BABYLON;
 

J3ACCH1ADjB.
 

 king  of  Egypt, in the  battle of Circesium, B.C.

 604.  Under his  son and successor, Nebuehad

 nezzar (B.C.  604-562), the  Babylonian empire

 reached its height and extended from the  Eu¬

 phrates to Egypt, and ft-orr the mountains of

 Armenia to the deserts  of Arabia.   After his

 death it again declined, until it was overthrown

 by the captura of  Babylon  by the Medes and

 Persians  under Cyrus  (B.C. 538), who made the

 city on-3 of the capitals of the Persian  empire,

 the others being  Susa and  Ecbatana.   Under

 his successors the city rapidly sank.  Darius I.

 dismantled its fortifications, in consequence of a

 revolt of its inhabitants;  Xerxes carried  off

 the golden statue of Belus, and  the temple in

 which it  stood became a min.  After the death

 of Alexander, Babylon became a part of  the

 Syrian kingdom of  Seleucus Nicator, who con

 tribute j  to its decline  by the foundation of Se

 leucta on  the Tigris,  whieh soon eclipsed it.

 At the  commencement of our era, the  greater

 part of the  eity was in ruins; and at the pres¬

 ent day, all its visible remains consist of mounds

 of earth, ruined masses of  brick walls,  and a

few  scattered fragments.   Its  very  site  has

 been turned into a dreary marsh by repeated in¬

 undations from the river.  The city of Babylon

had reached  the summit of its magnificence in

the reign of  Nebuchadnezzar.   It  formed a

square, each  side  of which  was  one hundred

and twenty  stadia (twelve geographical  miles)

in length.   The  walls, of burned  brick, were

 two  hundred  cubits high and  fifty  thick; in

them  were two hundred  and fifty towers aud

f ixty  bronze  gates ; and they were surrounded

by a deep ditch.  The  Euphrates, which divided

the city  into two equal parts,  was embanked

 with walls of brick, the openings of which, at

 the ends of the transverse streets, were closed by

 gates of  bronze.   A budge, built on  piers of

 hewn stone, united the  two quarters of the city ;

 and at each end of it stood a royal palace : these

 erections were ascribed to Semiramis.  Of two

 other public buildings  of the greatest celebrity,

 the one  was the  temple of Belus, rising  to a

 great height, and  consisting of  eight stories,

 gradually diminishing  in width, and ascended by

 a flight of steps, which wound round  the whole

 building  on the outside; in the uppermost story

 was the  golden statue of Belus, with a  golden

 altar aud other  treasures:  this building also

 was ascribed to  Semiramis.   The other edifiee

 referred  to  was  the   "hanging  gardens" of

 Nebuchadnezzar,  laid  out upon terraces whieh

 were raised above one another on arches.  The

 houses of the city were three or four stories in

 'Height, and  the streets were straight, intersect¬

 ing one another at right angles.  The buildings

 were almost universally  constructed of bricks,

 some burned, and som" only sun-dried, cemented

 together with  hot bitumen,  and in some cases

 with mortar.   The Babylonians were certainly a

 Semitic race; but the  ruling class, to whieh the

 kings, and priests, and the men of learning be¬

 longed, were the  Chaldaeans, whose origin and

 affinities  are  somewhat  doubtful;  the most

 probable opinion, however, is that they were a

 tribe of invaders,  who  descended  from  the

 mountains on the borders of  Armenia, and con¬

 quered the Babylonians.  The religion  of the

 Cl.aldajans was Sabaism, or  the worship of the
 

heavenly bodies,  not purely so, but  symbolized

in the forms of idols,  besides whom they had

other divinities, representing the powers of na

ture.   The  priests formed  a caste,  and  culti¬

vated science, especially  astronomy ; m which

they knew the apparent actions  of the  sun,

moon, and five of the  planets, the calculation of

eclipses of the moon, the division of  the zudiaa

into twelve  constellations, and of tic yeai into

twelve months, and the measurement of  time by

the sun dial.  They must also have had other in¬

struments for measuring time, such as the water-

clock, for instance; and  it is highly probable

that  the definite  methods of determining such

quantities, which  the Chaldaean astronomers in¬

vented,  were  the  origin of  the systems  ol

weights and measures  used by the Gieeks and

Romans.  Their buildings prove their knowledge

of mechanics; and  their remains, slight as they

are, show considerable  progress  in the fine arts.

The  Babylonian government was au unlimited

monarchy ; the king  appears to have lived  in

almost  total  seclusion from his people,  sur¬

rounded by  his court; and  the  provinces were

administered by governors, like  the  Persian sa¬

traps, responsible only  to the monarch, whose

commands they obeyed or  defied according  to

his strength or weakness.  The  position of the

city on  the  lower course  of the  Euphrates, by

which it was  connected with the Persian Gulf.

and at the meeting of natural routes between

Eastern Asia  and India on  the  one side, and

Europe, Asia  Minor, Syria, Egjpt, and Arabia

on the  other,  made it  the seat of a flourish

ing commerce, and  of immense wealth and lux¬

ury.   The district around the eity, bounded by

the Tigris on  tho east,  Mesopotamia  on th«

north, the Arabian  Desert on the west, and ex

tending  to the head of  the Persian  Gulf on the

south, was known in later  times by the name of

Babylonia  (now  Irak  Arabi), sometimes  also

called Chaldaea.   But compare Chaldjsa.  This

district was a plain, subject to continual inunda¬

tions  from the  Tigris  and  Euphratea, which

were  regulated by canals, the chief of which

waa the Naarmalcha, i. e. Royal  River or Canal

(iroTap.bg (3aoiXcwg, Siwpv!; ftaaiXiKTi,  flumen re-

gium), which extended  from the Tigris at Se-

leucia due west to the Euphrates, and was navi¬

gable.   The  country was fertile, but deficient

in trees.

   Babylon (BatmXov: near Fostat or Old Cairo)

a fortress in Lower Egypt, on the right bank of

the Nile, exactly  opposite to the pyramids, and

at the beginning  of the canal which connected

the Nile with the Bed  Sea.  Its origin was as¬

cribed by tradition to  a body of  Babylonian de¬

serters.   It first became  an important place

under the Romans.  Augustus made it the sta¬

tion of one of the three Egyptian legions.

   Babylonia.   Vid. Babylon.

   Bacoh-e  (BuKxai), also called  Mcenadet and

Thyiades.  1.  The female companions of Diony¬

sus or Bacchus in his  wanderings through the

East,  are represented  as crowned   with  vine

leaves, clothed with fawn skins, and  carrying ia

their hands the thyrsus (vid. Bid. of Ant, s. v.).

■—2. Priestesses of  Bacchus  (Dionysus), who, by

wine  and other excitiDg  causes,  worked them

selves up to phrensy at the Dionysiac festivals.

   BArcfflAixE (BaKxiddat), an Heraclid clan, do

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