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00:02Babylon, the capital of a mighty empire, and the first great city of the ancient world.
00:10Babylon was one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity.
00:14Can clues here, in this vast archaeological site, reveal evidence of this long-lost metropolis?
00:23Babylon is one of the great cities of antiquity. Everybody admired what they did.
00:29Babylon is famed far and wide for its architectural wonders,
00:34but denounced in the Bible as a place of wickedness, debauchery, and sin.
00:40Are the stories true, or is Babylon a city buried under its own mythology?
00:47Today, investigators use innovative drone-mounted high-definition technology
00:53to hunt for traces of this mysterious kingdom.
00:56We are lucky to excavate here.
01:00To unearth the truth behind the legends, we'll digitally reconstruct the fabled hanging gardens.
01:08We'll blow apart the glorious Ishtar Gate, and reveal marvels of engineering
01:14to decode the secrets of the lost kingdom of Babylon.
01:2560 miles south of Baghdad, the capital of war-torn Iraq, lie the remains of an extraordinary ancient city, Babylon.
01:37Babylon is founded in the third millennium BC, at the same time that the pharaohs of Egypt's old kingdom build
01:46their mighty pyramids.
01:47It is Babylon that powers the rise of human civilization, here in Mesopotamia.
01:58Many of the things we know today, people can associate as Babylon, be that mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, water engineering.
02:08Babylon has great importance for not just the people of Iraq, but the world in general.
02:15Today, in a country long scarred by conflict, it's a huge challenge for archaeologists to unearth Babylon's ancient secrets.
02:25Now, our cameras have been granted unique access to follow investigators on the front line, as they venture inside this
02:34rarely seen site,
02:35and hunt for clues to discover the truth behind the many legends of this magnificent city.
02:46Ancient writers describe Babylon as a marvelous metropolis.
02:52At its heart, a tower of biblical proportions, said to touch the sky.
02:59A garden overflowing with lush vegetation, said to be floating in the air.
03:07Walls so gigantic they're visible from miles away.
03:11And a monumental gate, as blue as the deepest ocean.
03:16These wonders make Babylon the envy of the world.
03:20But are they real? Or just legend?
03:27Babylon is the place of the imagination.
03:31But its reality is just as interesting.
03:37Jeff Allen runs the World Monuments Fund.
03:40He investigates and protects ancient sites in the most dangerous places in the world.
03:47Today, he has special access to examine the site of Babylon.
03:53A place that in ancient times is visited by biblical prophets and coveted by foreign kings.
04:02This is the processional way.
04:04This is the sacred route where Daniel and other key figures, Alexander the Great, once walked.
04:16The former dictator, Saddam Hussein, rebuilds much of Babylon on top of its ancient ruins.
04:23He even builds himself a modern palace, making the task of unearthing the real Babylon even harder.
04:32But excavations here reveal the foundations of a massive structure.
04:39The Etamananki Tower, only half a mile from the old entrance to the city.
04:44It measures exactly 300 feet.
04:48The size of these foundations clearly say that this could be the Tower of Babylon.
04:57Investigators are now convinced that this huge and mysterious construction is the biblical Tower of Babel.
05:06But legends describe that the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world,
05:13also stand inside the walls of this magnificent city.
05:18The legends say it's built by Nebuchadnezzar II, the greatest of all Babylonian kings.
05:29Legend has it, the king orders his architects to build a series of arches to support vast trough-like terraces.
05:38They build more layers on top, and fill the terraces with thousands of tons of soil and many exotic plants.
05:50The garden becomes an overflowing oasis, seemingly suspended in the sky.
05:56A huge verdant mountain in the middle of the city.
06:01Did the Babylonians really build this towering green wonder in the baking hot desert?
06:13Iraqi archaeologist Haider Al-Mamori works with Jeff Allen at the site of ancient Babylon.
06:20He thinks the gardens might be located near Nebuchadnezzar's southern palace.
06:25We know that Nebuchadnezzar II built three palaces inside Babylon.
06:28As you can see here, we have the southern one.
06:31But this location has a big drawback.
06:34It's almost half a mile away from the Euphrates River, which runs through Babylon.
06:40Why would engineers build the fabled gardens so far from this central supply of water?
06:48Close to the ruins of the ancient palace, Haider finds an important clue.
06:54In these bushes, you can see remains of the bricks from the bridge.
06:59So that means the Euphrates River used to run through here.
