Babylon and the Bible
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2023
⏱️ 43 minutes
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Summary
When looking at the Hebrew Bible, the city of Babylon plays a prominent role - especially in the Old Testament. A city famed for it's architectural beauty and gardens, also holds stories of suffering and captivity. Travelling back to the 6th Century BCE, the Babylonian Captivity was a defining moment in both Judaean history, and faith. With enormous numbers of the Judaean elite banished to Babylon, there was a religious, and social, overhaul for all involved. So what happened in this pivotal moment in history - and what sources can we use to examine this event?
In the final episode in our Babylon mini-series, Tristan welcomes Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones back to the podcast to look at Babylon within the Bible. Looking at surviving art and archaeology, cuneiform texts and biblical passages - what can we learn about this moment in ancient history, and the legacy that can still be felt today?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Engines on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host, and in today's episode |
| 0:17.2 | as we wrap up our special Babylon mini-series this May, where we're talking all about |
| 0:22.4 | the role of Babylon in the Hebrew Bible. |
| 0:26.8 | I did not realize just how huge a role the city of Babylon played in the Bible story, |
| 0:33.1 | particularly in the Old Testament. And today we're focusing in on a particular event. |
| 0:39.3 | We're going to the 6th century BC to an event called the Babylonian captivity, |
| 0:46.0 | when a large number of Judeans, particularly the elite, were sent into exile, were sent to Babylon, |
| 0:54.2 | where they created new lives following the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king |
| 0:59.3 | Nebuchadnezzar the 2nd. It's an event that is mentioned in the Bible, but also one that we have |
| 1:06.2 | archaeological evidence for too in the form of Kunea form. Text is one of these wonderful times |
| 1:12.8 | from ancient history where we have literature and archaeology to support an event. |
| 1:19.5 | But what is all of this information revealing about the Babylonian captivity? How were these |
| 1:25.0 | Judeans treated? How did they fare in Babylon? And why is this event so important in the history |
| 1:34.0 | of the Jewish people? We're to explain all about this. I was delighted a few weeks ago to head |
| 1:39.8 | over to Cardiff to interview a good friend of the podcast, a professor who's been on the podcast |
| 1:45.0 | several times since the ancients was born a few years ago. His name is Lloyd Lulele and Jones. |
| 1:53.2 | Always a pleasure to catch up with Lloyd and I really do hope you enjoy. |
| 2:01.6 | Lloyd, it is wonderful to have you back on the podcast today. Well, I am delighted to be back on it. |
| 2:06.8 | Thank you very much for inviting me. You're more than welcome and this is the first time that we're |
| 2:10.0 | doing it face to face. Look at a real flash of blood first. It's brilliant. It's really nice. |
| 2:15.2 | And for quite a topic, Babylon and the Bible. Lloyd, I did not realise just how big a role |
| 2:22.8 | this city plays in the Old Testament story. It's a massive role. It's huge and I think it's fair to say |
... |
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