The Walls of Babylon

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

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Summary

The ancient metropolis of Babylon was famed for its wonders like the Tower of Babel and the mysterious Hanging Gardens. But few Babylonian monuments were as wondrous as the towering, blue-bricked walls and glittering gates that surrounded the city and protected those inside from enemies on the Mesopotamian Plain.

In todays episode of The Ancients, Tristan continues our mini-series focusing on the ancient world’s greatest architectural wonders by shining a light on the great walls of Babylon. He is joined by Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn Jones to tell the fascinating history of these legendary walls and explore what remains of them, including the magnificently reconstructed Ishtar Gate in Berlin.

This episode was produced and edited by Joseph Knight.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the entrance on history hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's episode where we are
0:15.2	continuing our Wonders of the World miniseries this March we're heading to
0:19.8	present-day Iraq and the ancient metropolis of Babylon.
0:24.0	Now Babylon had more than one wonder in antiquity.
0:27.0	There was the Etemmanaki, the real life tower of Babel,
0:31.0	this great zigrat to the Babylonian chief god, Maduk.
0:34.7	There was the palace of Nebuchaneta where Alexander the Great would ultimately die.
0:39.6	There was also a beautiful, a massive bridge across the river Euphrates, there was the more mysterious hanging gardens.
0:47.1	And also there was another monumental wonder that surrounded Babylon and sometimes made it onto the official list of
0:55.7	wonders of the ancient world, the walls of Babylon. We're going to be delving deep
1:02.0	into these monumental fortifications.
1:04.3	What has the literature and what does the archaeology?
1:07.2	What do they reveal about the walls who built them, how they were built and so on?
1:11.6	But we're also going to explore a famous
1:14.2	reconstructed section of the walls, the blue-colored gateway that is the Ishtar gate.
1:19.8	To explain all about this Babylonian marvel,
1:23.0	well I was delighted to interview Professor Lloyd
1:25.0	Loyden Jones from the University of Cardiff.
1:27.5	Lloyd, he is a great friend of the podcast
1:30.0	and one of the best speakers I've ever interviewed.
1:32.8	So I'm delighted to say he's back to talk all the things
1:35.8	the walls of that hall.
	...

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