07:05The location of this ancient bridge suggests that in Nebuchadnezzar's time, the river has a different course.
07:12Back in 600 BC, it flows right next to the southern palace.
07:19So this site is the perfect spot to search for the king's extensive gardens.
07:25But no archaeological traces remain, so Haider cannot tell for sure.
07:34To hunt for other possible locations, he wants to investigate Babylon from above.
07:40The team uses a drone-mounted high-definition camera to capture an extraordinary view of ancient Babylon.
07:47There are a few options.
07:49We can see another smaller rectangular shape nearby.
07:52But unfortunately, nothing left.
07:54Haider finds two places that fit the profile.
07:58A huge rectangular structure that could have housed the ground floor of the gardens.
08:04And a vast inner courtyard with thick, strong walls.
08:10Neither of these sites offer conclusive proof.
08:13But Babylon is rife with possible locations.
08:16This was such a rich place.
08:19It makes sense to have something impressive like multi-layer gardens inside the city.
08:28Babylon has the riches to erect a large superstructure that amazes the ancient world.
08:34But Jeff investigates if ancient engineers also possess the know-how.
08:42A clue lies in a surprising place, over 1,000 miles away, in Egypt.
08:54Jeff hunts for evidence in Luxor.
08:59Here he examines another icon of the ancient world.
09:04The magnificent temple of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut.
09:09Built in the 1400s BC, it is almost 800 years older than the hanging gardens of Babylon.
09:17Jeff investigates if it's possible to construct and maintain a garden in the desert.
09:25This is Hatshepsut's temple.
09:27It's an amazing archaeological monument.
09:31And it looks like it also had a garden to it.
09:36At the entrance of the temple complex are these pits,
09:41which contain the remains of trees that are thousands of years old.
09:49Queen Hatshepsut's garden lies two and a half miles from the River Nile.
09:55But close to the temple entrance, Jeff discovers mysterious structures
10:00that suggest how the ancient Egyptians channel water such a distance.
10:08What I'm standing in right now is a channel that ran between the Nile and the temple.
10:17Connected to these waterways were T-shaped ponds filled with water.
10:23Water for all the plants that were around them.
10:27These structures prove to Jeff that the ancients have the technology
10:31to maintain a garden in these dry desert surroundings.
10:36But how about a multi-story hanging garden like the one in Babylon?
10:41At Hatshepsut's temple, Jeff finds an unusual depiction.
10:46It reveals that there is once a garden on the upper levels here too.
10:51This depiction shows us there were many means to put plants in gardens on higher levels.
10:58And one of those was to put them in pots.
11:04But such large plants, placed on several floors,
11:08need a lot of water throughout the year to keep them alive.
11:13How do the ancient engineers channel a constant supply to the hanging gardens?
11:18One Greek writer, Strabo, mentions a specific kind of engineering marvel called the Archimedes screw,
11:26which was a water screw system.
11:34Archaeologist Adol Kalani is an expert on ancient engineering.
11:39He uses a model to investigate how the ancient water screw works.
11:44This screw is working in a very basic way, lifting the water from lower elevation to high up.
11:51The water screw is a long helix inside a metal cylinder.
11:56As the screw turns, it carries water upwards.
12:00But Adol wants to find out if the screw can channel enough water to nourish a vast multi-tiered garden.
12:08He tests the screw at different angles of inclination.
12:12What we have right now, it's over 50 degrees.
12:15And this is actually, it's really sharp.
12:23The screw struggles to bring up any water at this sharp incline.
12:29I think it doesn't work. The water is rising up a little bit. It's coming back again.
12:37Adol investigates several other angles to see if he can find a more efficient way to operate the screw.
12:43So it's 35.8 degrees.
12:57At this angle, the screw is easy to turn and brings up a good amount of water.
13:05It's around 40 gallons in one minute in this angle. And that's quite good water. This is the best angle
13:13so far.
13:15Adol discovers that the optimal inclination is around 35 degrees.
13:20The screw comfortably carries 40 gallons of water up to a height of 5 feet.
13:26The account by the Greek writer Strabo is valid. Water screws can easily nourish the hanging gardens of Babylon.
13:38The Babylonians channel water from the nearby Euphrates River and use crane-like structures to lift it into a pool
13:46at the base of the hanging gardens.
13:50A system of screws carries water up from the pool to the next level until each terrace has its own
13:57water supply.
14:01But these magnificent gardens are only one striking feature of this city of wonders.
