Hanging Gardens of Babylon - terraced garden at Babylon watered by pumps from the Euphrates; construction attributed to Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC; one of the seven wonders of the ancient world

Tower of Babel, Babel - (Genesis 11:1-11) a tower built by Noah's descendants (probably in Babylon) who intended it to reach up to heaven; God foiled them by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another

Babylonian - the ideographic and syllabic writing system in which the ancient Babylonian language was written

city, metropolis, urban center - a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts; "Ancient Troy was a great city"

Mesopotamia - the land between the Tigris and Euphrates; site of several ancient civilizations; part of what is now known as Iraq

Mesopotamia - the land between the Tigris and Euphrates; site of several ancient civilizations; part of what is now known as Iraq

Babylonia, Chaldaea, Chaldea - an ancient kingdom in southern Mesopotamia; Babylonia conquered Israel in the 6th century BC and exiled the Jews to Babylon (where the Daniel became a counselor to the king)

Adad - Babylonian god of storms and wind

Adapa - a Babylonian demigod or first man (sometimes identified with Adam)

Anshar - the Babylonian father of the gods; identified with Assyrian Ashur; in Sumerian the name signifies `the totality of the upper world'

Antum - Babylonian consort of Anu

Anu - Babylonian god of the sky; one of the supreme triad including Bel and Ea

Anunnaki, Enuki - any of a group of powerful Babylonian earth spirits or genii; servitors of the gods

Ishtar, Mylitta - goddess of love and fertility and war; counterpart of Ashtoreth and Astarte

Bel - Babylonian god of the earth; one of the supreme triad including Anu and Ea; earlier identified with En-lil

Damgalnunna, Damkina - (Babylonian) earth goddess; consort of Ea and mother of Marduk

Girru - the Babylonian god of fire; often invoked in incantations against sorcery

Gula - the Babylonian goddess of healing and consort of Ninurta

Kishar - Babylonian consort of Anshar; in Sumerian the name signifies `the totality of the lower world'

Baal Merodach, Bel-Merodach, Marduk, Merodach - the chief Babylonian god; his consort was Sarpanitu

Nabu, Nebo - Babylonian god of wisdom and agriculture and patron of scribes and schools

Nina - the Babylonian goddess of the watery deep and daughter of Ea

Ningirsu - Babylonian god in older pantheon: god of war and agriculture

Ningishzida - an underworld Babylonian deity; patron of medicine

Ninib, Ninurta - a solar deity; first-born of Bel and consort was Gula; god of war and the chase and agriculture; sometimes identified with Biblical Nimrod

Sarpanitu, Zarpanit, Zirbanit - consort of Marduk

Shamash - the chief sun god; drives away winter and storms and brightens the earth with greenery; drives away evil and brings of justice and compassion

Tashmit, Tashmitum - consort of Nabu