Alexander preparing for the siege of Tyre

After the Battle of Issus, Alexander was more determined than ever to take all the harbors of the eastern Mediterranean to outmaneuver the Persian maritime power. He marched to Marathus (modern Amrit) and from there onward to Byblos, which both surrendered. 

The next famous city on Alexander’s route was Sidon, whose inhabitants were only too happy to get rid of their Persian satrap, Straton. They welcomed the Macedonian king as their liberator. A new ruler had to be found, and Hephaistion was instructed to search for the appropriate candidate. King Abdalonymus was a respectable and honest man, and the people loved him. Out of gratitude for this appointment, Abdalonymus, at a later age, commissioned the famous Alexander sarcophagus that is now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul.  

As Alexander marched further south, he reached the powerful Phoenician Tyre. The city had prospered because of its trade in purple dye, which was highly valued throughout the ancient world. Already in the early 6^th century BC, this richness had attracted the attention of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. He laid siege to Tyre for 13 years without success. This simply illustrates the challenges Alexander was about to face.  

Tyre was of strategic importance, a massive fortress island surrounded by well-defended high walls separated from the mainland by a deep channel. It had two natural harbors, one on the north side facing Sidon and another on the south looking towards Egypt. The Tyrians felt pretty secure since they enjoyed the protection of a substantial Persian fleet in both ports. 

Before reaching the city, Alexander was met by its envoys, stating that they would abide by any of his instructions. The Macedonian king gracefully thanked the representatives and expressed his wish to enter Tyre to sacrifice to Heracles, who was, in fact, their god Melqarth or Baal. Basically, the Tyrians accepted Alexander’s arrival but refused to admit him or his Macedonians inside their fortress on the island. 

Alexander needed to take Tyre to safeguard his back on his march further south to Egypt. The only way was to lay siege to the city – a tremendous and complicated task because he had disbanded most of his own fleet, and the remaining ships were no match for the Persian forces. Clearly, the fortress could not be taken from the sea alone, and thus Alexander decided to build a causeway to connect the island to the mainland. It was a tedious and dangerous operation as the Tyrians had no intention of letting this happen. 

Construction went underway and progressed steadily in the shallow waters near the coastline. Stones from the old city of Tyre were used for the foundation of the mole, and piles were driven into the mud to keep the stones in place (see: Alexander's Isthmus, Tyre, Lebanon). But as the Macedonians reached deeper water, matters changed dramatically. Progress slowed down because many more stones were needed to fill the depth, while the Tyrian ships could now approach the causeway and attack the exposed workers. In response, Alexander built two towers mounted with artillery and faced them with hides to somehow protect his soldiers on the mole. The army could drive the enemy away from their precarious shelter with their own missiles. 

The Tyrians were not to be discouraged and decided to take a cattle-ship and stuff it with dry brushwood and straw. They added two masts to create a higher pile of inflammable material, including pitch and sulfur, to fan the fire. They also attached caldrons filled with liquids that could be poured onto the fire to increase its fury. To ensure these vessels would come as close as possible to the causeway, they added heavy ballast in the aft section to lift the bows to a maximum. Triremes pulled these burning vessels close to the Macedonia towers, and as they caught fire, the Tyrians withdrew immediately to save themselves. The fire was an absolute inferno. 

Although this attack meant a severe setback, it would not deter Alexander from executing his plan. Instead of repairing the substantial devastation, he started the work all over again. He built a broader mole at the shoreside with enough space for more towers and instructed his engineers to construct new engines.

  

Alexander, as always, saw the greater picture. He moved back to Sidon to gather as many ships as possible to annihilate the enemy navy, since that was imperative to conquer Tyre. At this stage, the king was joined by two Persian satraps, who, after learning that Aradus and Byblos were in Macedonian hands, decided to side with Alexander. Sidon contributed with its own warships, bringing the total Phoenician ships to about eighty. After his victory at Issus and having taken Phoenicia, Alexander’s fleet was spontaneously joined by Rhodes with ten ships, three ships from Soli and Mallus, and ten more from Lycia. The king of Cyprus also decided to join his forces to Alexander’s and sailed to Sidon with some 120 ships. With so many of these previously Persian allies now fighting on Alexander’s side, the situation of the Macedonians suddenly looked much better. 

This most certainly was the turning point in the entire siege! 

