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Babylon: A History From Beginning to End
Babylon * * *Download for FREE on Kindle Unlimited + Free BONUS Inside!* * * Read On Your Computer, MAC, Smartphone, Kindle Reader, iPad, or Tablet. Of all the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, Babylon is virtually the only one which is still remembered today. The very word Babylon has entered the lexicon of popular understanding as a synonym for decadence and wealth. But what do we really know about the history of this once mighty city? Inside you will read about... ✓ King Hammurabi and the Babylonian Empire ✓ The Persian Conquest ✓ Alexander the Great Enters Babylon ✓ Babylon Falls ✓ Babylon in the Bible And much more! Babylon first became important in the eighteenth century BCE under the rule of King Hammurabi. However, it barely survived his death before it was conquered, first by the Hittites and then by the Assyrians. In the seventh century BCE, the city was completely destroyed after it rebelled against Assyrian rule, and it wasn’t until the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II that it once again became the heart of a large empire. After that, it was conquered by the Persians and finally, in the fourth century BCE, by Alexander the Great. Alexander planned to make Babylon the capital of his mighty empire, but he died in the city under mysterious circumstances before this was done. After his death, Babylon entered a period of decline from which it never recovered until by the seventh century CE it was no more than a source of bricks for local builders. How did this happen? How did this city rise to great power and then fall to become nothing but a memory? Why do we remember the name of Babylon when the names of all the other great cities of ancient Mesopotamia have been forgotten? This is the story of Babylon.
121 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 29, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 25, 2022
"Babylon: A history from beginning to end" promises to give you a complete history of Babylon and I think it does just that. Although it would be good to add, that it is only a short history. With a length of approximately 50 pages this book is quite short. The result is that the history is compressed into a king's list and a few notes on the events in Babylon. For people who want to get an overview of Babylon's history, it is quite good, but if you want to dive deeper and learn more about the culture, daily life, etc., this book is not the right one for you.
February 21, 2024
Definitely over the kids’ heads, generally, but we made it work and got things out of it, while using appropriate documentaries on Curiousity to help solidify the time period in our minds.
January 24, 2021
Written in plain English exhibiting abundant information for readers despite its length...
The book starts off with a good entr'/ intr'o-duct'ion:
(Kindle Ed. p. 1)
The very word Babylon is resonant with images of prosperity, magnificent buildings, and perhaps also with arrogance, decadence, and the worship of wealth and material possessions. But what was the reality of this ancient city which is still remembered today long after most of its contemporaries have been forgotten? Babylon had a history more convoluted and more turbulent than most great cities. In a period of around two thousand years, it went from being a small city-state amongst many to the magnificent heart of an empire revered for its learning and culture. Then it declined, was destroyed and re-built, and eventually became the heart of an even larger empire. When Alexander the Great conquered a large part of the civilized world, he chose Babylon to be the capital of his mighty empire, and it seemed that the city was destined for immortality. Instead, Alexander died mysteriously in the city which then fell into decline once again and within a few hundred years had become little more than a series of ruins in the desert, providing a useful source of bricks for local builders. This is the story of the rise and fall of the most famous of all the ancient cities of Mesopotamia. This is the story of Babylon.
But did you know that "Babyl-on" actually meant the "Words-one (land of words/ wr'itings/ records/ hi-stor'y)?"
(Kindle Ed. p. 2)
“If history, as by most definitions, begins with writing, then the birth, rise and fall of ancient Mesopotamia occupies a full half of all history.” —Paul Kriwaczek
Babylon was the center of it, and that's exactly why she's been called Babylon (Bab'ul-/ 'yl-on), just like Hellas, with its written language chosen for the New Test’a-ment, was to be called Greece (Gr-is with "gr" = letters, alphabet[a]s. knowledge, power, creation, growth, grand, glory, grace and great) since the med'i-eval/ -evol Chr-ist'en-dom have had the author'ity for over a thousand years, which some how still resides deep in our mind'/ ment'ality today. The Bible (Bib’ul, Baeb-ur: [God’s] Words-collection) remembers her as Babel (Bab’el) with the tower of the/ one (el) language (bab) destroyed by Yahweh (ia-we/ -oui/ -ue: the world-above or the one-above, ergo the being above everything any ways) in fear of Human unity.
