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Babylon and Israel
The Fertile Crescent
The Euphrates River
1780 miles from the mountains to the sea.
Mesopotamia Land of the Ziggurat
The Heritage of Sumer, Akkad, and Old Babylon
Babel and the Ziggurat
Cuneiform, the first writing system.
Cuneiform
Business document
Letter in envelope
Hammurabi Stele
Law code with parallels
to the law of Israel
Cuneiform
Literature
The Epic of
Gilgamish and other
cuneiform literature
have some points of
contact with the
Bible.
Cuneiform Map
Babylon Center
of the World
Early Babylon
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Glorious Past
Cultural Capitol of the Near East
Love/Hate Relationship with Assyria
689 Sennacherib destroys Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar I
The early kingdom
Merodach-Baladan
Ally of Hezekiah
against Assyria
The Babylonians
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Assyrian Power in Decline
Nabopolasser seized throne (625)
Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians
destroy Assyria (612-605)
Egypt defeated by Crown Prince
Nebuchadnezzar (605)--Carchemish
Conquest of Nineveh (612)
Nebuchadnezzar
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Reigned 604-562
Greatest King of Babylon
Campaigned against Judah 605-586
Great Builder and Administrator
Hanging Gardens, Median Wall, Ishtar Gate
Conquest of Jerusalem
Three deportations
Account of the
597 Campaign
Deportations to Babylon
1
605
Josiah
Jehoahaz
Jehoiakim
2
3
597
586
(Taken
to Babylon;
Jehoiachin released 37 years later)
Zedekiah (Blinded, taken to Babylon,
prison until his death)
Last Kings of Judah
Nebuchadnezzar Stones
Fall of Jerusalem Text
Pride goes before a fall
Decline
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Weak kings follow Nebuchadnezzar
Last king - Nabonidus (555-539);
Unpopular with subjects
Unable to defend allies against Cyrus
Left Babylon; Belshazzar his regent
Nabonidus
Ineffective
Crackpot
Fall of Babylon
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Cyrus invaded the Empire
Propaganda campaign worked
Priests of Marduk invited Cyrus into
Babylon
Herodotus claims that the Euphrates was
diverted for the army
Cyrus entered Babylon peacefully
Ziggurat of Babylon
Marduk
Temple
Ruins of Northern Palace
Walls of Procession Street
Procession Street North
Procession Street South
Model of Procession
Street of Babylon
Emah Temple
South Palace
Ishtar Gate
North Palace
Ishtar Gate
Model Located
in Berlin
Ishtar Gate
Berlin Ishtar Gate Half Size
The Hanging Gardens
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The approach to the Garden sloped
like a hillside and the several parts
of the structure rose from one
another tier on tier... On all this, the
earth had been piled... and was
thickly planted with trees of every
kind that, by their great size and
other charm, gave pleasure to the
beholder... The water machines
[raised] the water in great
abundance from the river, although
no one outside could see it.
Diodorus Siculus
Emah Temple of Ninmah
Temple Entrance
Throne Room
Southern Palace
Greek Stadium
Babylon Under
Construction
Guest House
Euphrates
The Lion
of Babylon
Who is he?
Archeologists investigate
A new brick reveals his
identity
"In the time of the reign of the victorious Saddam
Hussein, the Great President of the Republic, (may god
save him), the protector of great Iraq and the renewer of
its renaissance and the builder of its civilization, the third
phase of reconstructing Babylon has been completed in
1989, as the reconstruction of this palace was achieved
originally by King Nebucchanezer in 605 BC.”
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The Lion of
Babylon
Prominent archeologists receive the
Saddam Hussein/Nebuchadnezzar medal
Kings and Prophets of the
Babylonian Period
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