Continued in Alexander besieging Tyre.

[Pictures from World History, Dan Diffendale (Melquart) and United States Military Academy, Dept of History (map)]

Alexander in a dream of Nebuchadnezzar

What’s a dream, one would ask, but in antiquity, dreams were taken very seriously. Kings and those who could afford it would have a priest or a seer to interpret them. 

It so happens that the Prophet Daniel resided at the court of King Nebuchadnezzar and was able to explain his strange vision. 

Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon from 605 until 562 BC. He led a series of successful campaigns, including the conquest of Jerusalem, where he plundered the famous Temple of Solomon and took the people of Judah into captivity. Among the prisoners was the Prophet Daniel, whom  Nebuchadnezzar invited to stay at his court. 

At first, Nebuchadnezzar called in his own diviners, magicians, enchanters, and Chaldean astronomers and astrologers to clarify his dream, but they were unable to offer any explanation. Then Daniel was led before the king. 

Daniel confirmed that in his vision, Nebuchadnezzar had seen an immense statue whose radiance was spectacular and frightening at the same time. Its head was made of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the lower back and thighs of bronze; the legs were made of iron, and the feet were a mixture of iron and clay. As the king looked at the statue in his dream, a stone hit the feet and pulverized the iron and clay. The entire statue made of gold, silver, and bronze was crushed and collapsed in the process. 

Following this introduction, Daniel explained the meaning of this unusual dream. Nebuchadnezzar, who conquered the world (as considered in his days), is the gold head. After him, another kingdom would rise, lesser than his. Then again, a third kingdom, a bronze one, would dominate the world. The ensuing fourth kingdom would be hard as iron, like iron that pulverizes and crunches everything. Like the iron, this last kingdom would pulverize and crush them all. 

The feet partially made of iron and partially of clay as seen by Nebuchadnezzar, meant a divided empire. It would be strong as iron. However, the toes made of a mixture of iron and clay meant that they would be strong in one part and weak in another. As iron and clay could not be bonded, the people could not unite either. 

The empires to succeed Nebuchadnezzar’s are not being named, nor are the names of the kings to come. Scholars have discussed this endlessly, but a very plausible sequence seems to be that the second silver empire would be that of Darius I the Great, followed by the third bronze Persian Empire the largest kingdom that ever existed in antiquity. The fourth kingdom was the Greek rule started under Alexander the Great that fell apart after his untimely death and was split into four kingdoms that fought each other and never bonded together (the Diadochi). 

How and why Daniel was capable of explaining this vision of King Nebuchadnezzar and how Daniel’s explanation was pasted onto the future kingdoms has been subject to endless discussions. But this is. after all, an entirely different matter, which I’ll not develop here.

Needles to say that the story comes from the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.

The history of Babylon in a nutshell

World History Encyclopedia recently posted a YouTube video retelling the history of Babylon in a nutshell. It gives a fascinating and concise overview covering thousands of years of the city’s existence.

A striking detail, in my eyes, is a cuneiform cylinder holding an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II, on which he describes the construction of the outer city wall of Babylon. This event is dated to ca. 604-562 BC. At first glance, one can take it for the cylinder of Cyrus the Great written in 539 BC, telling his conquest of Babylon (see: The Cyrus cylinder and Ancient Persia: A New Beginning). It is tempting to believe that the Nebuchadnezzar cylinder inspired Cyrus to commemorate his own great deeds.

Could Alexander have been aware of this?

Your enemy’s table has become your footstool

The expression can be taken philosophically, but in the case of Alexander, it was meant literally. The scene is set in Susa, where he arrived in late 331 BC after having spent four weeks in Babylon. Here, he installed Sisygambis, Darius’ mother, as well as her grandchildren, who had traveled with her since the aftermath of the Battle of Issus in 333 BC.