(Kindle Ed. pp. 2-3)
The Sumerians lived in a series of city-states, semi-autonomous and fortified towns ruled by kings and each with their own laws and religious beliefs. Then, around 2300 BCE, the Sumerians were challenged by the leader of Akkad, a Semitic-speaking city-state to the north. The ruler of this city, Sargon of Akkad (also known as Sargon the Great), sought to extend the power of Akkad by conquering the Sumer city-states. After defeating the Sumer army close to the Sumer city of Uruk in the biggest battle the world had ever seen at that time, Sargon took over all the Sumerian city-states and incorporated them into the growing Akkadian Empire. Hungry for more, Sargon sent his armies into the lands ruled by the Assyrians to the north and the Elamites to the east. He defeated them both, and by the time that Sargon died in around 2279 BCE, the Akkadian Empire was the largest in the world. Before his death, Sargon established a port city on the Euphrates River. This was Babylon, a small town distributed equally on the left and right banks of the mighty river, around sixty miles south of modern-day Baghdad. The lack of reliable records from this period makes it difficult to be certain precisely when the city was founded. Several dates are mentioned in ancient texts. The Greek writer Stephen of Byzantium claimed that Babylon was founded 1,002 years before the siege of Troy, in 2231 BCE. Roman historian Pliny the Elder believed that astronomical observations were first undertaken in Babylon 490 years before the Greek era of Phoroneus, in 2243 BCE. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, who claimed to have access to ancient Babylonian writings, believed that the city was founded in 2286 BCE. Most likely, the city first emerged in the twenty-third century BCE, around the time when Sargon of Akkad was building his mighty Akkadian Empire.
Well, what do you know? That's how Akkadian language was able to survive and used as international language among the competing powers of Egypt, Hittite, Assyria and Babylon in the following centuries.
(Kindle Ed. p. 4)
However, even as Babylon was growing, the Akkadian Empire was gradually being pushed back by the Amorites, tribes of semi-nomadic Hamitic-speaking people from Syria who, from the twenty-first century BCE, occupied large areas of southern Mesopotamia when they were forced out of their homeland by a severe and protracted drought. Sensibly, the Amorites did not face the powerful Akkadians in open battle—instead they seem to have infiltrated Akkadian cities gradually until they were strong enough to install their own leaders and dynasties. Over a period of around two hundred years, Akkadian cities in southern Mesopotamia came under Amorite control as Amorite grain merchants became wealthy and powerful citizens. These included several cities on the banks of the Euphrates such as Larsa, Lagash, and Babylon.
It would be even better a read if you read this after having read Akkadian Empire by the same author and publisher.
(Kindle Ed. pp. 27-28)
“The city stands on a broad plain, and is an exact square, a hundred and twenty stadia (twenty-three kilometers) in length each way, so that the entire circuit is four hundred and eighty stadia. While such is its size, in magnificence there is no other city that approaches to it. It is surrounded, in the first place, by a broad and deep moat, full of water, behind which rises a wall fifty royal cubits in width and two hundred (over one hundred meters) in height.”
I don't think the American author understands the metric system...sigh. 4 times 23km? And over 100 meters in height? Almost as tall as one of the tallest pyramids in Egypt lol Needs to be re-vis’ed.
(Kindle Ed. pp. 44-45)
One of the reasons that Babylon became of such surpassing interest to European historians and archeologists is its association with the Bible. Babylon is mentioned more than almost any other Mesopotamian city in the Bible and is often used as the personification of greed, wealth, and godlessness. In Genesis, the founding of Babel (Babylon) is described and credited to a king named Nimrod, a descendant of Noah’s son Ham. Genesis also notes that, after the Great Flood, the survivors all spoke a single language and worshipped a single god. Genesis describes the building of a great tower in the city of Babel which was so high that its “top may reach unto heaven.” However, the magnificence of the city and the staggering size of the tower encouraged the inhabitants of Babel to become arrogant, and in order to punish them, God scattered the people of Babel across the Earth and condemned them to use many different languages so that they were no longer able to understand one another.
