This is Nebuchadnezzar’s conclusion to his proclamation, in which, as a converted sinner, he recognized the righteousness of God. His confession that God is “King of heaven” expressed his reverence toward his newfound God. The healed monarch of Babylon had learned well his lesson (see PK 521; EGW, Supplementary Material, on this verse). On the progressive character of Nebuchadnezzar’s understanding of God see chs. 2:47; 3:28 p. 751.

 Under the direction of Robert Koldewey, who worked for the German Orient Society, important excavations were carried out at Babylon between the years 1899 and 1917. These have uncovered some of the most important sections of the large ruined site of ancient Babylon, although wide areas were not touched in these excavations. Babylon had been an important city of Mesopotamia from the dawn of history (Gen. 11 Hammurabi had made it the capital of his dynasty. As the seat of the famous god Marduk, it remained a religious center even during periods when it did not enjoy political supremacy, as, for example, during the time when Assyria was the leading world power. When Nabopolassar regained for Babylonia its independence, the city once more became the metropolis of the world. But it was especially under Nebuchadnezzar, the great builder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, that Babylon became “the glory of kingdoms” and “the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency” Isa. 13:19).

It was Nebuchadnezzar’s city that Koldewey uncovered during the 18 years of the German excavations; practically no remains of the earlier stages of the city were found.

For this a double reason has been assigned:

 (1) The change of the river bed of the Euphrates raised the water table, so that the levels of the earlier cities now lie below the water level, and

 (2) the destruction of Babylon by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 689 B.C. was so thorough that little of the old city was left to be discovered and by later generations. Hence, all visible ruins today date from the Neo-Babylonian empire of later times. Even these show unusual desolation and confusion, for two reasons:

 (1) Large portions of the city were destroyed by King Xerxes of Persia after two short-lived revolts against his rule.

 (2) The ruins of Babylon were used by Seleucus to build Seleucia about 300 B.C.

Most of the buildings in the neighboring villages and in the city of Hilla, as well as the great river dam at Hindiya, were built of bricks from Babylon.

 In spite of these handicaps the excavators succeeded in clearing up much of the layout of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. In this work they were aided by ancient cuneiform documents found during the excavations. These documents contain detailed descriptions of the city, its principal buildings, walls, and city quarters, so that more is known concerning the city plan of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon than of many medieval cities of Europe. Hence we are singularly well informed about the city in whose streets Daniel walked and concerning which Nebuchadnezzar uttered the proud words recorded in Dan. 4:30.

The Size of Ancient Babylon.

Before the spade of the excavator revealed the true size of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon and the Babylon of earlier times, scholars relied on the description of Herodotus. This historian claims to have visited to Mesopotamia in the middle of the 5th century B.C., and therefore his statements have frequently been considered those of an eyewitness. He states (i. 178, 179) that the ground plan of Babylon had the shape of a large square, approximately 14 mi. (22.4 km.) on a side. These measurements would give to the city walls a total length of 55 mi. (88 km.) and to the city itself an area of almost 189 sq. mi. (490 sq. km.). He also claims that its walls were about 85 ft. (26 m.) thick and 340 ft. (104 m.) high.

Before modern excavations revealed the size of ancient Babylon, attempts were made to bring Herodotus’ statement into harmony with its visible ruins. The French Assyriologist Jules Oppert, for example, tried to explain Herodotus’ statement by extending the area of the city of Babylon far enough to include either Birs Nimrud, 12 mi. (19.2 km.) southwest of the ruins of Babylon, or Tell el-Oḥeimir, 8 mi. (12.8 km.) east. This explanation is entirely unsatisfactory. Already in Oppert’s day it was known that Birs Nimrud is the site of ancient Borsippa, and Tell el-Oḥeimir that of Kish, both famous independent cities with separate protecting walls. Since no wall has ever been found encompassing both Babylon and either Borsippa or Kish, and since such a wall is not mentioned in any of the contemporary documents describing the ancient city, Oppert’s figure for Herodotus’ statement concerning the length of the walls of Babylon cannot be accepted.

Excavations reveal that before Nebuchadnezzar’s time the city was almost square, with walls about one mile long on each side—the Inner City on the map on p. 796. The palaces and administration buildings lay in the northwestern section of the city, and south of them stood the main temple complex called Esagila, dedicated to Babylon’s main god, Marduk. The river Euphrates flowed along Babylon’s western wall.

When Babylon served as the capital of a far-flung empire in the time of Nabopolassar and of Nebuchadnezzar, it was in need of enlargement. A new section was built on the western bank of the Euphrates. Its extent is known, but little excavation has been carried out in that area. What is known about its temples and streets has been gathered from the cuneiform documents describing this quarter. The new section was connected with the old city by a bridge. This bridge rested on eight piers, as excavations at the site have revealed.

Nebuchadnezzar also built a new palace far to the north of the old city, the so-called Summer Palace. A great outer wall was constructed to enclose this palace. The new wall greatly increased the area of the city. There is no evidence of a wall along the river from the Summer Palace to the old palace area. It has therefore been concluded that the river itself was considered a sufficiently strong protection.