The Treasury of Susa was handed over, intact, meaning a bullion of 40,000 talents of gold and silver and 9,000 talents in gold darics. This was the largest amount Alexander ever collected in one take. Happy with this outcome and the surrender of Susa, Alexander sat down on the royal throne of Xerxes to savor the moment. This throne, however, was outsized by Alexander’s small stature, and his feet did not reach the footstool that belonged to his royal seat. One of his attentive pages, noticing this shortcoming, pulled up a table that had belonged to Darius and slid it under the king’s feet. Alexander was very pleased with this solution, but looking around, he noticed that one of Darius’ eunuchs was lamenting and crying. He evidently asked him what the matter was, and the eunuch replied that he was grieved to see that the table that Darius used for his meals was now to serve in such an insulting way. Alexander realized that in the eyes of the Persians, he had committed an act of arrogance and ordered the table to be removed. But then Philotas intervened by saying that this was an omen since the table of his enemy had been turned into the king’s footstool. Alexander apparently took the remark at heart and ordered the table to be left at the foot of his throne.

One can argue that Philotas was right, of course, but on the other hand, this was clearly a lack of respect for centuries-old Persian royal traditions. This incident may well have been one of the first such confrontations between West and East. In Macedonia, things were done in a rather austere way, and the eastern wealth with its protocol and glamor was something entirely new.

Alexander’s first encounter with the Oriental way of life occurred right after the Battle of Issus, when Darius’ tent had fallen into Macedonian hands and had been prepared for Alexander as he returned from his unsuccessful pursuit of the fleeing Darius. When he entered his enemy’s tent, he remarked – rightfully so – this is what it means to be a king!

Yet, as impressive as these traveling quarters were, it certainly was only a faint hint of what he found two years later in Babylon. Although the origins of Babylon may go back as far as the 23^rd century BC, its first archives date from 2286 BC. After being occupied by the Assyrians (Ashurbanipal) and the Neo-Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar), the Empire fell to the Persians (Cyrus the Great) before Alexander arrived in October 331 BC. This implies that the Palace of Babylon was built, destroyed, and rebuilt several times over the centuries, and despite the shiny blue tiles, it has a somewhat reserved appearance.

Susa, on the other hand, was founded circa 4,200 BC and has Elamite origins. This is where the famous Code of Hammurabi stood from 1175 BC onwards. The city was also conquered by Cyrus the Great to eventually become part of the Persian Empire. Yet the glazed brick walls in Susa are friendlier than those at Babylon, as many pastel colors were implemented, giving the walls automatically a more pleasant appearance. The palace and its decorations must have impressed Alexander and his entourage. After all, they had not seen Persepolis yet!

Certainly, at this stage, Alexander had no idea of the wealth and luxuries that still awaited him, making his enemies' tables nothing more than his footstools.

Interestingly, the very stone slab on which the king’s throne once stood is still in place among the ruins of Susa, and it is hard to realize that this is the very throne on which Alexander once seated himself. 

Babylon and Alexander’s reorganization of the army

Most ancient authors do not spend much time in Babylon. After Alexander’s triumphal march into the city and his appointment of Mazaeus as governor, they quickly move on to Susa, his next stop.

Well, it seems they moved a little too quickly for after all Alexander spent exactly 34 days in Babylon and that time was certainly not spent sitting idle. The only ancient writer giving us more details is, as usual, Curtius.

[Charles LeBrun, Alexander's arrival in Babylon, The Louvre] 

For a start, he mentions that upon arrival, Alexander is met by Mazaeus, the foremost Persian general at the recent Battle of Gaugamela, who surrenders himself and the city. Babylon was a well-defended stronghold with a 68 km-long wall and would have been a tough nut to crack had Mazaeus, not presented it to the new King of Asia.

Alexander entered Babylon in a chariot surrounded by his armed men. Many people went out to see him. Among them was Bagophanes, guardian of the citadel and of the royal treasury. He went as far as to strew the entire road with flowers. On both sides of the Procession Way, he had placed silver altars loaded with frankincense and all kinds of perfumes. He did not come empty-handed either, leading herds of horses and cattle, while lions and leopards were brought before Alexander as well. This procession was followed by the chanting Magi and the Chaldeans singing and playing musical instruments. The cortege was closed by the Babylonian cavalry, looking their smartest. The townspeople were allowed to join the march-past at the very end, after the infantry.

Curtius admires the beauty and antiquity of the city, which he shares with Alexander and whoever lays eyes on it. He gives us a pretty detailed description of Babylon, stating that its walls were built of small baked bricks that were cemented with bitumen – a substance the Macedonians were to discover for the first time. These walls stood 22 meters high and were 10 meters wide and it is said that two four-horse chariots riding on top could pass each other. The wall towers were even three meters taller than the wall itself. No construction leaned against the inside of the city wall and none of the buildings were continuous, leaving open spaces that could be cultivated – a very handy asset in case of a siege.