Eneny (in-/ un-am'i/ 'y): No wonder our English word "nimrod" means barb'arian (bab'o) or idiot, just like "mongol" meaning idiot in French. And yup, the early [Shaman] monotheism is mentioned in Gen'esis. So we the Homo Sapiens have suffered di-vis'ion because the Heaven was afraid that our vis'ion in unity might surpass his power...Again, Babylon (Bab-ul-on) = Babel (Bab-el) in the Bible (Baib-ul, Baeb-ul, Bib-ur: [God's] Words-collection).
(Kindle Ed. pp. 45-48)
The books of the Old Testament frequently mention Babylon, and in particular the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar II is specifically mentioned in the Bible, though he is described as a wicked tyrant who stole sacred items from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. When his “son” Belshazzar (Belshazzar was in reality the regent and son of the last Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus) took the throne, the Bible describes in the Book of Daniel how he holds a feast at which the objects stolen from the Jews are used. Those attending are then terrified when a ghostly hand appears and writes a mysterious message on the wall. Daniel, who is in exile in Babylon, is brought in to decipher the message and tells the king: “God has numbered the days of your reign . . . Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” The story is a description of the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE when Babylon was conquered by the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. Babylon is also mentioned in the New Testament, notably in the Revelation of St. John where the city is symbolized as the “Whore of Babylon,” which is a female figure riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. Written on her head are the words: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” In the Christian Bible, Babylon is used as a symbol of those who reject the Word of God and who are obsessed with the material world. In Isaiah there is a final mention of the city: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.” It isn’t just the Christian Bible that Babylon is given prominence. In the Hebrew Bible, Babylon is mentioned many times, mainly in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews. In the Hebrew Bible, Babylon is synonymous with the oppression of the righteous and the imposition of a foreign religion. In the Rastafarian belief system, the name of Babylon is used to symbolize a world obsessed by material possessions and in particular is used to denote the United States of America because Jamaicans were brought there as slaves in the same way that Jews were taken to Babylon...in Freemasonry, which has its own versions of Biblical accounts, Babylon is mentioned, claiming that the city is the birthplace of Freemasonry and the source of much scientific and occult knowledge...Although Babylon is often referred to as if it was a single entity, the truth is that there were many Babylons, each quite different in terms of beliefs and their place in the ancient world. Babylon first came briefly to prominence under the rule of King Hammurabi in the eighteenth century BCE. During the forty years of his rule, Babylon became the largest city in the world, a center of learning and the arts, and the heart of a large empire. However, with Hammurabi’s death, the city rapidly declined to become just one more city-state in Mesopotamia. It wasn’t until more than one thousand years had passed that Nebuchadnezzar II would come to the throne and once again make Babylon the ruler of an empire and a revered center for science and learning. Much of what we think we know about the city of Babylon dates from this period...
Now I see why everything about Babylon in the Bible (whose Old Testament was actually the old Jewish script “Tor-ah,” written during and after their exile, forced by Babylonian Empire, to make themselves the victims feel better under that embarrassing situation just like the neo-Confucianist text written under Mongol o-ccup’ation, which would rule the mind of so-called the East Asians today) is so badly criticized, while it was act'ually a great city and empire that has indeed contributed a lot to our Human progress, so all other more "practical" societies have adored it. No wonder the Christian Medieval Europe was to be a dark age:
(William Manchester, “A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of an Age” (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1992), pp. 26-27)
...Except for the introduction of waterwheels in the 800s and windmills in the late 1100s, there had been no inventions of significance. No startling new ideas had appeared, no new territories outside Europe had been explored. Everything was as it had been for as long as the oldest European could remember. The center of the Ptolemaic universe was the known world—Europe, with the Holy Land and North Africa on its fringes. The sun moved round it every day. Heaven was above the immovable earth, somewhere in the overarching sky; hell seethed far beneath their feet. Kings ruled at the pleasure of the Almighty; all others did what were told to do. Jesus, the son of God, had been crucified and resurrected, and his reappearance was imminent, or at any rate inevitable. Every human being adored him (the Jews and the Muslims being invisible). During the 1,436 years since the death of Saint Peter the Apostle, 211 popes had succeeded him, all chosen by God and all infallible. The Church was indivisible, the afterlife a certainty; all knowledge was already known. And nothing would ever change...
