Beautiful Babylon: Magnificent Jewel of the Ancient World

Four thousand years ago, a small port town was founded on the Euphrates River. The humble Babylon grew into one of the largest cities of its time, eventually serving as the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, a beautiful, mighty center of art, architecture, and science. Home to the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as an important reflection of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, Babylon was designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site. The Babylonian cities were centers of great learning and produced writings on medicine, astrology, and mathematics. The ancient Babylonians had a mathematical system based on 60. Our current time division of the minute and the hour into sixtieth parts is an inheritance of this principle. Zodiac signs and zodiac figures were also passed down from ancient Babylon. The Lion of Babylon, a 2,600-year-old black basalt statue of a lion, remains in place. The statue symbolizes the strength of Babylonians and appears as an official emblem and in seals for both government agencies and private companies. Certainly, the extensive history and legends of magnificent, creative Babylon continue to inspire artistic, popular, and philosophical culture around the globe.