14:07The mighty King Nebuchadnezzar adorns his great city with architectural jewels that include the magnificent Ishtar Gate.
14:17What is the truth behind this legendary construction?
14:30As soon as the powerful King Nebuchadnezzar II takes the throne,
14:35he embarks on an ambitious building project in Babylon.
14:40His greatest engineering wonder becomes an obsession and takes him over four decades to complete.
14:48Early in his reign, Nebuchadnezzar completely demolishes his father's gateway.
14:56He creates a vast processional way and builds a new double gate out of stronger baked mud brick.
15:05But it's not long until he destroys it again and again to rebuild it taller.
15:10He eventually creates his masterpiece.
15:14A gate that stands 40 feet tall, clad in glittering blue and decorated with wild animals and mythical creatures.
15:23Finally, he adds a huge wood and bronze gate.
15:26Why does he obsessively rebuild the Ishtar Gate so many times?
15:36Today, Iraqi archaeologist Haider al-Mamori has special access to investigate the remains of the gate in Babylon.
15:44He wants to discover the real reason behind Nebuchadnezzar's compulsive need to rebuild it.
15:50This is the older version of Ishtar Gate.
15:55It was constructed by and glazed back to bricks.
16:00Haider discovers many strange white marks on the walls.
16:04Salinization affected the area here.
16:08Ishtar Gate located close to the Euphrates River, so you can see remains of salt.
16:15And the water level is very high, so it affected the gate and eroded its bricks.
16:23When Nebuchadnezzar takes the throne, most of the old Ishtar Gate is already submerged under the waters of the Euphrates.
16:30And the river is rising higher and higher.
16:35Nebuchadnezzar needs to raise the height of his gate and walls to keep them above the waterline.
16:44It was about preserving his city and keep it safe.
16:50Nebuchadnezzar II built the glazed gate above this one in order to protect it.
17:01Guarding the Ishtar Gate and his city from floods is a lifelong project for the mighty king.
17:08Nebuchadnezzar also wants the gate to be a symbol of his wealth and power.
17:15Egyptian archaeologist Nezrin el-Hadidi investigates evidence of the great efforts Nebuchadnezzar goes to to build it.
17:25This is an inscription found on the side of the gate mentioning the name of the king
17:31and mentioning that he used cedar to construct his gate.
17:39Cedar trees do not grow anywhere near Babylon.
17:43Why is this elusive building material so important to Nebuchadnezzar?
17:49Nezrin searches for more clues at the great pyramid of Giza.
17:55Beside this colossal monument, archaeologists discover the oldest surviving cedar-built structure in the world.
18:04A gigantic boat buried next to the pharaoh Khufu.
18:08King Khufu buried this boat and the four other boats with the aim or with the hope that this boat
18:16would help him in the afterlife.
18:18Nezrin believes the choice of cedar for the boat is deliberate.
18:23Cedar wood had a lot of worth and value during the ancient Egyptian periods
18:28and that's why it was chosen for kings and nobles.
18:31Like the pharaoh Khufu, the powerful Nebuchadnezzar covets this valuable material.
18:39Nezrin investigates how the Babylonian king gets hold of it.
18:43She thinks a clue carved in the distant mountains of Lebanon is important evidence.
18:50This is an inscription which says how the king got his cedars.
18:54It says, I did what no former king had done.
18:59I cut through the high mountains.
19:02I prepared the passage for the transport of the cedars.
19:07The cedar for his Ishtar gate is so important for Nebuchadnezzar that he conquers foreign lands in order to get
19:14it.
19:18Hungry for resources, he expands his empire in all directions.
19:23and forces the Egyptians out of Lebanon.
19:31He conquers the land and cuts down many of its rich cedar forests.
19:39Then he builds new roads through the Lebanese mountains
19:43and joins them up with the Euphrates River
19:45to transport the vast quantities of cedar wood.
19:50His workers ship the logs 500 miles along the Euphrates, all the way to Babylon,
19:56where Nebuchadnezzar uses them to build the Ishtar Gate.
20:00The Ishtar Gate is a massive construction, 40 feet tall, made from the finest materials.
20:09King Nebuchadnezzar spends decades building and rebuilding the Ishtar Gate,
20:14to flaunt the power of his empire to any visitor,
20:18but also to safeguard the city from floods.
20:21Alongside this grand entrance,
20:24he also erects new city walls and doubles the size of his metropolis to over 200 square miles.
20:33Can ancient Babylon really be that big?
