Baby̆lon

, a son of Belus, who, as some suppose, founded a city which bears his name.――A celebrated city, the capital of the A yrian empire, on the banks of the Euphrates. It had 100 brazen gates; and its walls, which were cemented with bitumen, and greatly enlarged and embellished by the activity of Semi ram is; measured 480 stadia in circumference, 50 cubits in thickne , and 200 in height. It was taken by Cyrus, B.C. 538, after he had drained the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel, and marched his troops by night into the town, through the dried bed; and it is said that the fate of the extensive capital was unknown to the inhabitants of the distant suburbs till late in the evening. Babylon became famous for the death of Alexander, and for the new empire which was afterwards established there under the Seleucidæ. See: Syria . Its greatne was so reduced in succeeding ages, according to Pliny’s observations, that in his time it was but a desolate wilderne , and at present the place where it stood is unknown to travellers. The inhabitants were early acquainted with astrology. Pliny , bk. 6 , ch. 26 .— Hero dot us , bks. 1, 2, 3.— Justin , bk. 1 , . — Diodorus , bk. 2 .— Xenophon , Cyropædia , bk. 7 , . — Pro pert i us , bk. 3 , poem 11, li. 21 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 4 , fable 2.— Martial , bk. 9 , ltr. 77 .――There is also a town of the same name near the Bubastic branch of the Nile, in Egypt.