World History
Encyclopedia recently posted a YouTube
video retelling the history of Babylon
in a nutshell. It gives a fascinating
and concise overview covering thousands of years of the city’s existence.
A striking detail, in my eyes, is a cuneiform
cylinder holding an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar
II, on which he describes the construction of the outer city wall of Babylon.
This event is dated to ca. 604-562 BC. At first glance, one can take it for the
cylinder of Cyrus the Great written
in 539 BC telling his conquest of Babylon (see: The Cyrus cylinder and Ancient Persia: A New Beginning) .
It is tempting to believe that the Nebuchadnezzar
cylinder inspired Cyrusto
commemorate his own great deeds.
Could Alexander have been aware of this?