Measurements of the City Walls of Babylon A
Transmitted by a Neo- or Late Babylonian tablet which probably came from Babylon, this text is an invaluable topographical source concerning Imgur-Enlil, the city wall of Babylon, a monumental construction acknowledged in antiquity as one of the Seven World Wonders.
The city wall is presented in the form of a survey which describes, section by section and from east to west, its condition at the time of the composition, as is evident by the comments on the state of repair or the damage/non-existence of its various segments.
The references to buildings, such as the temple Ehursagkuga of Gula, not previously attested in the series Tintir and, at the same time, the absence of any references to Nebuchadnezzar II's abutment and Nabonidus' quay wall, probably point to a date of composition later than that of the more famous Babylonian topographical series but prior to Nebuchadnezzar II's building activities. In other words, this text should be considered a witness to the state of the city wall at the end of the seventh century BCE, and was probably commissioned by Nebuchadnezzar II himself before he resumed his father's work.
Measurements of the City Walls of Babylon B
On the opposite side of the famous map of the city is a text in four columns dealing with metrological and astronomical matters as well as (in column ii) the length of the city wall of Babylon, Imgur-Enlil.
A comparison with other ancient sources that also mention the length of Babylon's rampart, such as Esarhaddon 105 and Nabonidus 01, gives a tally of 1,200 nindanu, which corresponds to roughly 7,200 meters and, according to George 1992, is close enough to the 8,015 meters estimable from archeological research.
Moreover, in this text the city wall is divided into four constituent parts, i.e. an "upper" and a "lower" section on both banks, where it is not divided at the midpoint along the circuit but at a specific point which equals, in George's reconstruction, the Zababa Gate in the eastern half and the Adad Gate in the western one.
Measurements of the City Walls of Babylon C
This text, attested by an almost complete Neo- or Late Babylonian tablet of uncertain provenance, registered the number of towers between consecutive gates along a city wall. According to George 1992, the presence of topographical names known from Neo- and Late Babylonian contracts, such as the Giššu Gate and the Madānu Canal, proves that the rampart dealt with here is Nebuchadnezzar II's outer fortification at Babylon.
This city wall extended from a northern point somewhere close to the so-called Summer Palace, turned away from the Euphrates to border the eastern suburbs of the city, and finally ended again at the river south of Imgur-Enlil.
The enumeration of 120 towers and 5 gates allows us to reconstruct the entire circuit as shown in the map. The text was probably composed as a note and used as memory aid at the time of the wall's construction or as instructions for the city watch.
Further Reading
Giulia Lentini
Giulia Lentini, 'City Walls', Babylonian Topographical Texts online (BTTo), BTTo, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/Babylon/Metrologicaltexts/CityWalls/]