The fact, however, that the River Euphrates flew right through Babylon did not seem to create any security concern to the Babylonians. Remarkably, they built a stone bridge over the river in order to connect both sides – not a small achievement considering the inconstant flow of the river and its alluvial deposits.

The Citadel is another impressive feature of Babylon. Curtius mentions that it was 25 meters high (the foundations ran ten meters deep) and that it was surrounded by a nearly four-kilometer-long circuit. The famous Hanging Gardens are, according to this author, to be found at the top of this citadel, just peeping over the top of the city walls, although they generally are seen as being part of the Royal Palace. The entire story of these Hanging Gardens, apparently built by Nebuchadnezzar for his homesick wife, is shrouded in mystery. In spite of being labeled as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it remains one of the unsolved enigmas that I will not develop here.

We know that Alexander settled in the comforts of the Royal Palace, receiving ambassadors and delegates from all over his empire and catching up with his many administrative duties. The newly appointed Mazaeus, as governor of Babylon (the first “oriental” to receive this honor), was assisted by two military commanders of Alexander’s choice, Apollodorus of Amphipolis and Menes of Pella. He also designated Agathon of Pydna to guard the Citadel. From the freshly acquired treasury, Alexander distributed a bonus to his cavalry and infantry as well as to all the mercenaries in his service.

His army had been very much welcomed by the Babylonians with plenty of food and wine and … women. Curtius brings this generosity to another level by stating that fathers and husbands allowed their daughters and wives to prostitute themselves to the liberators provided that a fair price was paid in return. The women who took part in these drinking parties are said to have peeled off one layer of clothing after the next to “gradually disgrace their modesty”. It seems that prostitution was regarded as a courtesy. Whatever the extent of these feasts, the debauchery had to be stopped and the best remedy was for Alexander to march his men to their next destination, Susa, another Persian capital.

While on the road, reinforcements sent earlier by Antipater joined Alexander’s ranks. They were Macedonian and Thracian cavalry and infantry, as well as mercenaries, both on foot and horse from the Peloponnese. With these troops, there was also a group of 50 young adult sons of Macedonian chiefs to serve as bodyguards to Alexander. We know that their function ended after four years of service and the timing for this replacement is entirely coherent since the present bodyguards presumably had started off with Alexander in 334 BC. Curtius is kind enough to give us the job description of these boys as follows: they should wait upon the king at the table, bring him horses during the battle, attend him during the hunting parties, and keep watch at the entrance to his bedroom. If they applied themselves, they could be promoted to the level of general in his army.

These fresh recruits, however, had to be merged with the existing seasoned troops, a task Alexander never took lightly. He decided to halt about halfway between Babylon and Susa to make the arrangements and started by closely scrutinizing the reports of good or brave conduct of individuals and making sure they were rewarded accordingly. He arranged for many commanders to be promoted to an even higher post of command. By doing so, he managed to bind his men by strong ties of affection, which, in the end, led to a higher degree of effectiveness.

Meanwhile, and in order to keep his men occupied, Alexander organized a contest in military valor overseen by judges he had appointed to this effect. There was much at stake as the bravest competitor would win the command over a troop of 1,000 men, the chiliarchae – the first time this number was used. Under eager attention and wide attendance, eight such Chiliarchs were nominated and they formed a new unit in Alexander’s army. This was also the time when Alexander appointed commanders over units that did not necessarily consist of men from their own region, as had been the case under Philip, and which Alexander had implemented until now. Another novelty was to replace the trumpet signal that sounded when the camp had to be moved. In the commotion, more often than not, it seems that the trumpet was not heard and it was therefore decided to place a pole on top of the general’s tent for all to see. The signal consisted of a fire visible by night and smoke during the day.

One may conclude that Alexander took his role as King of Asia very seriously but the reorganization of his army here in Babylon is very telling for the conquests that still lay ahead. He partially canceled the proven and tested rules put in place by his father and replaced them with several innovative features in order to be more efficient and more effective. 

He truly was a general in heart and soul who did not shy away from adapting his army to new situations and circumstances, of which there were many more to follow in the years ahead.

