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Babylon plays an important role in the Bible. It first appears in Genesis as the Tower of Babel, which the people built as they disobeyed God. Revelation, the final book of the Bible, mentions Babylon several times as a symbol for Rome. So from the beginning to the end of the Bible, Babylon is a place of pride and oppression. It symbolizes opposition to God.

But the city of Babylon is more than a metaphor. It was an actual place that played a pivotal role in the history of God’s people, especially during the time of Daniel.

You can see the ruins of Babylon on the outskirts of modern-day Baghdad, Iraq. The ancient city spread for a couple of kilometers in each direction and hugged the Euphrates River. Many of the buildings served either royal or religious purposes.

Babylon has a long and storied history. People began settling in the area sometime around 2200 BC. A famous ruler named Hammurabi established the first Babylonian dynasty in the 1700s BC. He wrote the famous Code of Hammurabi, which has some remarkable similarities with the Mosaic law.

For most of the next 1,000 years, the city of Babylon existed and even thrived under the rule of the Kassite and Assyrian empires. At various times, the city served as the political and religious capital of these kingdoms. During this time, scribes wrote the Epic of Gilgamesh and Enuma Elish. These two ancient stories have interesting similarities with the Bible’s creation and flood accounts—with some critical differences as to how and why they happened.

During the 600s BC, the Assyrian Empire began to fade. A man named Nabopolassar freed Babylon from Assyrian control and established a new Babylonian dynasty. Around 605 BC, Nabopolassar sent his son, Nebuchadnezzar, to battle the Egyptians and take control of the region of Palestine. After defeating the Egyptians at the city of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar turned his attention to Jerusalem. In 597 BC, he captured Jerusalem and exiled many of the nobility to Babylon. Daniel and other members of the elite class in Judea were deported at this time. A decade later, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and robbed the temple.

The events recorded in the book of Daniel occur during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who became the king of Babylon after his father’s death. It’s hard to overestimate how important the city of Babylon is for the biblical story. The prophets describe the city as a tool God used to discipline His people for their idolatry. As we’ve seen, Babylon symbolizes pride, oppression, and rebellion against God from Genesis to Revelation.