Stones from the Tower Of Babel--the ziggurat "Etemenanki"--Expand the Iraqi City of Babylon

RIGHT: The remarkable story of this 1977 photograph--it was taken at the site most often-acknowledged  as the Tower Of Babel, squarely within the parameters of Babylon's Official Archeological Site.

This Photograph, in a Single take, is LOADED with information!

Note the highlighted area labeled "TOWER of BABEL". This is the ziggurat-base known as "Etemenanki".

It is surrounded by vegetation and water. (also highlighted)

In this, Part 2 of our Series on The Reemergence Of Babylon--The Great City, we examine the evidence that the rebuilding of Babylon has been occurring slowly, inconspicuously, almost imperceptibly for the last 1000 years by the recycling and redistribution of Babylon's ORIGINAL, high-quality building Stones ("bricks"). This has resulted in the outgrowth of the Babylon-Stones-City of Hillah-- essentially, the Extension-City Of Babylon.

PHOTO #1

TOWER OF BABEL STELE ETEMENANKI, by Randall Price

"One of the [monuments Nebuchadnezzar] reconstructed was Etemenanki, a 300-foot-high ziggurat-temple dedicated to the god Marduk. The stele's inscription describes a related boast, "I made it the wonder of the people of the world. I raised its top to the heavens, made doors for the gates, and I covered it with bitumen and bricks." This language is reminiscent of that in the Genesis text that describes the boast of the builders of the tower of Babel; 'let us build...a tower that reaches to the heavens' (v.4). The scholars who published the Tower of Babel stele argue that Nebuchadnezzar II restored the original tower of Babel and repeated the original boast in his inscription."

Randall Price, with H. Wayne House, The Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, Zondervan Publishing, 2017, p. 72.

        "Etemenanki [is] a Sumerian word meaning 'House of the Foundation of         Heaven on Earth'. The Etemenanki is a strong-candidate for being the         original of the Tower of Babel.”

        Anton Gill, The Rise And Fall Of Babylon, Metro Books, New York, 2008, p. 113.

J. Paul Tanner writes, "[Babylon] was mined for construction materials to reuse in other structures at various points in time. Al-Hillah was built using baked bricks from the site ...The areas of the Southern Palace and ziggurat [Etemenanki] were considerably diminished, as both contained quantities of baked bricks and are located near the river for easy transport.  

PHOTO #2

From the Ishtar Gate the Processional Way ran to the southern corner of Etemenanki (wherein stood the famous Babylonian Tower)... The complexes of Esagila and Etemenanki formed the heart of the ancient city of Babylon..  the temple precinct Etemenanki, which housed the remains of the fabled Babylonian tower."

Dr. J. Paul Tanner Daniel: Introduction Archaeol. Rediscovery of Babylon
A p p e n d i x P, p.12, Ancient Babylon: From Gradual Demise To Archaeological Rediscovery,  http://paultanner.org/English%20Docs/Daniel/Introductory/App%20P%20-%20Archaeological%20Backgrd.pdf

The Size of Etemenanki, the Tower of Babel

From the Management Plan of Babylon we read,

"Etemenanki (‘foundation platform of heaven and earth’) was one of the largest ziggurats in ancient Mesopotamia. It is cited in ancient Greek accounts as the Temple of Belus, and in the Bible as the Tower of Babel. Its imposing footprint (91 metres by 91 meters [about 100 yards; RIGHT--Photo #3, football field overlay]) is recorded in Babylonian texts and has been confirmed archaeologically. At a height of around 91 meters [again, the length of a football field, this time up to the heavens], the ziggurat towered over the city and surrounding plains.

        ...these bricks were systematically extracted and recycled for new         construction over centuries...Throughout subsequent centuries it         was mined for reusable brick..."

Management Plan of Babylon, Property Nominated by the Government of Iraq in January 2018 for Inscription on the World Heritage List, p. 24.

278rev-2293-Nomination Text-en(8)

PHOTO #3

A Closer Look at Etemenanki

RIGHT: Note 3 things; 1) The deep trenches, 2) the ample water, and 3) the trees and vegetation.

