The city of Babylon is perhaps one of the most famous of ancient cities because of its rich history and legend. The monuments which it contained were and still are incredibly impressive. Babylon was made greatest by King Nebuchadnezzar who reigned just over forty years. Tragically, just fourteen years after his death, his beloved and supposedly impregnable city was looted and ransacked by his former allies, the Medes.
While studying ancient Middle East history, it is easy to suppose that the area was full of fighting and no steady government, something quite different from today. In reality, though, there is the same upheaval in 20th century society as there was then. Just in the last one hundred years alone, there have been two world wars which make all of the ancient battles pale to mere squabbles in comparison.
While researching this paper, there were primarily two different sources: library books from the fifties and sixties and the internet. The books from the library were most beneficial in explaining and interpreting various components of Babylonian history. Unfortunately, these books had few pictures and almost none in color. However, it was surprising to see the hundreds of internet sites related to Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. While these sites often had very little substantive material, they did have excellent pictures with most in color. In order to increase the information pool and more fully develop the content of the internet, this paper will be available on the world wide web at http://claymore.engineer.gvsu.edu/~sietsemr/babylon.html.