Normally, ironically by nat’ure, an’y author’ity can only understand the true nature as much as they have learned and teach it to the young, which makes many people excited with a lot of potential discoveries still waiting for us. After many mistakes, scars and tears the world has become much better for us now, and it will be even better in the years to come.
(Kindle Ed. p. 49)
...When it was mighty, Babylon was the most influential and powerful city in the world. After its fall, Babylon rapidly became nothing but a memory.
A bit redundant: It’s a four-star con-clos’/ -clus’ion.
All-in-all the book is written in plain English exhibiting abundant in-form’ation help-ful for both the beginners and experts of the sub-ject.
You can read the full review here.
The book starts off with a good entr'/ intr'o-duct'ion:
(Kindle Ed. p. 1)
The very word Babylon is resonant with images of prosperity, magnificent buildings, and perhaps also with arrogance, decadence, and the worship of wealth and material possessions. But what was the reality of this ancient city which is still remembered today long after most of its contemporaries have been forgotten? Babylon had a history more convoluted and more turbulent than most great cities. In a period of around two thousand years, it went from being a small city-state amongst many to the magnificent heart of an empire revered for its learning and culture. Then it declined, was destroyed and re-built, and eventually became the heart of an even larger empire. When Alexander the Great conquered a large part of the civilized world, he chose Babylon to be the capital of his mighty empire, and it seemed that the city was destined for immortality. Instead, Alexander died mysteriously in the city which then fell into decline once again and within a few hundred years had become little more than a series of ruins in the desert, providing a useful source of bricks for local builders. This is the story of the rise and fall of the most famous of all the ancient cities of Mesopotamia. This is the story of Babylon.
But did you know that "Babyl-on" actually meant the "Words-one (land of words/ wr'itings/ records/ hi-stor'y)?"
(Kindle Ed. p. 2)
“If history, as by most definitions, begins with writing, then the birth, rise and fall of ancient Mesopotamia occupies a full half of all history.” —Paul Kriwaczek
Babylon was the center of it, and that's exactly why she's been called Babylon (Bab'ul-/ 'yl-on), just like Hellas, with its written language chosen for the New Test’a-ment, was to be called Greece (Gr-is with "gr" = letters, alphabet[a]s. knowledge, power, creation, growth, grand, glory, grace and great) since the med'i-eval/ -evol Chr-ist'en-dom have had the author'ity for over a thousand years, which some how still resides deep in our mind'/ ment'ality today. The Bible (Bib’ul, Baeb-ur: [God’s] Words-collection) remembers her as Babel (Bab’el) with the tower of the/ one (el) language (bab) destroyed by Yahweh (ia-we/ -oui/ -ue: the world-above or the one-above, ergo the being above everything any ways) in fear of Human unity.