20:45It takes King Nebuchadnezzar II over 40 years to complete the magnificent Ishtar Gate of Babylon.
20:54He rebuilds many other parts of the city and surrounds it with a new set of walls,
20:59so impressive that they are once considered a wonder of the ancient world.
21:08When Nebuchadnezzar becomes ruler,
21:10a series of three mud brick walls and a deep moat protect the city.
21:16But this is not enough for the mighty king.
21:21Legend says that he builds a new double wall to surround the city,
21:26together 100 feet thick,
21:28and adds another moat for good measure.
21:32Towering over 300 feet high and using millions of bricks.
21:38The mighty new walls extend for miles around the metropolis,
21:42more than doubling the size of the city.
21:46Are these walls as huge as the ancient writers claim?
21:54Archaeologist Haider al-Mamori hunts for evidence to investigate how big Nebuchadnezzar's walls really are.
22:00He tracks down the location of a section of the outermost wall.
22:05Today, all that remains is a small hill that has grown on top of it.
22:11One, two, three, four.
22:15The total width of the wall was 17 meters.
22:18So you can see how huge it was.
22:22Haider discovers that the external wall alone is over 55 feet thick,
22:27and with the internal wall spreads to around 100 feet,
22:31confirming the claim of ancient writers.
22:35Why does Nebuchadnezzar build such massive walls?
22:39Seeing these huge walls in front of you,
22:42it would have been the tent of any army.
22:46Also, they would have been very hard to scale.
22:50Haider discovers that Nebuchadnezzar's city is also a mighty fortress,
22:54filled with defensive measures.
23:01Ancient writers described the city's impregnable outer double wall,
23:05guarded by 100 fortified gates, each with massive bronze doors.
23:11On the top of the broad walls, the king stations armed garrisons,
23:16to patrol the city's entire circumference.
23:21The inner wall is taller than the outer one,
23:24so when the city comes under attack,
23:27the garrison's archers have a clear shot.
23:31To stop enemies entering the city by water,
23:34the walls reach down to the bottom of the riverbed,
23:38and iron grates protect the inlets of the canal.
23:45But no one knows how big the Babylon Nebuchadnezzar wants to protect really is.
23:52The Greek historian Herodotus describes how it occupies an area equivalent to over 200 square miles,
23:59a huge size even by modern standards.
24:02At 200 square miles, that would make Babylon roughly about the size of modern day Chicago.
24:09And that would make it a pretty huge ancient city.
24:17Haider al-Mamori investigates if Babylon really is as big as the legends say.
24:26He uses high-definition drone-mounted photography to map the area that the huge walls encompass.
24:33Very little of the walls exist today.
24:35This makes tracing the perimeter difficult.
24:39Haider thinks that he can identify the outline of the eastern side of the city.
24:44Those hills, they look very uniform and follow a line.
24:48But the perimeter line stops when Haider reaches the western side of the city.
24:54It's very difficult to make out the western side.
24:57Simply, the area was full of modern houses, palm trees, trees, and many other things.
25:04And I am not sure where is the direction to go.
25:10The western bank is impossible to identify.
25:13But from the survey of the eastern side, the size of the city looks much smaller than 200 square miles.
25:21Haider estimates Babylon's real size is more likely closer to 2,000 acres, about twice the size of New York's
25:29Central Park.
25:31It takes Babylon hundreds of years to reach the glory days of Nebuchadnezzar's rule.
25:37How come Babylon becomes a place of legends in such a hostile world?
25:52During the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon is the greatest city in the ancient world.
25:59It is architecturally stunning, with towering ziggurats, wide roads, rich gardens, and a magnificent gate.
26:10How does the kingdom grow to become a place of legends?
26:16In the third millennium BC, Babylon begins as a small settlement on the river Euphrates.
26:23By 1800 BC, King Hammurabi builds it up into a major city.
26:31The city is destroyed several times by conquering armies.
26:35But Babylon recovers and reaches its peak under King Nebuchadnezzar in 600 BC.
26:45It becomes the largest city in the world, with an estimated 200,000 inhabitants.
26:52What is the secret of Babylon's remarkable resilience?
27:02Haider al-Mamori hunts for clues in Dilbat, an ancient city only 25 miles south of Babylon.
27:10This area around Babylon was filled with many cities, big and small cities.
27:16For example, Kish, Porsippa, and Dilbat.
27:21The high water table in Babylon makes it a challenge for archaeologists to dig down to its earliest times.
