Discovering Babylon

How did Western culture come to imagine Babylon? This book traces the city as it was handed down through the Bible, ancient classical writers, and medieval travelers' accounts, and as it appeared in art, especially in depictions of the Tower. It then turns to the physical remains of Babylon, first sought out from the mid-nineteenth century and then uncovered in the major excavation carried out between 1899 and 1917.

The central concern is the meeting point between these two Babylons: the one shaped by written and visual tradition, and the one that archaeologists dug out of the ground. The author approaches this encounter from several directions at once, drawing on biblical studies and Assyriology alongside history, art history, intellectual history, and reception studies, and touching on contemporary issues.