The walls, which for the greater part can still be clearly seen as long, high mounds, measure about 13 mi. This measurement is that of the total length of the walls of both the inner and outer cities. The circumference of Nebuchadnezzar’s city, including the river front from the Summer Palace to the old palace area, was about 10 mi.

Modern excavations show that Herodotus’ description needs modification on the dimensions of the walls. The fortifications surrounding the Inner City consisted of double walls—the inner 211/2 and the outer 121/4 ft. thick (6.5 and 3.7 m., respectively), 231/2 ft. (7.2 m.) apart, with a moat outside it. The outer wall was also double, with a rubble fill between and a road on top, according to Herodotus. The widths were: inner, 231/2 ft.; space for fill, 363/4 ft.; outer, 251/2 ft.; plus a sort of buttress wall at its base, 103/4 ft. (respectively 7.1, 11.2, 7.8, and 3.3 m.). This outer fortification’s total width was thus 961/2 ft., or 29.39 m. Of its many towers, 15 have been excavated.

The excavations tell nothing of the height of the walls, since only stumps remain, nowhere higher than 391/2 ft. (12 m.) at the Ishtar Gate. It seems inconceivable that even a double wall with a base width of 95 ft., or 29 m., would have been 340 ft. (103.7 m.) high. No ancient or modern city wall of this sort is known. Hence Herodotus’ statement in regard to the height of Babylon’s city wall must also be discarded.

The Euphrates is shown in its present bed, having changed its course near Babylon and Borsippa. Lines extending from the river are modern irrigation canals, doubtless similar to ancient canals.

What are the reasons for these inaccuracies? The following explanation has been offered: When Herodotus visited Babylon the city lay largely in ruins, having been destroyed by Xerxes after two serious revolts against his rule. Temples, palaces, and all fortifications were thoroughly demolished. At the time of his visit Herodotus had to depend on oral information regarding the former state of affairs, the appearance of the buildings, and the size of the city and walls. Since he did not speak the Babylonian language, but was dependent on a Greek-speaking guide, he may, owing to translation difficulties, have received certain inaccurate information. Some of his erroneous statements may have been due to a faulty memory.

F. M. Th. [de Liagre] Böhl recently advanced another explanation. He suggests that Herodotus may have meant the whole fortress of Babylon, including all areas that lay within terrain that could be inundated in times of danger. Böhl reminds his readers of the fact that it is extremely difficult for a layman to distinguish between the dikes of dry canals and the remnants of the old city walls. The only difference is the lack of potsherds in the dikes. Potsherds are found in profusion near former walls of the city. It must therefore be considered possible that Herodotus took some of the many canal dikes for the remains of city walls (see Ex Oriente Lux, No. 10, 1945-48, p. 498, n. 28).

 Although ancient Babylon did not have the fantastic size attributed to it by Herodotus, the city was nevertheless of formidable size at a time when cities were very small according to modern standards. Its circumference of about 11 mi. (17.6 km.) was comparable with the 71/2 mi. (12.5 km.) circumference of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria’s empire; with the walls of imperial Rome, 6 mi. (9.6 km.) in circumference; and with the 4 mi. (6.5 km.) of the walls of Athens at the time of that city’s height in the 5th century B.C. This comparison with other famous cities of antiquity shows that Babylon was, with the possible exception of Egyptian Thebes, then in ruins, the largest and greatest of all ancient capitals, though it was much smaller than classical writers later pictured it. It is understandable why Nebuchadnezzar felt he had a right to boast of having built “this great Babylon ... by the might of my power” (Dan. 4:30).

A City of Temples and Palaces.

 Because Babylon contained the sanctuary of the god Marduk, considered to be the lord of heaven and earth, the chief of all the gods, the ancient Babylonians considered their city the “navel” of the world. Hence, Babylon was a religious center without rival on earth. A cuneiform tablet of Nebuchadnezzar’s time lists 53 temples dedicated to important gods, 955 small sanctuaries, and 384 street altars—all of them within the city confines. In comparison, Asshur, one of the chief cities of Assyria, with its 34 temples and chapels, made a comparatively poor impression. One can well understand why the Babylonians were proud of their city, saying, “Babylon is the origin and center of all lands.” Their pride is reflected in Nebuchadnezzar’s famous words quoted in the comment on ch. 4:30, and also in an ancient song of praise (as given by E. Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts, Part I [Leipzig, 1915], No. 8):

“O Babylon, whosoever beholds thee is filled with rejoicing,

Whosoever dwells in Babylon increases his life,

Whosoever speaks evil of Babylon is like one who kills his own mother.

Babylon is like a sweet date palm, whose fruit is lovely to behold.”

 The center of Babylon’s glory was the famous temple tower Etemenanki, “the foundation stone of heaven and earth,” 299 ft. (91 m.) square at the base and probably 300 ft. (91.4 m.) high. This edifice was surpassed in height in ancient times only by the two great pyramids at Giza in Egypt. The tower may have been built at the site where the Tower of Babel once stood. The brick structure consisted of seven stages, of which the smallest and uppermost was a shrine dedicated to Marduk, the chief god of Babylon. See further on Gen. 11:9.

