12/10/12
Research paper

The City of Babylon The city of Babylon was the capital of the ancient land of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia. The tremendous wealth and power of this city, along with its extraordinary size and appearance, were certainly considered a Biblical myth, that is, until its foundations were brought to the public eye and its riches grew physically and mentally stronger during the 19th century. Archaeologists stood in awe as their discoveries revealed that certain stories in the Bible were an actual situation that had happened in time. Babylon is Akkadian which means "the Gate of God(s)" and it became the capital of the land of Babylonia.
There is evidence that man has lived in this area of Mesopotamia since the beginning of civilization. The first records indicate that Babylon was established as a city around the 23rd century BC.Babylonia was an ancient empire that existed in the Near East in southern Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. In 587 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and carried the leading citizens of the Kingdom of Judah as prisoners to Babylon.Throughout the long period of Babylonia history, the Babylonians achieved a high level of civilization that made an impact on the whole known world. Sumerian culture was its basis, which later Babylonians regarded as traditional. In the area of religion, the Sumerians already had a system of gods, each with a main temple in each city.Babylonian religion was temple-centered, with elaborate festivals and many different types of priests, especially the exorcist and the diviner, who mainly were trained to drive away evil spirits.Babylonian literature was mainly dominated by mythology and legends. Among these was a creation myth written to glorify their god Marduk. According to this myth, Marduk created heaven and earth from the corpse of the goddess Tiamat. Another