The water and vegetation (seen also in the two photos above) violate the following prophecy IF Babylon has already been once-and-for-all destroyed:

    "But you will be desolate forever ...A parched land and a desert.."

                                                                                Jeremiah 51:26, 43

The truth is, of course, the water and the vegetation are proof that the Final Destruction of Babylon is a PROPHECY-IN-WAITING.

But the TRENCHES are the point of this 'Part-2' article on "BABYLON HAS BEEN REBUILDING FOR CENTURIES".

What is the cause of these deep trenches? (Photo #4 at right)

The great Babylon-archaeologist Robert Koldewey showed that the Stones of the Etemenanki-Tower of Babel have served as recycled Babylon "bricks".

"What is to be seen [at the Etemenanki "Tower Of Babel"] at the present time--low banks round the deep trenches--is merely the result of modern digging by Arab brick robbers."

Robert Koldewey, The Excavations At Babylon, translated by Agnes S. Johns, MacMillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, 1914, p.309.

"Ironically, little of the structure survives partly due to the high-quality baked bricks... used. As elsewhere, these bricks were systematically extracted and recycled for new construction over centuries."

Republic Of Iraq, Babylon, Nomination Dossier, for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List, Description of the property,  "Etemenanki, the Ziggurat of Babylon", Jan 2018.

It is a heavily documented fact that these "bricks (stones of Babylon)" have been the primary source of the physical origination and build-up of the city of Hillah. (more below)

PHOTO #4

BELOW: A blowup of the "Description" notation above. "Wetland" is not 

        "A parched land and a desert.."   Jeremiah 51:26, 43

as shown in Part 1 of this series, BABYLON SURVIVES.

RIGHT, Photo #5:

"And they will not take from you even a stone for a corner

Nor a stone for foundations,

But you will be desolate forever," declares the LORD. (  Jer 51:26

BELOW--these two statements, 200 years apart, SAME EVIDENCE!

1817-- “There are two paths [at Babylon] made by the workmen who carry down their bricks to the river side [where] they are transported by boats to Hillah.” 

1817, Sir Robert Ker Porter,

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.16209011&view=1up&seq=11

 2018-- "Al-Hillah was built using baked bricks from the site as were many other settlements and structures... The areas of the Southern Palace and ziggurat [Etemenanki, Tower of Babel] were considerably diminished, as both contained quantities of baked bricks and are located near the river for easy transport."

Republic of Iraq, Babylon, Nomination Dossier for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List, January 2018, "Babylon Site Management Plan",  p. 73-74

278rev-2293-Nomination Text-en (1)

PHOTO #5

ABOVE: Stones-bricks removed and reused to build Hillah, expanding Babylon as the Babylon-Stones-City of Hillah built outward.

There are three directional-ways to build a city:

        1. Vertically (Babylon could be rebuilt into a Skyscraper-City)

See, for example, a vertical buildup of Babylon-Stones (bricks) to the right, and the resultant Skyscraper-city in Photo #7.

        2. Horizontally (Babylon could be rebuilt into a Low-Rise City)

See, for example, a horizontal distribution of Babylon-Stones (bricks) below in Photo #8, and the resultant widening of Hillah's boundaries over time in the following Photos #9-14.

        3. or Both

Hillah was built the second way, building out Horizontally in all directions, but primarily southeast and southwest from its source-- Babylon.  

PHOTO #6

A Vertical Rebuilding of Babylon?

Will Babylon be raised up as a giant, super-large Skyscraper-City?

This is assumed in almost every view that Babylon will be rebuilt from the ruins of original Babylon in Iraq. This assumption relies on the repeated phrase, "the Great City", in Revelation 18.

But that's not what is required by Bible Prophecy for future fulfillment , and that is not what is happening today. Babylon has ever so slowly been extended, over many centuries, HORIZONTALLY!

There IS a buildup of Babylon going on today, and for the past 1000 years. But what makes it, for the most part, inconspicuous, unnoticed, and therefore "out-of-mind", is its "growth-creep" for a millennium!

Babylon-Stones founded and built Hillah, outgrowth city of Babylon.

Rather than Babylon simply being a tourist-attraction of Hillah,

                                                            Hillah is the extension of Babylon.