(Kindle Ed. pp. 2-3)
The Sumerians lived in a series of city-states, semi-autonomous and fortified towns ruled by kings and each with their own laws and religious beliefs. Then, around 2300 BCE, the Sumerians were challenged by the leader of Akkad, a Semitic-speaking city-state to the north. The ruler of this city, Sargon of Akkad (also known as Sargon the Great), sought to extend the power of Akkad by conquering the Sumer city-states. After defeating the Sumer army close to the Sumer city of Uruk in the biggest battle the world had ever seen at that time, Sargon took over all the Sumerian city-states and incorporated them into the growing Akkadian Empire. Hungry for more, Sargon sent his armies into the lands ruled by the Assyrians to the north and the Elamites to the east. He defeated them both, and by the time that Sargon died in around 2279 BCE, the Akkadian Empire was the largest in the world. Before his death, Sargon established a port city on the Euphrates River. This was Babylon, a small town distributed equally on the left and right banks of the mighty river, around sixty miles south of modern-day Baghdad. The lack of reliable records from this period makes it difficult to be certain precisely when the city was founded. Several dates are mentioned in ancient texts. The Greek writer Stephen of Byzantium claimed that Babylon was founded 1,002 years before the siege of Troy, in 2231 BCE. Roman historian Pliny the Elder believed that astronomical observations were first undertaken in Babylon 490 years before the Greek era of Phoroneus, in 2243 BCE. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, who claimed to have access to ancient Babylonian writings, believed that the city was founded in 2286 BCE. Most likely, the city first emerged in the twenty-third century BCE, around the time when Sargon of Akkad was building his mighty Akkadian Empire.
Well, what do you know? That's how Akkadian language was able to survive and used as international language among the competing powers of Egypt, Hittite, Assyria and Babylon in the following centuries.
(Kindle Ed. p. 4)
However, even as Babylon was growing, the Akkadian Empire was gradually being pushed back by the Amorites, tribes of semi-nomadic Hamitic-speaking people from Syria who, from the twenty-first century BCE, occupied large areas of southern Mesopotamia when they were forced out of their homeland by a severe and protracted drought. Sensibly, the Amorites did not face the powerful Akkadians in open battle—instead they seem to have infiltrated Akkadian cities gradually until they were strong enough to install their own leaders and dynasties. Over a period of around two hundred years, Akkadian cities in southern Mesopotamia came under Amorite control as Amorite grain merchants became wealthy and powerful citizens. These included several cities on the banks of the Euphrates such as Larsa, Lagash, and Babylon.
It would be even better a read if you read this after having read Akkadian Empire by the same author and publisher.
(Kindle Ed. pp. 27-28)
“The city stands on a broad plain, and is an exact square, a hundred and twenty stadia (twenty-three kilometers) in length each way, so that the entire circuit is four hundred and eighty stadia. While such is its size, in magnificence there is no other city that approaches to it. It is surrounded, in the first place, by a broad and deep moat, full of water, behind which rises a wall fifty royal cubits in width and two hundred (over one hundred meters) in height.”
I don't think the American author understands the metric system...sigh. 4 times 23km? And over 100 meters in height? Almost as tall as one of the tallest pyramids in Egypt lol Needs to be re-vis’ed.
(Kindle Ed. pp. 44-45)
One of the reasons that Babylon became of such surpassing interest to European historians and archeologists is its association with the Bible. Babylon is mentioned more than almost any other Mesopotamian city in the Bible and is often used as the personification of greed, wealth, and godlessness. In Genesis, the founding of Babel (Babylon) is described and credited to a king named Nimrod, a descendant of Noah’s son Ham. Genesis also notes that, after the Great Flood, the survivors all spoke a single language and worshipped a single god. Genesis describes the building of a great tower in the city of Babel which was so high that its “top may reach unto heaven.” However, the magnificence of the city and the staggering size of the tower encouraged the inhabitants of Babel to become arrogant, and in order to punish them, God scattered the people of Babel across the Earth and condemned them to use many different languages so that they were no longer able to understand one another.
Eneny (in-/ un-am'i/ 'y): No wonder our English word "nimrod" means barb'arian (bab'o) or idiot, just like "mongol" meaning idiot in French. And yup, the early [Shaman] monotheism is mentioned in Gen'esis. So we the Homo Sapiens have suffered di-vis'ion because the Heaven was afraid that our vis'ion in unity might surpass his power...Again, Babylon (Bab-ul-on) = Babel (Bab-el) in the Bible (Baib-ul, Baeb-ul, Bib-ur: [God's] Words-collection).
