Babylon or Babel means in the bible: Babylonia’s capital. It was established by Nimrod according to Gen.10:8-10. See Ether 12:30-35 for the details of the Tower of Babel, and “Confusion of Tongues” (Ether 1:3-5). It was part of the Assyrian empire, which was overthrown by Sennacherib. Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar’s capital after the fall of Assyria. His city was huge, and its ruins are still visible. It was rectangular and had the Euphrates running through its middle. Herodotus said that the wall measured 56 miles around, was 335 feet tall, and was 85 feet in width. Beautiful parks and gardens dominated large swathes of the city. Bel was the main building. Recent decipherments have shown that Babylonians kept accounts of Creation and Deluge that are very similar to the ones found in Genesis. Others inscriptions provide valuable information about the chronology and events of those periods, as well as the Bible histories for the kingdoms Israel and Judea.
(in Bible Dictionary)
