; others resemble fire www.miumiu-yahoos.com

BAB brick, and bear the name of Nebuchadnezzar. (3.) The Amram, a large mound, possibly the ruins of the Sculptured Lion over a Prostrate Man. (Discovered in the ruins of Babylon by Rich.) famous hanging - gardens, though more probably a palace of the earlier kings. See Rawlinson's Five Ancient Monarchies, 1870, ii. 532. (4.) Birs Nimrud, 6 miles south-west of Hillah, at ancient Borsippa, and by many regarded as covering the tower of Babel. See Babel. Many corroborations of Scripture have Birs Nimrud. (After Plumptre's Biblical Educator ) been furnished by the Assyrian tablets deciphered by Oriental scholars. Near the hanging-gardens a sculptured lion standing over a man with outstretched arms may illustrate the mode of punishment to which Daniel was condemned. Dan 6:16. George Smith, after a careful exploration, quite decidedly dissents from historians and other explorers in ascribing so great an extent to Babylon. In his opinion, there is no ground in the inscriptions or ruins for making Babylon over about 8 miles in circuit, or nearly the same size as its sister-city, Nineveh. He regards its shape as a square with one corner cut off. At the north was the temple of Belus, now the mound Babil; about the centre of the city were the palace and hanging-gardens, both now represented, in his view, by the mound Kasr, as he places the gardens between the palace and the river. George Smith concludes that the few pits and tunnels made in the ruins are acknowledged to be insufficient to decide any of the questions as to sites, which can only be done by satisfactory excavations, and hence that the "recovery of Babylon is yet to be accomplished." Assyrian Discoveries, 1875, pp. 55-59. — The modern town of Hillah now occupies a portion of the space covered by the ruins of ancient Babylon, and a telegraph connects it with the city of Bagdad. See Chaldea, Assyria.

BAB tes and Tigris Rivers. Asshur or Assyria and Mesopotamia were on the north, Elam and Media on the east, Chaldea on the south. As Chaldea gained in power its name was applied to the whole country, including Babylon. See Chaldea. The early kingdom of Babylon is generally regarded as covering an extent of about 27,000 square miles, rich of soil and abundant in resources, the home of one of the earliest civilized nations. After the time of Nimrod, Babel or Babylon appears to be displaced in Scripture history by Chaldea until the time of Joshua, Josh 7:21; after this both again disappear until about the time of the Captivity. At the fall of Nineveh, b.c. 626, Babylonia speedily extended its sway over most of western Asia and Egypt, and under Nebuchadnezzar became a vast empire, lasting, however, less than a century, and fell before the Medians under Cyrus and Darius, b.c. 538, and soon after dropped out of history as a separate country. General History. — Bernsus gives a list of ten mythical kings, including Xisithrus, who ruled Babylonia before the Flood; while the inscriptions so far discovered on the tablets and monuments give three mythical kings before the Flood, and four after it. From the inscriptions, long lists of kings during the historical period have also been deciphered. The earliest list of twelve kings in this period begins with Izdubar, who is identified with Nimrod by George Smith. To this list he adds from the inscriptions the names of six viceroys, six kings of Ur, five kings of Karrak, six of Erech and Larsa, five of Akkad, and four Elamite kings; and among the latter is Chedorlaomer of Gen 14:1-17. Five native kings were contemporary with these Elamite kings, and twenty other kings ruled successively until the accession of an Assyrian dynasty in b.c. 1271. The last list given by George Smith from the inscriptions covers the period from b.c. 1150 to 539, and includes Sargon, b.c. 710, Merodach-baladan III., restored b.c. 705, Esarhaddon, who rebuilt Babylon, b.c. 681, Assurbanipal, b.c. 648, Nebuchadnezzar III., the Nebuchadnezzar of Scripture, b.c. 605, Amil-maruduk, the Evil-merodach of the Bible, b.c. 562, and Bel-sar-uzar, the Belshazzar of the book of Daniel, and who reigned with his father until the fall of the Babylonian empire, b.c. 538. It is not certain how far back the records of Babylonia reach, but George Smith regards it as certain that they reach to the twenty fourth century before Christ, and some scholars would stretch them nearly two thousand years beyond that early period. The civilization, literature, and government found in Babylonia two thousand years before the Christian era could not have sprung up in a day, but further explorations only can determine its age. Among the biblical cities named in the earliest inscriptions — those of Izdubar — are Babylon, Cuthah, and Erech, thus adding new light to the truth of Scripture history. See George Smith's Assyrian Discoveries, 1875, chap. 23. The Babylonian Empire. — Upon the fall of Nineveh, b.c. 625, the Chaldaeans and Babylonians controlled all the southern and western portions of the former Assyrian empire. This Babylonian empire extended, therefore, over Susiana, Elam, Mesopotamia, Syria including Palestine and Phoenicia, Idumaea, northern Arabia, and lower Egypt. Among the important cities of the empire were Babylon, Borsippa, Sippara or Sepharvaim. Isa 36:19, Cuthah, 2 Kgs 17:24, Orchoe or Erech, in Babylonia; and in the provinces, Susa, Carchemish, Harran, Hamath, Damascus, Jerusalem, Tyre, Sidon, Ashdod, Askelon, and Gaza. Of those in the provinces, Susa was of the first importance, and may be regarded as the second city of the empire. It had a royal palace, where the Babylonian kings spent a portion of their time, Dan 8:2, doubtless during the heat of summer. The dominant people in the Babylonian empire were, according to Rawlinson and others, a mixed race, mainly descendants of the earlier Chaldaeans (who were chiefly Cushites), mixed with those of the later Assyrians, who were of the Semitic type. The Babylonians were celebrated for their wisdom and learning, Dan 1:4; Jer 50:35; Isa 47:10, especially for their knowledge of astronomy. They were also a commercial, avaricious, and luxurious people, Hab 2:9; Jer 51:13; Isa 47:8, though they were likewise valorous and war

Part of speech: noun (n.)

Lit., gate; -- a title given to the founder of Babism, and taken from that of Bab-ud-Din, assumed by him.