(Kindle Ed. pp. 45-48)
The books of the Old Testament frequently mention Babylon, and in particular the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar II is specifically mentioned in the Bible, though he is described as a wicked tyrant who stole sacred items from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. When his “son” Belshazzar (Belshazzar was in reality the regent and son of the last Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus) took the throne, the Bible describes in the Book of Daniel how he holds a feast at which the objects stolen from the Jews are used. Those attending are then terrified when a ghostly hand appears and writes a mysterious message on the wall. Daniel, who is in exile in Babylon, is brought in to decipher the message and tells the king: “God has numbered the days of your reign . . . Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” The story is a description of the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE when Babylon was conquered by the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. Babylon is also mentioned in the New Testament, notably in the Revelation of St. John where the city is symbolized as the “Whore of Babylon,” which is a female figure riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. Written on her head are the words: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” In the Christian Bible, Babylon is used as a symbol of those who reject the Word of God and who are obsessed with the material world. In Isaiah there is a final mention of the city: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.” It isn’t just the Christian Bible that Babylon is given prominence. In the Hebrew Bible, Babylon is mentioned many times, mainly in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews. In the Hebrew Bible, Babylon is synonymous with the oppression of the righteous and the imposition of a foreign religion. In the Rastafarian belief system, the name of Babylon is used to symbolize a world obsessed by material possessions and in particular is used to denote the United States of America because Jamaicans were brought there as slaves in the same way that Jews were taken to Babylon...in Freemasonry, which has its own versions of Biblical accounts, Babylon is mentioned, claiming that the city is the birthplace of Freemasonry and the source of much scientific and occult knowledge...Although Babylon is often referred to as if it was a single entity, the truth is that there were many Babylons, each quite different in terms of beliefs and their place in the ancient world. Babylon first came briefly to prominence under the rule of King Hammurabi in the eighteenth century BCE. During the forty years of his rule, Babylon became the largest city in the world, a center of learning and the arts, and the heart of a large empire. However, with Hammurabi’s death, the city rapidly declined to become just one more city-state in Mesopotamia. It wasn’t until more than one thousand years had passed that Nebuchadnezzar II would come to the throne and once again make Babylon the ruler of an empire and a revered center for science and learning. Much of what we think we know about the city of Babylon dates from this period...
Now I see why everything about Babylon in the Bible (whose Old Testament was actually the old Jewish script “Tor-ah,” written during and after their exile, forced by Babylonian Empire, to make themselves the victims feel better under that embarrassing situation just like the neo-Confucianist text written under Mongol o-ccup’ation, which would rule the mind of so-called the East Asians today) is so badly criticized, while it was act'ually a great city and empire that has indeed contributed a lot to our Human progress, so all other more "practical" societies have adored it. No wonder the Christian Medieval Europe was to be a dark age:
(William Manchester, “A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of an Age” (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1992), pp. 26-27)
...Except for the introduction of waterwheels in the 800s and windmills in the late 1100s, there had been no inventions of significance. No startling new ideas had appeared, no new territories outside Europe had been explored. Everything was as it had been for as long as the oldest European could remember. The center of the Ptolemaic universe was the known world—Europe, with the Holy Land and North Africa on its fringes. The sun moved round it every day. Heaven was above the immovable earth, somewhere in the overarching sky; hell seethed far beneath their feet. Kings ruled at the pleasure of the Almighty; all others did what were told to do. Jesus, the son of God, had been crucified and resurrected, and his reappearance was imminent, or at any rate inevitable. Every human being adored him (the Jews and the Muslims being invisible). During the 1,436 years since the death of Saint Peter the Apostle, 211 popes had succeeded him, all chosen by God and all infallible. The Church was indivisible, the afterlife a certainty; all knowledge was already known. And nothing would ever change...
Normally, ironically by nat’ure, an’y author’ity can only understand the true nature as much as they have learned and teach it to the young, which makes many people excited with a lot of potential discoveries still waiting for us. After many mistakes, scars and tears the world has become much better for us now, and it will be even better in the years to come.