27:30But Haider believes these neighboring cities can reveal vital missing evidence.
27:36Here, for example, we are dealing with a level dated back to about 1,500 BC.
27:43At Dilbat, Haider's team unearths surprising discoveries.
27:49The city was huge.
27:52This led me to think that the city was wealthy.
27:55The discovery leads Haider to a groundbreaking conclusion about Babylon.
28:00Babylon was wealthy too.
28:03Even between the rules of the two great kings, Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II.
28:12Haider believes that the reason for this wealth is a new policy of cooperation between these early cities.
28:20Dilbat was a bread basket of Babylon.
28:23So, Dilbat and Babylon have great relationship and also they have good relationship with neighboring cities.
28:31By working together, the cities in this region grow and thrive.
28:36This period is very important because the country unified in one state.
28:41And at the same time, the country lived peaceful for a long time.
28:45Is cooperation the only reason that Babylon continues to succeed?
28:51Even in its earlier periods, without a mighty ruler at the helm?
28:59Haider believes that clues in the landscape reveal another reason for the region's success.
29:05All around us, we are surrounded by fertile land.
29:10Even nowadays, it's a prime spot to build cities because you can't feed them.
29:18Babylon is located in an ideal part of the world, with access to numerous waterways.
29:25Evidence suggests that the many rivers trigger the birth of civilization in the plains of Mesopotamia.
29:36From 3500 BC, long before Babylon, the fertile land around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers feeds a growing population.
29:48New irrigation systems help small communities farm once arid lands and grow to become the world's first cities.
29:58The peoples of Mesopotamia also used the numerous waterways as trade routes, becoming even more prosperous.
30:07By 1800 BC, Babylon rises in power under the rule of King Hammurabi to become the capital city of a
30:16mighty empire.
30:20Located in the fertile lands of Mesopotamia, Babylon thrives by collaborating closely with nearby cities like Dilbat.
30:31But with the birth of the empire come new problems.
30:35Can the kings of Babylon keep their people in check?
30:48In 1800 BC, King Hammurabi of Babylon controls an empire that stretches across most of Mesopotamia.
30:58How does Babylon's first great king manage to rule a mighty empire stretching over 5,000 square miles?
31:12In Susa, modern-day Iran, archaeologists unearth three mysterious objects made from polished volcanic rock.
31:21Together they form a gigantic seven-foot-tall finger.
31:25At the top are King Hammurabi and the God of Justice.
31:30Carved underneath is an ancient code that spells out 282 laws, some of the earliest in the world.
31:41Is this how the king controls the millions of people in his vast empire?
31:57Professor Stephanie Daly is an expert in the Babylonian language and cuneiform, the ancient script it is written in.
32:07She investigates how Hammurabi's code is enforced across the huge empire.
32:13We're not sure where it was set up. It would have had to be in a public place.
32:17Anybody who thinks they have a grievance is invited to come and hear the text being read so that he
32:24will get some idea of how to sort his problem.
32:30The laws prescribe specific punishments.
32:33Poke out a man's eye, you lose an eye.
32:36Originating the phrase, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
32:41But it's not always so fair.
32:45Break the bone of an equal, you get your bone broken.
32:48But break the bone of a slave, you only get fined.
32:52It also states you are innocent until proven guilty.
32:56But the punishments are harsh.
32:59You could lose an ear or be thrown in the river.
33:03It covers all aspects of life.
33:06From fair wages and medical malpractice, to divorce and child custody.
33:14The laws are on display in prominent places around the empire.
33:19But for those who do not have this huge stone in their city, there is another way of getting the
33:24code.
33:27Archaeological discoveries across Mesopotamia show that the Babylonians develop a much easier system to transfer information.
33:35This is a clay tablet. As you can see, it's quite small. The writing is very small on it.
33:41It's very handy. It sits in your hand really conveniently.
33:45The tablets make Babylon special. They record its history for posterity.
33:51Stephanie works with Assyriologist George Heath White, who is fluent in Babylonian and an expert in writing in cuneiform.
34:00They investigate how the Babylonians write on these small pieces of clay.
34:06They were used for over 3,000 years, so everyone would have used different methods.
34:12George's replica tablets are made of earthenware clay.
34:16Very similar to the clay found in the alluvial Mesopotamian plains.
34:22The tablets have been air dried for several days, until they are leather hard.
34:29George inscribes one of Hammurabi's most famous laws.