PHOTO #7

RIGHT Photo #8: The Horizontal Redistribution of the Stones of Babylon

1853—"There is scarcely a house in Hillah which is not almost entirely built with [Babylon Stones]; and as the traveler passes through...he sees in the walls of every [building] a record of the glory and power of Nebuchadnezzar.

Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, p. 412; Author: Austen H. Layard; NEW-YORK:  G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE. 1853.    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39897/39897-h/39897-h.htm#fna_203

2018— "For centuries, people in the area saw Babylon as a source of solid bricks to take away to build homes in the city of Hillah …"

UNESCO World Heritage status.; Jane Arraf, Posted on November 24, 2018, Copyright 2019 NPR

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2018/11/24/669272204/in-iraq-a-race-to-protect-the-crumbling-bricks-of-ancient-babylon/

"Al Hillah, ...provincial capital of central Iraq on a branch of the Euphrates River. It was built (c. 1100) largely of material taken from the nearby ruins of ancient Babylon." 
The New Columbia Encyclopedia, Columbia University Press, 1975, New York, p. 67.

PHOTO #8

        Washington DC, a prime example of a HORIZONTAL-City

"DC is one of the few [major U.S. cities without Skyscrapers]...suffice it to say that none are over 12 stories...with the Capitol and Washington Monument being able to be viewed from most places in the city."

Reader comments, "large cities with shortest buildings", Quora; www.quora.com

1. The Arab town Al Jami'ayn rises out of Babylon-Stones (Photo #9)

"In the 10th century, the [Arab] town of Al Jami'ayn was founded on the eastern bank of the Euphrates."

Encyclopedia Britannica; https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Hillah

2. Al Jami'ayn and Babylon are equated by Islamic geographer
"[In the 10th century AD] bn Hawkal, an Islamic geographer, was one of the first to "rediscover" the ancient site of Babylon and describe its remains. He noted, "Babel is a small village, but the most ancient in all Irak. The whole region is denominated Babel from this place." 

Dr. J. Paul Tanner, Daniel: Introduction Archaeol. Rediscovery of Babylon
May 14, 2002 App. P.1, Ancient Babylon: From Gradual Demise To Archaeological Rediscovery, http://paultanner.org/English%20Docs/Daniel/Introductory/App%20P%20-%20Archaeological%20Backgrd.pdf

3. Hillah arises from Babylon-Stones
"In 1101 AD a new town, Hillah, was founded near Al Jami'ayn. The location of that town is in modern-day Hillah now."

Encyclopedia Britannica; https://www.britannica.com/place/Al-Hillah 

4. Hillah absorbs and replaces Al Jami'ayn 

"Hilla was already in the early eleventh century a permanent settlement and not a mere encampment…it gradually merged with and replaced the former Jami'ayn;"

Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, A chronological and genealogical manual, Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Columbia University Press, New York, 1996, 36, p. 87.

https://books.google.com/books?id=2O_BQs6Sro0C&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=Al+Jami%27ayn+hillah&source=bl&ots=x9_nyc-XIE&sig=ACfU3U2Z6w2bCVf_avqmOxya2YmUVfGG3Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjI6ubRxe7gAhVKb60KHVK9Ak0Q6AEwDHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=Al%20Jami'ayn%20hillah&f=false

        "Karsten Niebuhr [in 1765 AD]  found numerous inscribed bricks lying         around the great mounds at Hillah on the Euphrates; he deduced that         the site was probably Babylon itself."

Dr. J. Paul Tanner Daniel: Introduction Archaeol. Rediscovery of Babylon
A p p e n d i x P, p. 5, Ancient Babylon: From Gradual Demise To Archaeological Rediscovery, 
http://paultanner.org/English%20Docs/Daniel/Introductory/App%20P%20-%20Archaeological%20Backgrd.pdf

PHOTO #9

ABOVE (Photo #9) 

5. Archaeologist Layard marks Hillah's birth in the "midst" of Babylon 
"Amidst the heaps that marked the site of Babylon herself there rose the small town of Hillah." 

