power in the papal form. Rome, pagan and papal, is regarded as one
power. “The literal Babylon was the beginner and supporter of tyranny
and idolatry...This city and its whole empire were taken by the Persians
under Cyrus; the Persians were subdued by the Macedonians, and the
Macedonians by the Romans; so that Rome succeeded to the power of old
Babylon. And it was her method to adopt the worship of the false deities
she had conquered; so that by her own act she became the heiress and
successor of all the Babylonian idolatry, and of all that was introduced into
it by the immediate successors of Babylon, and consequently of all the
idolatry of the earth.” Rome, or “mystical Babylon,” is “that great city
which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (17:18).
- BABYLONISH GARMENT a robe of rich colours fabricated at Babylon,
and hence of great value (Joshua 7:21). - BABYLON, KINGDOM OF called “the land of the Chaldeans” (Jeremiah
24:5; Ezek, 12:13), was an extensive province in Central Asia along the
valley of the Tigris from the Persian Gulf northward for some 300 miles. It
was famed for its fertility and its riches. Its capital was the city of
Babylon, a great commercial centre (Ezekiel 17:4; Isaiah 43:14). Babylonia
was divided into the two districts of Accad in the north, and Summer
(probably the Shinar of the Old Testament) in the south. Among its chief
cities may be mentioned Ur (now Mugheir or Mugayyar), on the western
bank of the Euphrates; Uruk, or Erech (Genesis 10:10) (now Warka),
between Ur and Babylon; Larsa (now Senkereh), the Ellasar of Genesis
14:1, a little to the east of Erech; Nipur (now Niffer), south-east of
Babylon; Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24), “the two Sipparas” (now
Abu-Habba), considerably to the north of Babylon; and Eridu, “the good
city” (now Abu-Shahrein), which lay originally on the shore of the Persian
Gulf, but is now, owing to the silting up of the sand, about 100 miles
distant from it. Another city was Kulunu, or Calneh (Genesis 10:10).
The salt-marshes at the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris were called
Marratu, “the bitter” or “salt”, the Merathaim of Jeremiah 50:21. They
were the original home of the Kalda, or Chaldeans.
The most famous of the early kings of Babylonia were Sargon of Accad
(B.C.3800) and his son, Naram-Sin, who conquered a large part of Western
Asia, establishing their power in Palestine, and even carrying their arms to
the Sinaitic peninsula. A great Babylonian library was founded in the reign