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December 16, 2008 05:32 PM

What is the history of the name of the city Babylon?

I know the city Babylon was taken over and renamed several times. It was called Constantinople once, and I'm pretty sure it was called Alexandria at some point. Can someone list the names it was called, and the time periods for which those names lasted?
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December 16, 2008 06:04 PM
there was a city called Lon. Children were outlawed there. (kind of like in that movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, except without the bondage themed love songs)

When a Lonish woman became great with child, she would travel via donkey to the next town over. Eventually, that town became known as Baby-Lon.

All this was about 80 years ago, in ancient Persia.
Source(s):
made it up out of whole cloth.


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December 16, 2008 06:08 PM
I was looking more for what order the names came in.

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December 16, 2008 07:02 PM
The earliest source to mention Babylon may be a dated tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad (ca. 24th century BC short chronology). The so-called "Weidner Chronicle" states that it was Sargon himself who built Babylon "in front of Akkad" (ABC 19:51). Another chronicle likewise states that Sargon "dug up the dirt of the pit of Babylon, and made a counterpart of Babylon next to Agade". (ABC 20:18-19).

Some scholars, including linguist I.J. Gelb, have suggested that the name Babil is an echo of an earlier city name. According to Dr. Ranajit Pal, this city was in the East[1]. Herzfeld wrote about Bawer in Iran, which was allegedly founded by Jamshid; the name Babil could be an echo of Bawer. David Rohl holds that the original Babylon is to be identified with Eridu. The Bible in Genesis 10 indicates that Nimrod was the original founder of Babel (Babylon). Joan Oates claims in her book Babylon that the rendering "Gateway of the gods" is no longer accepted by modern scholars.

Over the years, the power and population of Babylon waned. From around the 20th century BC, it was occupied by Amorites, nomadic tribes from the west who were Semitic speakers like the Akkadians, but did not practice agriculture like them, preferring to herd sheep.

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December 16, 2008 07:05 PM
There are many different ideas out there about this, I would start here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=YcjFAV4WZ9MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=History++By+Anatoly+Fomenko#PPA44,M1
Source(s):
http://books.google.com/books?id=YcjFAV4WZ9MC&printsec=frontcover&d...


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