alone
seems to have failed in securing the support of the Babylonian priesthood;
at all events he never underwent the ceremony, and Babylonia throughout his
reign was in a constant state of revolt which was finally suppressed only
by the complete destruction of the capital. In 689 B.C. its walls, temples
and palaces were razed to the ground and the rubbish thrown into the
Arakhtu, the canal which bordered the earlier Babylon on the south. The act
shocked the religious conscience of western Asia; the subsequent murder of
Sennacherib was held to be an expiation of it, and his successor
Esar-haddon hastened to rebuild the old city, to receive there his crown,
and make it his residence during part of the year. On his death Babylonia
was left to his elder son Samas-sum-yukin, who eventually headed a revolt
against his brother Assur-bani-pal of Assyria. Once more Babylon was
besieged by the Assyrians and starved into surrender. Assur-bani-pal
purified the city and celebrated a "service of reconciliation," but did not
venture to "take the hands" of Bel. In the subsequent overthrow of the
Assyrian empire the Babylonians saw another example of divine vengeance.

With the recovery of Babylonian independence under Nabopolassar a new era
of architectural activity set in, and his son Nebuchadrezzar made Babylon
one of the wonders of the ancient world. It surrendered without a struggle
to Cyrus, but two sieges in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, and one in the
reign of Xerxes, brought about the destruction of the defences, while the
monotheistic rule of Persia allowed the temples to fall into decay. Indeed
part of the temple of E-Saggila, which like other ancient temples served as
a fortress, was intentionally pulled down by Xerxes after his capture of
the city. Alexander was murdered in the palace of Nebuchadrezzar, which
must therefore have been still standing, and cuneiform texts show that,
even under the Seleucids, E-Saggila was not wholly a ruin. The foundation
of Seleucia in its neighbourhood, however, drew away the population of the
old city and hastened its material decay. A tablet dated 275 B.C. states
that on the 12th of Nisan the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to
the new town, where a palace was built as well as a temple to which the
ancient name of E-Saggila was given. With this event the history of Babylon
comes practically to an end, though more than a century later we find
sacrifices being still performed in its