And, an Early Archaeologist! A man of the southern marshes, Nabopolassar, released Babylonia from Assyrian domination in BCE . His successors increased their territory and organised building projects at Babylon. From that time, even after the Achaemenids of Iran conquered Babylon in BCE and until BCE when Alexander conquered Babylon, Babylon was the premier city of the world, more than hectares, with a triple wall, great palaces and temples, a ziggurat or stepped tower, and a processional way to the ritual centre.
Its trading houses had widespread dealings and its mathematicians and astronomers made some new discoveries. Nabonidus was the last ruler of independent Babylon. He writes that the god of Ur came to him in a dream and ordered him to appoint a priestess to take charge of the cult in that ancient town in the deep south. He writes: ‘Because for a very long time the office of High Priestess had been forgotten, her characteristic features nowhere indicated, I bethought myself day after day …’ Then, he says, he found the stele of a very early king whom we today date to about BCE and saw on that stele the carved image of the Priestess.
He observed the clothing and the jewellery that was depicted. This is how he was able to dress his daughter for her consecration as Priestess. On another occasion, Nabonidus’s men brought to him a broken statue inscribed with the name of Sargon, king of Akkad. (We know today that the latter ruled around BCE .) Nabonidus, and indeed many intellectuals, had heard of this great king of remote times.
Nabonidus felt he had to repair the statue. ‘Because of my reverence for the gods and respect for kingship,’ he writes, ‘I summoned skilled craftsmen, and replaced the head.’ W RITING AND C ITY L IFE ACTIVITY Why do you think Assurbanipal and Nabonidus cherished early Mesopotamian traditions? T HEMES IN W ORLD H ISTORY