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Welcome to my Bitum! As you wander through my house you will discover places that serve as my homebase for certain activities. In the Courtyard I conduct my social activities here at AncientWorlds and in Babylon. My Library is for my historical and academic pursuits. Finally, in my Study you will find my game playing scores, statistics and artifacts. Thanks for visiting my home!
In classical times the city walls of Babylon were spoken of with admiration and astonishment, while her "Hanging Gardens" were accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 B.C.) Babylon was extensively re-built on an altogether magnificent scale, the city becoming at this period both the most beautiful and the most prosperous of the ancient world. Bisected from north to south by the river Euphrates, the city was surrounded by a moat and by two massive walls, the outer being about 16 kilometres in length, the inner about 8 kilometres. Within the inner city wall were brick- and bitumen-paved Thoroughfares and imposing buildings, of which numerous traces and ruins may still be seen by the visitor today. In particular there is part of Babylon's great Procession Street which passes through the Ishtar Gate and on towards the site of the city's huge staged temple tower or "Ziggurat". On one side of the Procession Street are the ruins of the South Palace (300 x 190 metres) amongst which are to be found those of the famous "Hanging Gardens" mentioned above. To the north of the South Palace are the ruins of the Principal Gate, the broken walls of which consist of baked bricks laid with gypsum mortar. Also within the circuit of the inner wall and surrounded by residential buildings are the temples of Marduk, Ishtar, Gula and Ninurta.
For the past two thousand years the ancient buildings of Babylon have been extensively quarried for their excellent baked bricks. Thus, what survives today is generally only the lower courses of the walls or simply their foundations. Moreover, what survives is threatened by salt and the high local water table. Action is urgentls required to rescue these ruins.
Fotunately there already exist plans and reconstructed drawings on many of Babylon's principal buildings, even some of which little now remains but their foundations. These plans and drawings were made by German archaeologists who dedicated some seventeen years to the excavation of Babylon before the First World War.
As the product of fifteen centuries of human toil and endeavour Babylon belongs to all people and to all nations. Visitors from all over the world are anxious that something should be done to further the restorations and reconstruction of babylon's principal buildings, so that the city's former grandeur may be better appreciated. It is appropriate, we feel, that all countries should assist in this work, not only in recognition of Babylons' great place in history, but also in recognition of her great cultural importance for everyone.
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Seven Wonders
Position: Explorer
Level 2
Discover, explore, and discuss the Wonders of the Ancient World.
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