Babylon's famous walls are said to have been the size of a modern nine-story building. They were erected from bricks - and at the same time they consumed so much building material that if it were possible to disassemble the walls brick by brick and put them in one line, then our planet could well be girded along the equator at least ten times.
Babylon: the walled city
Scientists argue that ancient Babylon was erected no later than the 3rd millennium BC, was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, and the highest rise in the country's economic and cultural life occurred during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (ruled from 605 to 567 BC). e.), who, being an excellent ruler and a brilliant commander, paid a lot of attention not only to the conquest and annexation of small kingdoms and principalities to Babylon, but also to the strengthening of his own state.
There is nothing surprising in the fact that he was extremely attentive to the creation of a powerful defense of the city, and turned ancient Babylon into such an impregnable fortress that any enemy who wanted to capture the city would hardly be able to overcome all the obstacles that stood in his way:
- A moat filled with water;
- The high and powerful walls of Babylon, lined up in three rows;
- Copper-lined cedar gates;
- The road of Marduk, shot from all sides by the defenders of the city. The enemy would not have been able to hide behind any obstacle: on the sides, the road of death was surrounded by impregnable walls with monsters depicted on them.
What were the walls
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Ancient Babylon was built in the shape of a rectangle, the area of which was 4 km², and taking into account the territory covered by the outer wall, it was much larger - 10 km². It was possible to get / leave the city only through the gates, there were eight of them in total.
The walls of Babylon made a special impression on the visitors: they were so high and wide that they were almost immediately included by many Hellenes in the list of "Seven Wonders of the World", from where they were eventually replaced by the Lighthouse of Alexandria erected in Egypt (and then, from time to time they were returned there, replacing it with the same lighthouse or the gardens of Babylon).
At first Babylon was surrounded by two walls built of burnt bricks. Their height is still unknown, but, apparently, they were not lower than 25 meters and went down ten meters underground. Some scientists admit that their height was much higher and could be about a hundred meters.
Imkur-Elil
It was the main, inner, highest wall, the width of which at first was 3.7 m, then, during the time of Nebuchadnezzar, it was expanded to 5.5 m.
Like Babylon, it had a rectangular shape, and its length around the Western city was 3580 m, around the East - 4435 m. Thus, the total length of the inner wall exceeded eight kilometers. Imkur-Elil had two entrances through massive gates on each side, and towers were built into it every 20 meters. In the upper part of the wall, on the towers and gates, there were battlements.
Nemeth-Ellil
The outer wall (shaft) was not so wide - 3.75 m. Around the perimeter, it encircled the inner wall and practically duplicated it: every 20.5 meters, towers with loopholes and battlements were built into it, allowing the defenders of the city to hit the attackers, remaining while invulnerable. The gates from the inner wall continued to the outer one and were common to both lines of fortifications.
This hypothesis is not without foundation, since many chroniclers hint at such parameters. For example, Herodotus, Curtius Rufus, Strabo write that on the Babylonian walls two chariots could have missed.
Moat wall
After some time, another adobe wall was added to them, designed to protect the outskirts of Babylon - the Wall of the Moat. The distance between it and the outer wall was about thirty meters, and in front of it was surrounded by a moat filled with water, connecting with the Euphrates.
Death road
No less than the Babylonian walls, archaeologists were struck by the absolutely straight road leading from the main gate to the temple of Marduk, the width of which was about 24 meters. The people walking along it first passed the gate of the goddess Ishtar - a well fortified structure with four towers erected near them. Then, bypassing the palace complex, the road of Marduk led them directly to the temple.
The road of Marduk looked unusual and was intended not only for pilgrims, but also represented a real trap for the invaders (if they could pass the formidable walls).
In the center, ancient craftsmen paved the road with huge stone slabs, and along the entire length of the road, strips of red brick were laid. The Babylonians filled the gap between the stripes and slabs with asphalt. Absolutely even, jagged walls, about seven meters high, towered along the road.
Towers were located between the walls at the same distance from each other. The walls were lined with shiny glazed blue tiles, which depicted various monsters: at first they were menacingly striding, grinning two-meter lions - about 120 in total.
Starting from the gate of the goddess Ishtar, dragons, horned half-crocodiles, half-dog scales covered with bird legs instead of paws were already grinning at people - there were more than five hundred of them. Formidable armed warriors could also be seen between these animals.
If the enemies managed to pass the formidable walls of Babylon, the gates lined with copper slabs, the road of Marduk would in any case be in their path. And then from the towers located along it, arrows, spears, and other no less deadly objects would fall on the enemy, and they would not have any opportunity to hide (unless they retreat).
At this time, huge lions, dragons, half-dogs would snarl at them from all sides, and the road itself, in the end result, would be the road of death.
The mystery of the walls of Babylon
It still remains a mystery how the ancient craftsmen managed to obtain such a quantity of building material in order to build the walls of Babylon: almost all calculations show that in our time, 250 factories would have to be involved in their manufacture, which would produce at least 10 million bricks.
Scientists are also haunted by the question of where in Mesopotamia, with its small amount of vegetation, did the builders take firewood for burning (moreover, both bricks and glazed tiles were processed)?
After all, only for the construction of two main walls, about 2 billion bricks were used (in addition, it should be borne in mind that there were also many other buildings made of this material in the city).
Many believe that it is unlikely that there was no knowledge of the Babylonian priests, who could learn how to burn bricks and tiles without the use of firewood, for example, using special optical mirrors and the sun. This version has not been proven and the secret has not yet been revealed.
Fall of Babylon
Despite the fact that it was almost impossible to capture Babylon at the then level of siege technology, the city fell: in 539 BC. it was captured by the king of Persia Cyrus. There are two versions of why this happened. According to the first hypothesis (less likely), the Persians managed to divert water and unexpectedly enter the city.
The second version says that either the priests quarreled with Nabonidus, who ruled the country at that time, or someone from the ruling elite was bribed. In any case, the gates were open - and no walls could save you from treason.