[Except for the first and last photographs, all others are borrowed from Oliver Stone's movie Alexander]

About spolia in Babylon

The word “spolia” is defined by Wikipedia as “the repurposing of building stone for new construction, or the reuse of decorative sculpture on new monuments, is an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built structure, is carried away to be used elsewhere.” Well, that is what I thought also, until I came across this article about modern-day spolia in Babylon.

Saddam Hussein’s controversial reconstruction of the Palace of King Nebuchadnezzar is well documented, but now it appears that bricks from ancient Babylon have been reused in buildings erected in Hillah, south of Baghdad. Elderly locals from the city remember how the bricks were transported by donkey or river barges, and this custom is thought to go back to the 12^th century. In 1890, bricks from Babylon were used to build the Hindiya Barrage on the Euphrates. Vandalism, for that is what spolia is, after all, continued far into the last century with Saddam Hussein’s madness to rebuild the palace and the American Army setting up their camp inside the old walls and driving their tanks through ancient streets.

The damage cannot be undone, but Iraqi authorities are now facing another problem: recovering as many Babylonian bricks from the old houses in Hillah and other neighboring towns by monitoring their demolition. As always, some deny the problem, and others claim that the theft of bricks stopped in the 1940s.

Whatever the case, a group of journalists and activists created a social media campaign and hoped that UNESCO would consider reinserting the site of Babylon in its World Heritage List by the end of 2017. On the other hand, Iraqi authorities are aware that the restoration of the houses in Hillah should be carried out under the control of the General Authority for Iraqi Antiquities.

King Nebuchadnezzar II built his city of Babylon in the 6^th century BC, and is said to have used as many as fifteen million baked bricks for the construction of his palace and surrounding official buildings! After all, Babylon was a huge metropolis covering 900 hectares of land. The square bricks used for this impressive construction carried Sumerian inscriptions and special regal seals.

It is heartbreaking to see remains from 2,700 years ago from such an important antique metropolis as Babylon disintegrate in front of our very eyes without being able to stop the damage.

Let’s hope for the best, as always.

A mental reconstruction of Alexander’s triumphal march into Babylon

For obvious reasons, I have not visited Babylon. Still, I am terribly happy to have at least been able to see the next best thing, the city’s imposing reconstructions at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

In a way, it may just be as well that I had not seen the remains of Babylon, located less than 100 kilometers south of modern Baghdad in Iraq, simply because this historical site has been so intensively damaged during the Iraqi War when the American army used the place as a military camp, destroying a part of the city in the process (see also: Babylon, victim of war). The old paved roads leading to the different city gates have crumbled under the weight of heavy tanks. Much of the rubble (often precious archaeological material) has been used in constructing airfields for helicopters and parking lots. Smaller archaeological material was also used to fill sandbags. The scanty remains of the Ishtar Gate have also suffered. To be fair, we cannot ignore that under Saddam Hussein, Babylon was not treated with much consideration either, for in 1983, he started building a city of his own on top of the fragile ruins of the dried brick walls.

He inscribed his name on the bricks, just as Nebuchadnezzar had done 2,500 years before him, and he made serious plans to erect a palace of his own atop the ruins. The outbreak of the Gulf War put an end to these damaging plans, but since then, the modern bricks and mortar of Saddam’s megalomania have dangerously undermined the fragile ruins.

Peace has not returned yet. For several years, villagers, invading armies, and fortune seekers plundered whatever they could. An ever-increasing number of people settled in new villages on top of the ruins, and rising groundwater threatened the ancient walls even further. To make matters worse, the Iraqi oil business is spoiling the precious grounds of this wondrous city, tearing up the soil to lay down their pipelines 1.7 meters deep right next to two other pipelines that were dug under Saddam Hussein. The Ministry of Oil ignored their Iraqi archaeologists' pleas, stating that they didn’t find any artifacts during their diggings – as if they were experts in the matter!

Historians tell us that Alexander entered Babylon through the Ishtar Gate and proceeded over the Procession Way from where the Royal Palace, the Temple of Marduk, and the Ziggurat came into full view. This is the first grand city Alexander encountered, and as he approached it from the dusty Mesopotamian plain, he must have been awed and impressed by the deep blue glazed brick walls rising amidst the lush green grasses on the banks of the Euphrates River.