(Kindle Ed. p. 49)
...When it was mighty, Babylon was the most influential and powerful city in the world. After its fall, Babylon rapidly became nothing but a memory.
A bit redundant: It’s a four-star con-clos’/ -clus’ion.
All-in-all the book is written in plain English exhibiting abundant in-form’ation help-ful for both the beginners and experts of the sub-ject.
You can read the full review here.
July 18, 2025
ik big history ppl probs hate how short this is bc it leaves out a lot of details but that’s what i loved ab it
i’m a fucking babylon wizard now
did you guys know alexander the great was a gay alcoholic like we def would’ve been friends
i’m a fucking babylon wizard now
did you guys know alexander the great was a gay alcoholic like we def would’ve been friends
January 8, 2025
A quick read . Covered some important aspects about this glorious city from ancient times. There is definitely some information deficit especially about the shift in the culture of Babylon over the centuries under various rulers , but I believe that information is sparsely available in the literature too. This book mainly focuses on the dynasties that had power on Babylon and the hierarchy of rulers who made this city as the power house of their empire . A Good book to get a crisp and quick idea about Babylon and the rulers.
September 30, 2020
A good starting point to whet the appetite.
As another reviewer pointed out: a few maps would give the reader a sense of where these cities were, and where these warring kings were coming in from, and where they were in relation to each other. It is brief, but that's what the book advertises. It will make you want to Google mid-stream for more information. That is why it took me longer to read this brief book than it would have...had I read it straight through.
As another reviewer pointed out: a few maps would give the reader a sense of where these cities were, and where these warring kings were coming in from, and where they were in relation to each other. It is brief, but that's what the book advertises. It will make you want to Google mid-stream for more information. That is why it took me longer to read this brief book than it would have...had I read it straight through.
July 18, 2024
Did what I needed it to do, as a 6th grade Ancient History educator on summer break: served as a refresh, was condensed, offered me a skeleton for note-taking outlines, and mentioned the most important/key figures and locations. It’s a small reference (and a quick read), definitely not comprehensive, but it was the perfect fit for my needs! Will be using other Hourly History editions for similar purposes.
November 2, 2018
A nice read
A nice read about the history of Babylon. The actual location of many of the cities mentioned is rather speculitive but you are going back about 4000 years so that is to be expected. It is interesting to see how the shift in power happenes when each new ruling class takes control.
A nice read about the history of Babylon. The actual location of many of the cities mentioned is rather speculitive but you are going back about 4000 years so that is to be expected. It is interesting to see how the shift in power happenes when each new ruling class takes control.
March 16, 2019
Good Overview
It presents a pretty good overview of the city throughout the ages with some interesting facts along the way. It is relatively short, so of course you’re getting the highlights.
For many people, long books with this sort of material would be very dry, but the length is good and it is a fairly quick and interesting read.
It presents a pretty good overview of the city throughout the ages with some interesting facts along the way. It is relatively short, so of course you’re getting the highlights.
For many people, long books with this sort of material would be very dry, but the length is good and it is a fairly quick and interesting read.
December 13, 2021
As I am only the casual history learner, I appreciated the quick and concise writing of this book. These brief books are excellent when wanting a snapshot into specific topics/areas of interest but loathe reading hundreds of pages on said topic. Great to fulfill your desire to learn overall history in snipits.
July 27, 2019
Nice story but wanted more.
I enjoyed the book and learned a lot. It did seem rushed though. More details would have been nice. I've heard stories about the great city that the book didn't mention. Otherwise very interesting.
I enjoyed the book and learned a lot. It did seem rushed though. More details would have been nice. I've heard stories about the great city that the book didn't mention. Otherwise very interesting.
September 10, 2020
Great summary of Babylonian history.
Brief and accurate history of Babylon. Very informative. It tells the story of the early beginning of Iraq. A must read for you if you are interested in Arab history.
Brief and accurate history of Babylon. Very informative. It tells the story of the early beginning of Iraq. A must read for you if you are interested in Arab history.
