BABYLON, NEBUCHANEZZAR AND DANIEL'S CITY

Nebuchanezzar is the King that threw Daniel in the fiery furnace. Because Daniel wouldn't stop worshiping God and worship the king of Babylon . We know that he depended on Daniel. We know that Daniel was taken captive in his early youth. Carried to Babylon where he lived thru the whole period of captivity. Occupied high office in both the Babylonian and Persian Empires. Daniel told him what his dreams meant. But what else do we know? Let’s just take a few days and look at the history of Babylon, Nebuchanezzar and his coming and goings.

So let’s go to ancient Babylon.
The ancient’s world wonder city and home of Daniel’s ministry. Built around the Towel of Babel, the Garden of Eden was in the same region. The area was considered the cradle of the human race. The city was the favorite place to live for the Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian kings. Would you believe, even for Alexander the Great? Babylon was brought to glory and power during Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar life's. It was a commanding city throughout the pre-Christian era. Nebuchadnezzar reigned for 45 years and never did get tired of building and making the temples and palaces places of great beauty.

The walls of Babylon was 60 miles around, the sides were 15 miles, height 300 feet, thickness, 80 feet. The walls were buried 35 feet below the ground, so enemies weren't able to dig tunnels beneath. The bricks used were 1 foot square somewhere between 2 to 4 inches thick. The city itself was about 1/4 mile of clear space from the walls. For further protection there were water filled moats. The moats were deep and wide. Two hundred fifty towers were atop the wall. There rooms for the soldiers, there were 100 brass gates. On the banks of the Euphrates, which divided the city in half, had brick walls all the way around them. There were 25 gates for access to the streets, boat ramps, the bridge, built up on stone pillars, was ½ mile long, the width was 30 feet. There were drawbridges that were removed at night. There was a bridge underneath the bridge, height 12 feet, width 15 feet. The Excavations have just about proven what the historians of ancient times have told. (The Palace ruins were uncovered by Koldewey. He states that the Throne room walls were 20 feet thick. Three walls protected the North side of the Palace, fifty feet thick walls were just north from them. There were more massive walls and then you have the Inner Wall of the City. There were parallel walls, again made of brick, 20 feet thick and 40 feet apart, rubble filled these space(for a total thickness of 80 feet), within ½ mile from the other walls. In a war, this place was one place you simply couldn’t get into).

From all appearances Babylon was very religious due to the 53 temples and Ishtar altars, 180 of them. Isaiah 14:4 refers to the city as the “golden city. The Euphrates valley was also home to the Great Marduk Temple, it was beside the Tower of Babylon. This tower was the most marvelous place to worship. Inside were the following items: a golden table on which a golden image of Bel sat, weighing in at about 50,000 lbs. On top images made out of gold of Ishtar and Bel. Two golden lions, also made of gold. There was a figure of a human, height 18 feet, a table, 15 feet in width by 40 feet high both made of gold.

King Nebuchadnezzar made a image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3:1). Could this been between the Tower of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar?

Daniel went to King Nebuchadnezzar’s place a lot, which was one of the most magnificent buildings ever built by man.

SOURCES:
King James, the New International Version Bibles
H H Halley's Bible Handbook