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Key Details
Type
CityMythology
Mesopotamian Pantheon
Coordinates
32.5422°N, 44.4211°E
About This Location
Marduk's city, Enuma's stage
Babylon (Babili, "gate of the gods") is Marduk's city. The Enuma Elish is recited at Akitu: Marduk kills Tiamat, orders the cosmos, and takes kingship in Esagila, with Etemenanki as the ziggurat. It is a political theology for a late second-millennium and first-millennium capital, not a Sumerian first city (that claim belongs to Eridu). Herodotus later gapes at the walls. The myth explains why this city rules.
Primary Sources
“They founded Esagila, the counterpart of Esharra. They built the temple tower of Esagila, a ziggurat of equal height.”
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