The present state of knowledgeExcavations of first millennium remains have been conducted at a number of Babylonian
cities: Abu Qubur (ancient name uncertain); Babylon; Borsippa; Dilbat; Isin; Kish;
Kissik (modern Tell al-Lahm); Kutha; Larsa; Nippur; Sippar; Ur; and Uruk. (Since
we are concerned here with the urban tradition of Babylonia, the city of Seleucia-on-
the-Tigris will be omitted from our account because it represents a new foundation
of the Hellenistic era and has to be considered as a Greek implantation.) Despite the
range of urban sites investigated, the areal extent of excavation, not to mention the
technical standards applied in its execution and the quality of the published accounts,
vary enormously. The result of this state of affairs is that our knowledge of urban
layout is still very patchy. Traditionally, excavators in Mesopotamia have concen-
trated their efforts on the central, monumental sectors of the cities. Considerably less
attention has been paid to residential areas and other districts or features, such as
areas of industrial activity, unbuilt areas, and the street network. To some extent,
textual sources can redress the balance because they provide information on the kinds
of structures which have not yet been systematically excavated, such as workshops
and storerooms, or which were made of perishable materials and hence would not in
any case have been recovered, such as reed structures.
THE CITY AND ITS COMPOSITIONThe principal elements of urban layoutThe characteristic features of the Mesopotamian city have been discussed by Van De
Mieroop ( 1999 : 72 – 83 ) and can be summarised as follows: they enjoyed an elevated
situation, and possessed defensive walls with gates placed at intervals; different city
areas were separated by streets and canals; as well as monumental buildings, there
were non-monumental areas, i.e. residential districts mixed with industrial areas, and
open spaces. This scheme applies to the Babylonian city of the first millennium, though
as we have seen, some elements are more accessible to us than others.
The street networkStreets play a major role in defining the character of a city; they both shape and
reflect the circulatory patterns of the inhabitants (and the gods, as we shall see) and
provide the link between different districts. Textual sources indicate a three-tier
hierarchy of streets and alleys in the Babylonian city. The main processional ways are
usually designated ‘broad street, thoroughfare of the gods’. In the literary/topographical
texts, their ceremonial names are also given. By contrast, the other public streets are
most often known in the tablets by the generic designation ‘narrow street, thoroughfare
of the people’. The dead-end alleys, known generally as ‘exit’ (passageway), served
one or more houses within a residential quarter, and were in private ownership.
Recent studies have claimed that the Neo-Babylonian cities of Babylon and Borsippa
were laid out in a regular grid pattern (Van De Mieroop 1999 : 86 , with reference to
Figures 4. 7 and 4. 8 ; Gates 2003 : 181 ). It is worth devoting some attention to this
issue because it is important, not only for our understanding of Babylonian urbanism
— Urban form in the first millennium BC—