Over the centuries, Babylon has seen many conquerors enter through its gates. This is where King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) wrote the very first laws etched in stone, now one of the proud possessions of the Louvre Museum. It is also the city where King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC), out of love for his homesick wife, built the famous hanging gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Last but not least, this is where the biblical and historical Tower of Babel ruled over the sacred complex, including the Temple of Ishtar. Less obvious is that from the sixth century BC onwards, the Achaemenid kings occupied the luxurious palace rooms of Babylon, their most westerly capital.

The Pergamon Museum has done a great job in rendering the imposing Ishtar Gate, repositioning the original dragons and aurochs (symbolizing the gods Marduk and Adad) in alternating rows and filling up the background with modern blue glazed bricks that blend in very well. Even the original building inscription by Nebuchadnezzar has been artfully inserted. The entire wall is framed with a tasteful mix of original and contemporary yellow bands and sunflowers embossed glazed bricks.

After passing this monumental gate, one arrives on the Procession Way, reproduced over 30 meters and eight meters wide. Initially, this avenue was 250 meters long and 20-24 meters wide, and it is not easy to mentally multiply the length by seven and the width by three to catch the actual immense proportions – a tall order in this confined space. Yet the walls have been faithfully covered with some of the 120 striding lions, dragons, and bulls, including the yellow and black trimmings at the bottom and top with flower motives symbolizing the goddess Ishtar.

Standing here, it is obvious how close Oliver Stone has come to reality when creating Alexander’s triumphal march into Babylon. The Macedonians must have taken the utmost pride in polishing their shields and outfits to look their smartest on this occasion, as they must have been very much aware of what their victory over the Persian Empire meant.

However, although Babylon was firmly in Alexander’s hands, Darius was still on the run further east. This meant that Alexander could not yet take the title of King of Kings, and he settled instead for King of Asia, as he was called throughout the rest of his reign.

Indeed, I consider myself lucky to have seen the precious remains of Babylon in Berlin and those exhibited at the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul, though the latter are much less impressive.

[Bottom picture is from Oliver Stone's movie Alexander]

[Click here to see all my pictures of Babylon from the Museums in Berlin and Istanbul]

The Hippodamian plan, not so Greek after all

Where does an idea originate? Who is the first to “invent” this or that concept? In our modern world, we often hear that the true inventor is not the one who claims the invention to be his, either because the initial creator did not have the means to promote his idea or because he simply didn’t protect it with a copyright.

In antiquity, copyright did not exist, of course, and ideas traveled back and forth in the baggage of the merchants or in the minds of the craftsmen sold as slaves or moved from their homeland for whatever reason.

The grid plan of city building is largely attributed to Hippodamus of Miletus, a Greek mathematician, meteorologist, philosopher, and physician from the 5^th century BC, who also was known as a town planner. He planned the building of many cities around the Mediterranean, the first of which could be the harbor of Piraeus. He also was involved in the reconstruction of Miletus after the Persian destruction, to be followed by the construction of cities like Olynthus and Pella in Greece. His ideal city would be inhabited by 10,000 male citizens, which would correspond to a total of 50,000 people including women, children, and slaves. It would typically have a large central area that soon became the agora, surrounded by neighborhoods of 240 m2 blocks of houses with an upper floor and separated by a wall, all facing south.

Digging a little further into history, it turns out the layout of Babylon was equally following the same grid plan with right-angle streets and the city must have looked very familiar to Alexander when he arrived there in 331 BC. Although Babylon is much older, the city was rebuilt by the Assyrians who made it the capital of their Neo-Babylonian Empire between 609 and 539 BC. King Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigned from 605 to 562 BC, added the famous ziggurat and the Ishtar Gate, one of the eight entries to the city. The Hanging Gardens, which counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were also constructed by him. Based on the available descriptions of Babylon, the grid plan was already known in Asia over a century before Hippodamus claimed his “invention”.

Yet, there is more to the ancestry of the so-called ideal Greek city layout. We have to go back 4,500 years in time and all the way to the Indus Valley where cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were founded using the very same layout. These cities had a central agora, large public baths, a large central well, and many small wells serving individual houses or a cluster of houses; the sewage was led to drains running under the main streets and many houses had their own bathroom. Both cities were large settlements belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization and located on the banks of the now dried-up Ghaggar-Hakra River, west of the Indus River.