April 12, 2021
Not as good as several other books in this series.
I enjoyed the book, but it did repeat itself more than necessary. I did learn things though. I will continue to enjoy this series.
I enjoyed the book, but it did repeat itself more than necessary. I did learn things though. I will continue to enjoy this series.
November 14, 2021
This short history provides a great summary of Babylon. Not going into too much detail on any one period, but overall when finished reading this book, you have obtained a better sense of Middle Eastern History.
December 19, 2022
Babylon
This book was a fascinating read although it primarily dealt with its political and military conflicts and rightfully so
it gave very little of its culture an ok read of a fascinating history
This book was a fascinating read although it primarily dealt with its political and military conflicts and rightfully so
it gave very little of its culture an ok read of a fascinating history
April 3, 2024
A very short introduction to Babylon, maybe too short for most adults but not quite pitched for younger readers either. Not quite dispassionate, especially in the effusive and starry-eyed rendering of Alexander.
July 6, 2024
Now I understand
This book provides a succinct review of the history of Babylon. Quick read & lots of interesting information. Definitely recommend if you are curious about Babylonian history.
This book provides a succinct review of the history of Babylon. Quick read & lots of interesting information. Definitely recommend if you are curious about Babylonian history.
December 23, 2024
Vanity of life
It has good lessons for all in the way we should view and manage our lives as a momentous opportunity.
Good for all, all times.
Well ordered, wide content and clear language.
It has good lessons for all in the way we should view and manage our lives as a momentous opportunity.
Good for all, all times.
Well ordered, wide content and clear language.
November 29, 2025
How the might fall
I found this to be an interesting read, because it shows how an obscure village rose to power and then how it fell. Babylon is a name that is known by all. But probably the how it rose and fell is not. This book tells of that event in an easy reading style.
I found this to be an interesting read, because it shows how an obscure village rose to power and then how it fell. Babylon is a name that is known by all. But probably the how it rose and fell is not. This book tells of that event in an easy reading style.
November 4, 2018
Good summary of history
As always, this book was a good brief history of Babylon. I recommend these books for anyone with a curious mind.
As always, this book was a good brief history of Babylon. I recommend these books for anyone with a curious mind.
November 29, 2018
Excellent history lesson
I had a particular interest as having actually been on site. Seeing what remains would have been greatly enhanced had I read this previously.
I had a particular interest as having actually been on site. Seeing what remains would have been greatly enhanced had I read this previously.
August 28, 2019
Es war ok, um ein paar Kenntnisse aufzufrischen. Aber es ist leider nicht das spannendste der Reihe. Das schöne Titelbild liess auf mehr hoffen.
January 31, 2020
Ok, very short, more of an outline, a few maps and pictures would help
May 1, 2020
Good read
Short and to the point. Interesting, especially to someone who knows the biblical significance. The book of Revelation, in particular.
Short and to the point. Interesting, especially to someone who knows the biblical significance. The book of Revelation, in particular.
April 25, 2021
A nice survey history of Babylon.
January 21, 2022
A vomitorium of words. Repeats the history facts and dates.
But almost ZERO explanation of WHY?? HOW? WHO?
A coverup?????
I can get that in any grade school book.
But almost ZERO explanation of WHY?? HOW? WHO?
A coverup?????
I can get that in any grade school book.
May 19, 2022
Better than any religious book
Accepting the histories that bards' dang about in the gathering places of the Mesopotamian heartlands that gave rise to the holy stories is good.
Accepting the histories that bards' dang about in the gathering places of the Mesopotamian heartlands that gave rise to the holy stories is good.
January 4, 2024
So much useful information. Enjoy!
January 5, 2024
An interesting history. The names of the many rulers of Babylon was difficult to keep track of.
September 16, 2024
short concise history of Babylon
The book was great in that it gave a condensed history of Babylon. It gave the rise and fall of Babylon that was short but well written.
The book was great in that it gave a condensed history of Babylon. It gave the rise and fall of Babylon that was short but well written.
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