BABYLON, more history

Babylon and Egypt oldest civilizations.

South part of the Euphrates Valley occupied by Babylon
606-536 B.C. Babylon was the world power. This is when Israel was destroyed.

A British Army Officer, Sir Henry Rawlinson, in 1835, saw the Behistran Mountain, a great isolated rock, 200 miles Northwest of Babylon. Rising 1700 feet out of the plain, on it was a smooth surface, there were cravings on it. It could be seen 400 feet above the road. There he found an inscription, dated 516 B.C., an order given by Perisa's king, Darius (521-485 B.C.) in the year 516 B.C. As Ezra told it was the year Darius had the Temple in Jerusalem rebuilt and the same year it was finished.

The writings were an extensive account in Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian of the conquests of Darius. These accounts were all written in each of the three languages. Sir Henry had a little knowledge of these languages, so over a 4 year period pain staking he managed to get impressions of them. All he had to use back then were ladders from below and swings from above.

After 14 years he had the transcriptions completed. Opened up to the world, by finding the key to the ancient Babylon language, vast treasures of literature from ancient Babylon.

It has been said, and believed by some, that Babylon was the cradle of the human race, where the Garden of Eden was located, center of the flood area, home to Adam, Noah and Abraham. Located at the mouth of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the city of Babylon was formed from the deposits left by these two rivers. Babylon was 250 miles long and 50 miles wide.

The story of Babylon starts in Genesis and ends in Revelations. Had a long history and intertwined with Egypt and many others as we have seen. We will learn more as we study and research other areas of the Bible.

God's blessing to each of you,
LJG