巴比伦(Babylon)

伊拉克幼发拉底河岸着名的古城市。在巴格达以南约89公里，现今伊拉克希拉城附近。巴比伦是上古时代最着名的城市之一，可能在西元前3000年就有人定居，西元前2000年左右受阿莫里特人统治。後成为巴比伦尼亚的都城和底格里斯河－幼发拉底河流域的重要商业城市。西元前689年被辛那赫里布（Sennacherib）摧毁，後又重建。在尼布甲尼撒二世（Nebuchadnezzar II）统治下成为强大帝国的首都。西元前331年，巴比伦降服於亚历山大大帝，亚历山大最後也死於这里。巴比伦古城的地形由发掘、楔形文字及西元前5世纪希腊历史学家希罗多德和其他经典作家的记述而得到证实。该城大部分是由尼布甲尼撒兴建。当时这座世界最大城市有许多神庙，如：马尔杜克大神庙和与它相关的塔庙（Ziggurat），後者就是着名的巴别塔。着名的空中花园是建筑在拱形地基上的花木覆盖的一层层平台，类似一座小山，是世界七大奇观之一。

English version：

Babylon

Ancient ruined city on the Euphrates River, Iraq. It lay about 55 mi (89 km) south of Baghdad, near the modern city of Al Hillah. Babylon was one of the most famous cities in antiquity. Probably settled in the 3rd millennium BC, it came under the Amoritic kings around 2000 BC. It became the capital of Babylonia and was the chief commercial city of the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Destroyed by Sennacherib in 689 BC, it was later rebuilt. It attained its greatest glory as capital of the Neo-Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605-c. 561 BC). Taken by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, it was where he died. Evidence of its topography comes from excavations, cuneiform texts, and descriptions by Herodotus. Most of the ruins are from the city built by Nebuchadnezzar. The largest city in the world at the time, it contained many temples, including the great temple of Marduk with its associated ziggurat, apparently the basis for the story of the Tower of Babel. The Hanging Gardens, a simulated hill of vegetation-clad terracing, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.