Cardiff University professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, known for his books on ancient Persia and the forgotten queens of Egypt, here turns his flair for lyrical interpretation of historical source-matter to one of the most storied cities of the Mesopotamian cradle of civilization: Babylon.
Occupying a unique place within Western understanding of the ancient world, coloured by the biases and agendas of those who have documented it, Babylon is known to many as the ‘quintessential city of sin’, as Llewellyn-Jones puts it. But beyond misunderstanding, slander and projection, Babylon is deserving of the kind of rigorous reassessment provided by Llewellyn-Jones. A thriving, mega-city for centuries, home to the fabled Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, Babylon is brought brilliantly to life here. From its glorious peak, when it was “glistening with gold and lapis-blue glazed bricks” to its eventual decrepitude, Llewellyn-Jones gives the historical sources a light-touch, literary buff-up to cast a modern perspective on the city’s centuries of boom and bust.
For all that the dynastic turmoil and architectural triumphs of the great city dominate these sources, Llewellyn-Jones does what he can to get beyond the obvious and there are nuggets of fascinating detail dispersed through every chapter: the development of writing on Babylonian clay tablets; the importance of the cult of Marduk to the city; even what Babylonians would snack on. A highly engaging life story of a city of astonishing importance to the development of civilization.
