babylon was founded in the third millennium before christ. little is known about this early period of settlement. however, some of the buildings that were constructed in the sixth century before christ under the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar II have survived to this day.
it’s actually a sacrilege to mention both at the same time, but unfortunately saddam hussein, who in his megalomania saw himself as the successor to the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar II, had a palace built directly on the site of babylon. And on top of that, on a hill – who knows what ancient relics lie beneath its foundations? Saddam probably had 80 (other sources mention up to 150) palaces in which cooking had to be done 4 times a day – it could have been that …
we were allowed to park our truck directly in front of the replica of the ishtar gate for a photo shoot, and we parked it infont of the palace as well. the original Ishtar gate is in berlin and will unfortunately only be open to the public again in 2037 after the renovation of the pergamon museum.
saddam had parts of babylon rebuilt and probably destroyed a lot of archaeologically relevant material in the process. one of my photos shows the supposed remains of the hanging gardens of samuramis. however, their existence has not been scientifically proven.
the resentment of the iraqi people is reflected in the devastation of saddam’s palace. the two upper floors are now no longer accessible. we were lucky enough to join a spanish travelling group and so i was able to take pictures on the upper floors.
I was there in 1991 after the war in UN service. It was so interesting seeing your pictures and the stories. I have a photo of me on the lion in Babylon. In Ur we saw rocks with old Sumiric writing and even the tomd of Nebukaneser. His army was alove when he was burried.
Should have been fun going there now by ourselves.
Thanks for the photos.