34:32So far, we have Shumma'awilum a'in ma'awilim uhtapid he'inshu.
34:39So, if a man blinds the eye of another man.
34:44By making small indentations in the clay, ancient scribes develop a complex system of writing with over 600 symbols.
34:53So, the whole law is in Babylonian. Shumma'awilum a'in ma'awilim uhtapid he'inshu u'hahpadu.
35:03If a man blinds the eye of another man, then they shall blind his eye.
35:11George discovers that clay is very easy to write on.
35:15Most importantly, it is cheap and accessible to everyone in Mesopotamia.
35:20But the tablets also have a serious drawback.
35:24The real problem is that this is damaged by water.
35:29You can already see the clay coming off.
35:32Obviously, if you've written something that you want to keep forever, then you don't want it to get wet because
35:38it's going to be ruined.
35:39But if the clay tablets are so vulnerable to water, how come archaeologists unearth so many of them across Mesopotamia?
35:47Stephanie believes that there is a way of hardening them by using the same technology used for making bricks.
35:56These two have actually been kiln-fired, so they're turned to terracotta. Of course, terracotta is waterproof.
36:05Firing changes the chemical composition of the clay, making it impermeable and much stronger.
36:11But because of the expense of firing clay, most Babylonians don't do it.
36:18The reason for the clay tablets' survival comes from destruction.
36:24When a city is attacked and burned to the ground, the clay tablets get baked naturally.
36:33As Babylon burns, its many stories survive, inscribed on small tablets.
36:40But despite this, the great city's reputation changes dramatically.
36:46In the Bible, Babylon is portrayed as a city of wickedness and disillusion.
36:52Even called the dwelling place of demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit.
37:09The ancient kingdom of Babylon is a hub of learning and culture, of writing and art.
37:17So why does the Bible portray it as a place of wickedness and boundless depravity?
37:24The answer lies 600 miles away, in Israel.
37:33Archaeologist Nitzan Shalom excavates the area around Temple Mount in Old Jerusalem
37:39to investigate why the Bible is so disparaging of Babylon.
37:47A clue lies 30 feet down in this vast archaeological site.
37:54Inside this room, you can see we found a massive destruction layer,
37:59all destruction debris from the collapse of the building.
38:04And all of this burnt very intensely.
38:07We have a lot of charred materials.
38:13Nitzan is a micro-archaeologist of destruction.
38:17At the site of this collapsed building, she makes a vital discovery.
38:22We did find a layer of pottery lying on the floor.
38:26And that pottery dates with great certainty to the very end of the Iron Age.
38:31We can say with very high likelihood that this building was destroyed by the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.
38:43Early in his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar embarks on an aggressive military campaign.
38:51He conquers Jerusalem and later destroys this part of the city.
38:59We can see here massive stone monoliths that were part of the construction of this building.
39:04That takes manpower, that takes money.
39:07This tells us that elite were living in this house.
39:10Someone very powerful, very linked to the government.
39:16Nebuchadnezzar burns down the houses of the elites of the city in order to destabilize Jerusalem and quench any unrest.
39:26What happens to the owners of these houses?
39:30Nebuchadnezzar spares their lives but removes them from power.
39:33I think that there wasn't like an attack on this house in the sense of a battle.
39:41It seems like it was more of an abandonment followed by a planned destruction that was done with some kind
39:48of advance notice for the residents of this place.
39:55The Old Testament recounts that close to 10,000 people, mostly the rich, officials and priests, are taken in captivity
40:03to Babylon.
40:04There they write whole sections of the Bible.
40:09And Babylon is cast as the ultimate enemy.
40:13The giant ziggurat of Babylon, Antimonanki, becomes the biblical Tower of Babel.
40:19God strikes it down as punishment.
40:24Nebuchadnezzar himself becomes a lonely wandering king, driven to insanity.
40:33The siege on Jerusalem had such a deep impact on the historical memory of this nation.
40:39This is the reason why Babylon is remembered as such a hated empire in the history of the Jewish people.
40:49Despite its biblical reputation, investigators like Jeff Allen and Haider al-Mamori unearthed a magnificent city, restoring its fame.
41:03The city of Babylon is a city of wonders, home to the famed Hanging Gardens, the Tower of Babel, and
41:13the brilliant Ishtar Gate, built with the richest materials.
41:18Babylon is the capital of a mighty empire, a spectacular kingdom of the ancient world, inscribed in history as one
41:31of the greatest ever to exist.
41:33.
42:03You
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