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Dear Nick,Babylon was once regarded as the holiest city in the world but the real dimensions of this holiness for which even Koldeway the German excavator was reluctant to excavate, as it meant destruction of the holy shrines, has remained unclear. It is curious that the Bible, comprising only the Pentateuch, was first put together in Babylon, not Jerusalem. This must be related to the fact that even the Babylonian Talmud had greater authenticity. An oft-quoted passage in the Old Testament expresses how the Jews hated their captivity in Babylon but as H. G. Wells noted, it was here that the Jews came in contact with a higher civilization.The name Bible has remained some kind of an enigma. It is said to have originated from the Greek word Byblion (book) or from Byblos which meant the rind of a stem of the papyrus plant which was used for writing in the ancient era. However this sense of the term has not been traced to a date earlier than the 4th century AD and as such can only be a late meaning. The word is also thought to be linked to the name of the Phoenician port Byblos through which papyrus was usually imported into Judaea but there is another name that resembles Bible and also had a very sacred connotation GÇô Babylon.Regards,Dr. Pal

Re: Babylon. I've done a lot of research regarding Babylon, especially at Alexander's time, as my novel "Shadow of the Lion" begins in Babylon.
I've also a very good friend here (Iraqi - "Sumerian") who has presented performance art shows at the ancient site. Are we to see it further destroyed now by the barrage of bombs US plans to drop? This corner of the world is our beginnings and should be resurrected, not destroyed.As for "biblio" "Bible" it's my understanding it does come from the Greek "Biblio" (book) The Book.
Perhaps named so because of the gospels which were all written in Greek?

I understand that Babylon means gateway to Heaven.

Ruth, can you tell us anything about Alexander and his visit to the Hanging Gardens? Is there much information about his interest in the gardens?As for your remarks about the bombings, it does seem to imply that there is little respect for the antiquities of the region. That is a shame!

Gateway to Heaven? Hmm that's beautiful and rather prophetic in a way. Babylon was really at its heyday during Nebucharezzar's day so when Alexander go there a lot of it was ruined, although the Persian had vast amounts of riches so some things, like the palaces were well kept I believe. The hanging gardens were still there but of course not in their most magnificent state. If you look on my website at the first chapter excerpt there is a color pix. of what it used to be like and some description in the prose from research I've done.
A few years ago Sadaam was claiming to 'restore' the site but likely not much has been done to it. I'm not sure what damage was done in the Gulf War and I expect it will be totalled in this one if they start dropping those nuclear-strength bombs they threaten to use.

Dear Ruth and Janet,I am also greatly worried about the effects of war. Yes I may be wrong about he meaning of the name Bible but there are some curious coincidences. Both the names, Babylon and the Bible, echo the name Babil of a very ancient city. My hunch is that Babil was Kuh-i-Khwaja in Seistan which was Kapilavastu, sacred to not only the Zoroastrians but also Buddhists and the Jews before the migration. Babylon became the holiest city after the fall of Babil. Herzfeld refers to a local tradition that links Kuh-e Khwaja with Abraham. Babil may have been the Ur-Heimat, holiest site of the ancient world.As Joan Oates writes in her book GÇÿBabylonGÇÖ, the origin of the name Babylon is not GÇÿholy gateGÇÖ but a mysterious early name Babil. Babil is cognate with Kapil or Kapilavastu (Vastu=abode) where Gotama Buddha was born. In the Lalitavistara, GotamaGÇÖs birth-story Kapilavastu is said to be the birth place of all Prophets. Its great antiquity and sacred history must have been known to Alexander who named it Alexandria Prophthasia i.e. Alexandria of the Prophets. Ghirshman held that the frescoes of Kuh-i-Khwaja are the precursors of Gandhara art. The Jewish Patriarchs came from Ur in the east. But where exactly was this Ur? After Sir Leonard Woolley unearthed the breath-taking remains of a great civilization in Ur in southern Iraq there was such romantic enthusiasm in the academic community that his identification of Ur of Abraham became uncritically accepted even though it was sternly rejected by such an astute scholars as W. F. Albright. The recent discovery by Italian archaeologists of an ancient city at Sahr I-Sokhta in Seistan dramatically changes the perspective. Sahr I-Sokhta was larger than Ur in Mesopotamia. This, together with the references of Islamic geographers to a city named Ubbula in the Gulf area Uruvela in the Indian tradition, offers a deeper insight into the origins of world religions.Regards,Dr.Pal

Dear Ruth,I forgot to mention that E. Herzfeld, probably one of the greatest authorities on ancient Indo-Iran, wrote that the three Magi went to Palestine to hail Jesus from Kuh-e Khwaja which I have identified as Kapil(avastu) or Babil.Regards,
Dr. Pal

My source for the information is Maureen Ash or Gail Stewart. The author spent a paragraph or two describing the origins of the word. I found it beautiful also. I can remember teaching Stephen Vincent Benet's By the Waters of Babylon, a short story for tenth grade English, back in the early 60's. Babylon therein meant either New York City or Washington, D.C. It is sad to realize how close we are coming to that piece of fiction in these times.The theme of that short story is that the truth is a hard deer to hunt. It seems to be so even with word derivations. But nonetheless I appreciate your comments as that is what makes research so interesting.Also, in both books is also depicted the funeral procession for Alexander and the huge carriage in which his corpse is carried across Europe. The images found in children's books are often more abundant than in adult books.

O.K., thanks, Ruth, for directing me to the exact place where I can find this information. I just love the hanging gardens so I'll look for it right away. I agree that it is a shame that this area isn't designated as STAY OUT region. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it will be avoided.

Dear Janet,Another reason why I attach such importance to Kuh-e Khwaja is that in my view it was probably very near the Garden of Eden of the Book of Genesis. You mentioned the book 'By the Waters of Babylon' which places the garden in Iraq but I think this is not true. I think the statement in the Indian texts that Gotama's abode was near the Heaven or Swarga is not only fancy. Modern Sharja may be an echo of ancient Swarga. The name Swargavis(vrs=bull) also appears in the history of Cyrus the Great.Regards,Dr. Pal

Dear dr. Pal -Thank you very much for sharing your valuable insights. You convinced me that the identification of many ancient sites is due to wishful thinking or popular trends in Western science, rather than a result of objective surveys of all possible "candidates".I mean: wasn't Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa first identified as Salomo's Ofir due to popular views in the 19th century? Could our historians still have troubles separating facts from "political correctness"?Thank you,Nick