With the coming of Islam and the general decline of the Middle Ages, we in the West lost this marvelously well-organized city planning till it was revived in the 20^th century all over the globe, from Asia to the Americas. Pending whatever discoveries will be made in the future, for now, Hippodamus’ “invention” is just some two thousand years older than generally accepted.

[Picture of Mohenjo-Daro from Assignment Point]

Visiting the ancient city of Babylon

For once, I want to share the entire article I found about an aficionado visitor to the remains of Babylon. So few people can really go there and walk the Processional Way used by Alexander the Great when he entered the city in 331 BC that I can only relay this wonderful description.

Although the author, Osama S. M. Amin, was enchanted by the spirits of Nebuchadnezzar I still envy him, for I am certain I would feel the spirit of Alexander walking through those abandoned streets. After all, this is also the place where the great conqueror died in 323 BC. 

We had a 4-day national holiday. Meaning what? No clinic and no hospital! I said to myself, “It’s been a long time since I have visited Babylonia.” I drove my car for about 11 hours, continuously. Finally, I was there. I went to my uncle’s house, which lies about a quarter of hour from the ancient city of Babylon. The ancient city lies within modern-day city of Hillah, the center of Babel Governorate, Iraq, about 83 kilometers south of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital city.

After the US-led invasion in 2003, the American and Polish armies established a military base within the ancient city. God only knows what happened there during their presence! A British Museum report has found that extensive damage was done to the site by this military occupation. In 2009, the local government of Babylon opened the city to the public.

It was a very sunny and hot day in mid-July, with temperatures exceeding 55 ^oC (131 F). I took 8 bottles of cold water with me!

A general view of the ancient city of Babylon. The picture was shot from Saddam’s Palace, which lies on a mound which looks over the city. The South Palace of Nebuchadnezzar lies on the right. Babylon, modern day Babel Governorate, Iraq.

After passing through the checkpoint and doing the security check, I found myself in front of a replica of the Ishtar Gate; this marks the entry into the old city of Babylon. No one was there; the employees were sleeping. I and my cousin went through a large courtyard, where the “Nebuchadnezzar Museum” lies; this museum was looted by local criminals during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and has been closed ever since.

Then, I faced the processional street. The street is long and is divided into three parts. The first and the third parts are surrounded by fences to prevent people from entering. The original tiles are still in situ! Former president Saddam Hussein ordered the reconstruction and renovation of the ancient city of Babylon during 1980s CE and some of the walls, foundations, and buildings were buried and were replaced by modern ones.

At the right side of the Processional Street lies the Ninmah temple. In went inside it and found that some walls and roofs of the temple were in a very bad condition and no recent renovations have been done.

After that, I went once again to the Processional Street. An archaeological team was digging into some part of the foundations of the 2^nd part of the street; they uncovered the relief of a Sirrush (a four-legged Babylonian mythological creature)! At the end of the Street, turn left; the Lion of Babylon statue appears! “It has been there, standing on that man, day and night, under the sun and rain, for 2600 years,” I said to myself in awe. The pedestal and the surrounding area were undergoing a renovation work. The statue itself was left, as it is, untouched.

Ruins of the North Palace of King Nebuchadnezzar. This palace was not reconstructed during Saddam’s era. Neo-Babylonian period, 605-562 BCE. Babylon, modern day Bebel Governorate, Iraq.

The ruins of the North Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II were next. These ruins were not touched during the 1980s’ work. The inner walls of the city of Babylon are located just behind this palace, and they look like they are about to collapse. The walls looks over the South Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II; this palace was rebuilt completely during Saddam’s era and its older walls, rooms, and foundations were completely buried underneath this modern palace.

Although the city and its content underwent a very comprehensive renovation, using modern bricks, the scent of history and the power of king Nebuchadnezzar II are still there; I can feel it! My cousin got bored and our companion was hungry and drowsy; I shot more than 900 pictures and wanted more, but what to do!

I really enjoyed seeing the stamped bricks, and smelled the ancient walls. “Nebuchadnezzar II lived here and this person had changed the path of the history,” I told myself. Saddam Hussein tried to revive Babylon and he portrayed himself as the new Nebuchadnezzar; a policy which intended to create a propaganda in order to frighten a nearby country in a very hostile way. He, instead, re-shaped the city and destroyed what Nebuchadnezzar II had done!

[The original story was published under this link]