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SITE ID - NAME :	B1	Babylon
ANCIENT NAME :	Babylon
OTHER NAME :	includes modern sites Babil (Mujelibah), Kasr, Amran Ibn Ali, Homera, Markaz (Merkes)
LOCATION :	Central Iraq, Hillah
CHRONOLOGY :	Early Historic; Late Historic
PERIOD CODE :	10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
DESCRIPTION :	This perhaps most famous archaeological site in the world is located along a branch of the Euphrates south of Baghdad. After early explorations by others, Koldewey conducted large-scale German excavations in 1899-1977. More recently, Iraqi and Italian expeditions have worked at the site. Babylon was the political centre of southern Mesopotamia, especially during the Old Babylonian (2000-1600 BC) and Neo-Babylonian (625-539 BC) periods, when it was the seat of empires of respectively Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar (Babylonia). During the 2nd and 1st millennia the city remained important, and served as the regional capital of invading empires in Neo-Assyrian and Achaemenid periods (Alexander the Great died in the city). Babylon is especially famous for its wonderful and well-preserved monuments, e.g. the Ishtar gate (with beautiful glazed friezes of animals), the temple-tower or ziggurat (the 'Tower of Babel'), and the palace of Nebuchadnezzar (with perhaps one of the seven Wonders of the World: the 'Hanging Gardens' of Babylon). The city was destroyed during the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib.
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