Babylon Had It Coming

<p>Babylon had survived five destructions before Sennacherib tried to erase it for good. Why did Assyria&#39;s most bookish king — a man who loved Babylonian scholarship — finally flood the city and smash its temples in 689 BCE?</p><p><br></p><p>This is Oldest Stories, a biweekly deep dive into ancient Mesopotamia. Online at oldeststories.net</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode we trace Babylon&#39;s strange immortality: a city founded around 1894 BCE that claimed six thousand years of history by borrowing it from Eridu, the first city of the gods. We walk through each of Babylon&#39;s &quot;deaths&quot;:</p><p><br></p><p>Death 1: the ritual transfer from dying Eridu to Babylon under Hammurabi&#39;s successors, making Babylon the heir to pre-Flood kingship</p><p>Death 2: the Hittite sack of 1595 BCE and decades of abandonment</p><p>The Kassite revival, when Babylon became the world&#39;s university town, exporting doctors and diviners instead of armies</p><p>The humiliations under Tukulti-Ninurta I, the Elamite sack that stole Marduk, and Nebuchadnezzar I&#39;s brief martial comeback</p><p>The long grind with Assyria: Merodach-Baladan&#39;s revolts, Sennacherib&#39;s first campaign at Cutha and Kish in 703 BCE, the puppet kings Bel-ibni and Assur-nadin-shumi, the 694 BCE boat raid on Elam, the Elamite counterstroke in 693, and the bloodbath at Halule in 691</p><p>We end with the two-year siege of Babylon, Sennacherib&#39;s decision to dig a canal through the city, and what the destruction meant for cuneiform civilization. If Babylon had stayed dead, would Mesopotamian culture have lasted longer?</p><p><br></p><p>This episode continues our Sennacherib series. For the rise of Sargon II, Tiglath-Pileser III, and the earlier Assyrian-Babylonian wars, see the playlist.</p><p><br></p><p>Music from the show: oldeststories.net/music (or search &quot;Oldest Stories Music&quot;)</p><p><br></p><p>Support the show:</p><p>Books: https://a.co/d/7Wn4jhS</p><p>Donate: oldeststories.net</p><p>Patreon / YouTube members get bonus episodes: patreon.com/JamesBleckley</p><p><br></p><p>No-AI readings of ancient texts: youtube.com/@osnightreading</p><p><br></p>