VISITORS IN THE 1860s:

A few black tents and flocks of sheep and camels were scattered over the yellow plain. They belonged chiefly to the Zobeide, an ancient tribe renowned in the history of the conquering Arabs under their first caliphs, and now pasturing their flocks in the wilds of Babylonia. From Amran, the last of the great mounds [at Babylon], a broad and well-trodden track winds through thick groves of palms. About an hour's ride beneath pleasant shade brings the traveler to the falling gateway of the town of Hillah. A mean bazaar, crowded with Arabs, camels, and [donkeys], leads to a bridge of boats across the Euphrates. The principal part of the town, containing the fort and the residence of the governor, is on the opposite side of the river.

        Austen H. Layard, Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh And Babylon, Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1871, p. 414. (Austen Henry Layard was one of the greatest explorers and archaeologists of Mesopotamia)

RIGHT:

1919 Photograph of the Babylon Railway. It was taken on the James Henry Breasted Mid East Expedition sponsored by the University of Chicago.

The people on this official "Expedition" were among those who "pass through" (or are Visitors to) Babylon.  

In the early 20th century, when Iraq was ruled by British mandate, a railway ran through the remains of the ancient city.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/npr/2018/11/24/669272204/in-iraq-a-race-to-protect-the-crumbling-bricks-of-ancient-babylon/

CONSIDER THIS: that this prophecy, and many of those in Jeremiah and Isaiah about Babylon, refer not only to the City, but often to the "LAND" of Babylon. That "LAND" is the southern portion of Iraq, Mesopotamia, ancient Chaldea-- today labeled on geographic and political maps by its official name as BABIL PROVINCE.
That is appropriate, since ancient historians, and many archaeological evidences today, identify Babylon far beyond its current archaeological site. The LAND is known as BABYLONIA.

BELOW: Visitors to Babylon observe the map of the "Land Of Babylon", or "Babylonia".

  Certainly modern city Hillah finds its root in the rubble of Babylon, and itself is often identified synonymously with Babylon, and is the capital city of Babil Province.
Visitors to Babylon include Visitors to Babylonia.

NOTES:

SCORES OF EXPLORERS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE "PASSED BY" for hundreds of years...highways and adjacent cities have been built...

"But in the Babylonian-Assyrian region, practically every discovery has been due to strenuous labour with pick and spade ; our knowledge of Chaldea in its hey-day has literally been dug up piece by piece. The honour of beginning the great task of unearthing the buried cities of Mesopotamia belongs to M. Botta, who was French consul at Mosul in 1842."
Modern Excavation In Babylonia And Assyria
https://www.wisdomlib.org/mesopotamian/book/myths-and-legends-of-babylonia-and-assyria/d/doc7174.html   Chapter XIV -

"I rode on an unfinished six-lane superhighway leading from the Persian Gulf toward Babylon...it was lined with many small parks..."
Joseph Chambers, A Palace For The Antichrist, 1996, [recording the author's personal visit to Babylon in 1992], New Leaf Press, Forest, AR,   p.70.

Now, the provincial government in Babil has seized control of much of Babylon — unlawfully, according to the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage — and opened a park beside a branch of the Euphrates River, a place that draws visitors by the busload.
It has begun to charge a fee to visit the looted shell of the grandiose palace that Mr. Hussein built in the 1980s, along with the hill it stands on. And it has refurbished a collection of buildings from the Hussein era and rented their rooms out as suites. For $175 a night Iraqis can honeymoon in a room advertised as one of Mr. Hussein’s bedrooms (though in truth, almost certainly a mere guest room).
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/world/middleeast/03babylon.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

“I would like to rebuild Babylon again for scientific research, not like Saddam,” he said as he guided visitors through the remains of Ishtar Gate with bas reliefs of Babylon’s gods; the Temple of Ninmakh; the Processional Way, with brick paving stones mortared with bitumen; and a symbol of Iraq itself, the Lion of Babylon, a 2,600-year-old sculpture.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/world/middleeast/03babylon.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

In the early 20th century, when Iraq was ruled by British mandate, a railway ran through the remains of the ancient city. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, military helicopters landed right on the site. The Polish military, part of the U.S.-led coalition, operated an army base in Babylon, building guard towers and erecting fences.
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/

On weekends, the site is often filled with Iraqi visitors.
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/

While international visitors are rare in Iraq today, thousands of Iraqis continue to visit.
https://www.wmf.org/project/future-babylon

Although travelers explored Babylon over the centuries, Robert Koldewey and the Deutsche Orient-Besellschaft from 1899 t0 1917 conducted the most extensive systematic excavations that revealed the ancient remains visible today.
Site Management Plan, Babylon Cultural Landscape and Archaeological City, Executive Summary, World Monuments Fund, 2015, New York, NY, p.10.
https://www.wmf.org/sites/default/files/article/pdfs/babylon-site-management-plan-excerpt.pdf

back to Babylon To Be Rebuilt

Thereafter, the continued use of these prepared areas for heavy vehicles, containers, and helicopters... [i.e., people, companies, organizations VISITING Babylon for various reasons... people who "pass through".]
BABYLON MODERN SITE DAMAGE REPORT
https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/babylondamagereport.pdf
damage assessments carried out between 2004 and 2009

...There are many towns, and thousands of villages [in 1859 passing through Babylon] along this portion [Babylon-Hilla] of the Euphrates. Date-groves commence at the Khabur, and belong to every village; but below Hillah the date-groves are nearly continuous for the next 200 miles or more to the sea.
Benjamin Wills Newton, Babylon: Its Revival And Final Desolation, Houlston & Wright, 1859, p.42

"...myriads of Asiatics, many Eutopeans have passed thereby [1859], and thoroughly examined the place."
Benjamin Wills Newton, (quoting a letter to the author from a man from India who had visited Babylon) Babylon: Its Revival And Final Desolation, Houlston & Wright, 1859, p. 44-45.

In May of 2001, when this writer last visited the site of Babylon, the Iraqi
government was working diligently to reconstruct many of the walls and ancient buildings, and in other ways to make the site accessible to visitors wishing to stroll through these pathways of old.
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  

With stability gradually returning to the country after years of strife, tourists interested in Iraq’s rich history are trickling back ...Mohammed Taher, a tour guide at Babylon for decades, remembers Western tourists in the 1970s and 1980s would come to the ruins of the Tower of Babel at New Year’s to hold ceremonies commemorating its Biblical significance — even though all that’s left is a square-shaped grassy knoll.
Babylon ruins torn between preservation and profit, Published on 8 May 2010,  AP/Paul Schemm, http://www.cultureindevelopment.nl/News/Dossier_Heritage_Iraq/288/Babylon_ruins_torn_between_preservation_and_profit

back to Babylon To Be Rebuilt