Austin Henry Layard, Assyriologist-archaeologist, 1853, Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, New York, G. P. Putnam & Co., 10 Park Place, 1853, p.428.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39897/39897-h/39897-h.htm#fna_203

        More about Hillah arising "in the midst" of Babylon   

        "Hillah is surrounded by the ruins of Babylon...Hillah standing in         the midst...Consequently, no plan of the ruins of Babylon could be         drawn without including within their scope, not only Hillah, but [Arab         Villages] Jumjuma, Anana, and Tajeca...[some] regarded as tent-                    settlements...

        General Chesney states that Hillah occupies very nearly the centre of         the acknowledged ruins of Babylon... "  
Benjamin Wills Newton, Babylon: Its Revival and Final Desolation, 1859, Houlston & Wright, p. 39, 41.

PHOTO #10

6. Babylon-Stones have been Rebuilding the Extended-City of Babylon for Centuries 

"Here the Arabs have for more than twelve centuries been occupied in digging and carrying away the bricks, with which chiefly Coufa, Bagdad, Mesjid, Ali, Mesjid Hussein, Hillah, and almost all the towns in the neighbourhood [Babylonia] have been built."

Claudius James Rich, Esq., Narrative Of A Journey To The Site Of Babylon In 1811, edited by his widow, 1819, Duncan and Malcolm, Paternoster Row, London, Introduction xl.

http://www.jwchanges.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Narrative-of-a-Journey-to-the-Site-Babylon-in-1811.pdf

7. With its boat bridge, the Babylon-Stones City of Hillah expands on both sides of the Euphrates River. (Photo#11 

"[Hillah] was built (c.1100) largely of material taken from the nearby ruins of ancient Babylon. It is a port and the main cereal market of the middle Euphrates area."
https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/asia/iraq-political-geography/al-hillah

"For centuries, people in the area saw Babylon as a source of solid bricks to take away to build homes in the city of Hilla and surrounding villages. Over time, townspeople removed an entire top layer of the Ishtar Gate and threw away the ornamental glazed blue bricks that were later reclaimed to make up part of the reconstructed gate in Berlin's Pergamon Museum."

In Iraq, A Race To Protect The Crumbling Bricks Of Ancient Babylon, A U.S.-funded conservation project is shoring up the brick walls of the ancient city. The hope is that Babylon will qualify for UNESCO World Heritage status.; Jane Arraf, Posted on November 24, 2018, Copyright 2019 NPR

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2018/11/24/669272204/in-iraq-a-race-to-protect-the-crumbling-bricks-of-ancient-babylon/

PHOTO #11

8. By 1853 Hillah had grown to about 9,000 population, spanning both sides of the River Euphrates as far back as the 1700s. (Right, Photo #12)
"Hillah may contain about eight or nine thousand inhabitants. ... The houses, chiefly built of bricks taken from the ruins of ancient Babylon ..."

Austin Henry Layard, Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon,New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 10 Park Place, 1853, Pg 428
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39897/39897-h/39897-h.htm#fna_203

9. In the 1870-80s The U.S. Consul in Palestine considered "Hilleh" [his spelling] to be identified with "modern Babylon". 

"The most conspicuous object on the plain of Shinar, about seven miles south-west of Hilleh, modern Babylon, is Birs-Nimroud..."

Frank S. DeHass (former U.S. Consul in Palestine), Buried Cities Recovered, Explorations in Bible Lands, 1884, Bradley, Garretson & Co., Philadelphia & Brantford, Ont., p. 501.

PHOTO #12

RIGHT, Photo #13

10. The Babylon-Stones City extends itself across the Euphrates valley.

"For hundreds of years people living on the banks of the River Euphrates in Iraq had dug into the mounds of ancient Babylon for the hard baked bricks used in the old buildings. Most of the villages along that part of the river, and the town of Hillah, were largely built with Babylonian bricks. Yet, although the ruins were pillaged in this way, the city was so great that much remained...This great mass of mud-brick had been a rich quarry for the local brick-hunters."
Alan Millard, Treasures From Bible Times, 1985, Lion Publishing, Belleville, MI, p. 135, 137

11. Hillah is the true--literally to the stone--Extended-City of Babylon
" ...many towns and cites have been built from the ruins of Babylon... Hillah was entirely constructed from the debris, and even in the houses of Bagdad, Babylonian stamped bricks may be frequently noticed."
Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth, 1918, Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., Glenside, PA, p. 142.