A great temple complex, called Esagila, literally, “He who raises the head,” surrounded the tower Etemenanki. Its courts and buildings were the scenes of many religious ceremonies performed in honor of Marduk. Great and colorful processions terminated at this place. With the exception of the great Amen temple at Karnak, Esagila was the largest and most famous of all temples of the ancient Orient. At the time Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne it had already enjoyed a long and glorious history, and the new king entirely rebuilt and beautified extensive sections of the temple complex, including the tower Etemenanki.

In both number and size the palaces of Babylon revealed extraordinary luxury.

During his long reign of 43 years Nebuchadnezzar built three large castles or palaces. One of them lay within the Inner City, the others outside it. One was what is known as the Summer Palace, in the northernmost part of the new eastern quarter. The mound that now covers its remains is the highest of those comprising the ruins of old Babylon, and is the only place that still bears the ancient name Babil. However, the thorough destruction of this palace in ancient times and the subsequent looting of the bricks of the structure have not left much for the archeologist to discover. Thus we know little regarding this palace.

Another large palace, which excavators now call the Central Palace, lay immediately outside the northern wall of the Inner City. This, too, was built by Nebuchadnezzar. Modern archeologists found this large building also in a hopelessly desolate condition, with the exception of one part of the palace, the Museum of Antiquities. Here valuable objects of the glorious past of Babylonian’s history, such as old statues, inscriptions, and trophies of war, had been collected and exhibited “for men to behold,” as Nebuchadnezzar expressed it in one of his inscriptions.

The Southern Palace lay in the northwestern corner of the Inner City and contained, among other structures, the famous hanging gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. A large vaulted building was surmounted with a roof garden irrigated by a system of pipes through which water was pumped up. According to Diodorus, Nebuchadnezzar built this marvelous edifice for his Median wife in order to give to her, in the midst of level and treeless Babylonia, a substitute for the wooded hills of her native land, which she missed. In the vaults underneath the roof gardens provisions of grain, oil, fruit, and spices were stored for the needs of the court and court dependents. Excavators found administrative documents in these rooms, some of which mention King Jehoiachin of Judah as the recipient of royal rations.

 Adjoining the hanging gardens was an extensive complex of buildings, halls, and rooms that had replaced the smaller palace of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar. This Southern Palace was more or less the official residence of the king, the place for all ceremonies of state. In the center was a large throne room, 56 by 171 ft. (17 by 52 m.), and possibly 60 ft. (18 m.) high. This immense hall was probably the place where Belshazzar banqueted during the last night of his life, because no other hall in the palace was large enough to accommodate a thousand guests (see Dan. 5:1).

One of that city’s colorful structures was the famous Ishtar Gate which adjoined the Southern Palace and formed one of the northern entrances to the Inner City. This was the most beautiful of all Babylonian gates, for through it passed the Procession Street, leading from the various royal palaces to the temple Esagila. Fortunately, this gate was less completely destroyed than any other structure in Babylon and is now the most impressive of all extant ruins of the city. It still rises to a height of about 39 ft. (12 m.).

The interior structures of the city walls and gates, the palaces and temples, were of unbaked bricks. The outer coats consisted of baked and, in some instances, of glazed bricks. The outer bricks of the city walls were yellow in color, those of the gates sky blue, those of the palaces rose, and those of the temples white. The Ishtar Gate was a double structure, because of double walls. It was 165 ft. (50 m.) long and consisted of four tower-like structures of varying thickness and height. The walls were of bricks whose glazed surfaces formed raised figures of animals. There were at least 575 of these. There were bulls in yellow, with decorative rows of blue hair, and green hoofs and horns. These alternated with mythological beasts in yellow, called sirrush, which had serpents’ heads and tails, scaled bodies, and eagles’ and cats’ feet (for an illustration see facing p. 864 and SDA Bible Dictionary, fig. 137).

The approach to the Ishtar Gate (see illustration facing p. 864) was lined on both sides of the street with defensive walls. On these walls were glazed-brick lions in relief, either white with yellow manes or yellow with red manes (now turned green) on a blue background.

Such was this colorful and mighty city that King Nebuchadnezzar had built—the marvel of all nations. His pride in it is reflected in inscriptions he left to posterity. One of them, now in the Berlin Museum, reads as follows:

“I have made Babylon, the holy city, the glory of the great gods, more prominent than before, and have promoted its rebuilding. I have caused the sanctuaries of gods and goddesses to lighten up like the day. No king among all kings has ever created, no earlier king has ever built, what I have magnificently built for Marduk. I have furthered to the utmost the equipment of Esagila, and the renovation of Babylon more than had ever been done before. All my valuable works, the beautification of the sanctuaries of the great gods, which I undertook more than my royal ancestors, I wrote in a document and put it down for coming generations. All my deeds, which I have written in this document, shall those read who know [how to read] and remember the glory of the great gods. May the way of my life be long, may I rejoice in offspring; may my offspring rule over the black-headed people into all eternity, and may the mentioning of my name be proclaimed for good at all future times.”