With regard to the site of Babylon, the ruinous heaps running from N. to S. and all on the E. bank of the Euphrates, represent the following ancient structures: Jumj una = the great banking- house ; Tell ' AmTlin = Sag -ilia ; Kassr = one of the palaces of Nebuchadrezzar (the royal palace mentioned by Herodotus was on the \V. bank) ; Babil = the famous terraced gardens. The two great walls described by Herodotus (i. 181) were built by Nebuch. ll., who, in a special sense, was the refounder of Babylon. 'The outer wall was named Nimitti-Bel ('dwelling of Bel'), the inner /mjur- Bel (' Bel was gracious '), probably in imitation of the names of the walls of Nippur, the ancient city of Bel (Nimitti-Marduk and Imgur-Marduk).
In the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gn U''"), v.» is probably a later addition, for li.il)el was certainly not amongst the oldest sanctuaries of the land of Shinar (Chalda'a). In lliis con- nexion a tradition preserved by the LXX of Is 10* is of the highest interest. vVe reail there, ttjk X(6/)av T^i* iirdvui Ba/3uXui;'os Kal XaXai'i'ij (according to Talm. tradition Calneh is the ancient Nippur) of i iri5p7ot ifKoSoiiriOr}, ' the country above Babylon and Calneh where the tower was built.' Kis, to whose situation these words may perhaps refer, contained the famous tetnple Khnr.'say-ktilamTnfi (' mouutidn of the world,' cf. Is 14'"), and in the same city Khammurabi built the temple Miti-ursagga, whose ' top (saj) he carried up (iV/a) as high as heaven' (»jnn<i-7i?n). The same Khammurabi would then have built also Sag-illa at Babel. See also ToNOUKS, Confusion op. F. Hommel.
BABI (A BaS(, B Boti)p), the head of a family which returned with Ezra (1 Es 8"), colled in Ezr 8" Bebal (wh. see).
BABYLON IN OT.— See Babel, Babylonia.
BABYLON IN NT.— 1. In Mt l""-", Ac 7«» (adapted from Am 5") the name certoinly denotes the ancient city.
2. The name occurs in Rev 14' 16'" 17' IS*-'"".
In 17° it is described as iivmipior, i.e. a name to be allegorically interpreted (cf. Kev 11» 16'- 2'^- -"). A full discHs.'sion would require an investigation of the apocalyptic imagery generally. The chief conditions, however, of the problem are these : B. is described (1) as 'the harlot,' the supreme anti- thesis of 'the bride,' 'the holy city, 'the new Jerus.' ; (2) as the centre and ruler of the nations, 14" 17"- "• " ; (3) as seated on ' seven mountains,' 17' (see Wetstein's note) ; (4) as the source of idolatry and impurity, \V- 18» 19» (cf. Ho l'»-2», Ejih 4'"'-, 1 P 4''-) ; (5) as a great trading centre, Ijj3.n-i9. (6) as enervated by luxury, is'-'^f-^S; (7) as the arch-persecutor of the saints and of ' the witnesses of Jesus,' 17" 19". These considerations, taken together, are decisive (a) against the view of a few interpreters, that by B. is meant Jems ; (6) in favour of the almost universal view that Rome is symbolised by B. This use of the name in an early Judseo-Christian book is in harmony with (1) the many analogies between ancient B. and Home, both being capitals of great empires, homes of idolatry and impure luxury, oppressors of ' the Israel of God ' ; (2) the Jewish love for mystic names, Rome and the Rom. Empire being often designated among the Jews as Edom (see, e.g., Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. p. 29 IT. ) ; (3) the Jewish con- ception of the antagonism of the Rom. Empire to, and its destruction by, the Messianic kingdom (see Weber, Die Lehrcn des Talmud, p. 3G4 f . ; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, ii. p. 439) ; (4) the fact that Rome is called B. in what may well be an early Jewish portion of the Sibylline Oracles, viz. v. 143, 158 (for the different views on Bk. v. see Schiirer, HJP U. iii. 286 f.). The comparison of Rome to B. underlies much of Jewish apocalyptic litera- ture (2 Es, Apoc. Baruch ; cf. Ryle and Jtmes' note on Psalms of Solomxm, ii. 29). The only passage from Talmudic literature commonly cited for this mystic use of B. is the Midrosn Shir hashirim Ilahba, i. 6 (quoted by Wetstein on Apoc. 17" ; see also Levy, Neuh. u. CKald. Worterb. 190i). Zunz (Lit. der Synag. Poesie, n. 100 f.)* refers also to Midr. Ps. 121 and liamidhar rabba, c. 7 (end), noting that the name Babylonians was given by Jews to the Christians {Gen. Haggada, c. 27, in Jellinck's Bcthha Midrash, iv. p. 41). The interpretation of B. in the Apoc. as Rome dates from the earliest times ; it is implied in Iren. v. 26. 1, di.-itiiiclly stated in Tert. ado. Marc. iii. 13 = arf«. Jiidmus, 9). So Jerome and Augustine, quoted by Wetstein on Apoc. 17"*. Andreas (Cramer, Catena, p. 060) speaks of it as derived ' from ancient teachers of the Church.' Such opinions as that by B. is meant (a) ' New Rome' ( = Constantinople), ' because in it, in the times of the Arians, much blond of tlie orthodox was shed ' (Cramer, Catena, p. 429) ; (6) the Papacy.eitherat Avijrnonorat Rome {see Speaker's Com. IV. 754), scarcely belong to historical inter- pretation.
3. The name B. is found in 1 P 5", dard^rrai u/xas 1^ ^f ha^vXuivi avveKXfKT^. tt and some otiier authorities add iKKXriaia.. Two cursives read iv 'Pu/Mj). Three interi>retations of B. in this passage have been suggested: (1) The Egyp. B., which, however, is described by Strabo (xvii. p. 807 1 as simply (t>fiovpiov ipvitfhv. (2) The Assyr. B. l!\it {a) there is apparently no evidence cillicr that St. Peter was ever at B. ur that a Christian church existed there in early times ; (A) in Jos. Ant. xviil. ix. 5-9 we have positive evidence as to the desola- tion which befell the Bab. Jews alx>ut A.u. 40, and the consequent im|>robability that an Apostolic Church would have been jilantcd among them (cf. Nculiauer, G(ogr. du Talm. p. 314). (3) Rome. Till' evidence in its favour is both internal and exti-.riial : {a) Internal evidence. It bormonisea * 1 huvu to Uiuiik ttiu K«v, A. LukyD WUlianu for tbis rafereooe