PHOTO #13

As mentioned earlier, superimposed photos above are actual Hillah pics.

RIGHT, Photo #14: This is the last of our 'composite-photo-graphics, constructed from World War 1 photographs of Babylon and Hillah, superimposed upon a Euphrates River Valley photo from the same time. The extended city shots of Hillah are from recent photos of Hillah, positioned on the backdrop in the approximate positioning of the actual growth of the city.

12. Today Babylon has inconspicuously rebuilt, upon its original grounds with its original Stones--almost imperceptibly and unnoticed--to extend itself into the Babylon-Stones City of Hillah.

13. Today, the Legal Location of Babylon is "Hillah".

"Babylon is part of the municipality of Hillah." 

Republic Of Iraq, Babylon, Nomination Dossier, for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List, Chapter 2: Description; 2.a. Description of the property; January 2018

14. Today, Hillah is the capital of what Iraqi province?  

                                                                        "BABIL"!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillah

PHOTO #14

RIGHT, Photo #15:

WORLD WAR 1 Arial photograph of Jerusalem.

The Muslim Dome Of The Rock, situated on the Jerusalem Temple Mount since the sixteenth century, is highlighted for perspective (look for the gold dome in the center).

The view is to the east, the Old City of Jerusalem. Notice the expanding horizontal build-out of Jerusalem toward the bottom of the photo, which is to the west. The prophecies foretell of when Jerusalem will expand beyond its walls.

        'Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls, because of the             multitude of men and cattle within it. (Zechariah 2:4)

PHOTO #15

RIGHT, Photo #16:

The above photograph is highlighted at right showing the parameters of the Jerusalem wall, which is hard to spot otherwise.

This sets the scene for a visual merge into Photo #17 below, where the growth of Jerusalem way beyond its "walls" becomes obvious.

Babylon in some ways has followed much the same pattern with its outward growth, beginning at its core in the archaeological-site of ancient Babylon with the birth of Hillah, followed by its gradual spread, utilizing the actual Stones of Babylon, and continuing its rebuild way beyond Babylon's remnant "walls".

Now, continue in the photo below with the Horizontal spread of Jerusalem beyond its walls...

PHOTO #16

RIGHT, Photo #17:

From basically the same perspectives as the two photographs above, this is Jerusalem today. Again, center in on the gold-domed Dome Of The Rock, colored and highlighted in the center of the picture.

TODAY

Jerusalem has expanded beyond its walls (Zechariah 2.4)

                                                                    —But it is still Jerusalem.

            Like the Old Walled City of Jerusalem (East Jerusalem), Babylon             has expanded beyond its fallen, ruined-walls. The correlation is             that both cities, besides being the two prime rival cities of the             Bible (God's City vs Satan's City), are extended, expanded,             rebuilt, low-rise cities.

TODAY

Babylon has expanded beyond its walls (Babylon-Stone City of Hillah, the capital of the 'Babil Province', Iraq)

                                                                    —but it is still Babylon.

PHOTO #17

  “High-quality baked bricks were later removed by brick miners and reused throughout the area.”

Republic Of Iraq, Babylon, Nomination Dossier, for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List; Ancient Bridge Piers; January 2018

  “A block of structures in al-Hillah’s old city district of Sob as-Surgayah (small bridge) were built from Babylon bricks.”

Footnote #16; J. E. Reade, “Disappearance and Rediscovery” I. L. Finkel and M. J. Seymour, eds. Babylon: Myth and Reality (London: British Museum Press 2008a), 20.

“Al-Hillah was built using baked bricks from the site as were many other settlements and structures.”

Republic Of Iraq, Babylon, Nomination Dossier, for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List, Rediscovery: Middle Ages – nineteenth century;  January 2018

  “Babylon is part of the municipality of Hillah.”

Republic Of Iraq, Babylon, Nomination Dossier, for Inscription of the Property on the World Heritage List, Chapter 2: Description; 2.a. Description of the property; January 2018