• Knowledge That Cannot Come from Men
    The Watchtower—1975 | March 1

    • THE FATE OF BABYLON AND NINEVEH

      Babylon, built on both sides of the Euphrates River, was once the impressive capital of the great Babylonian Empire. Surrounded by palms, equipped with a permanent water supply and situated on the trade route from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, the city indeed had an excellent location. Nevertheless, even before Babylon’s status changed from a mere satellite of the Assyrian Empire to that of the capital of the world-conquering Babylonian Empire, the Hebrew prophet Isaiah declared in the eighth century B.C.E.: “Babylon, the decoration of kingdoms, the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans, must become as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation. And there the Arab will not pitch his tent, and no shepherds will let their flocks lie down there.”​—Isa. 13:19, 20.

      No one today can deny the fulfillment of these words. For many centuries already Babylon has lain in ruins. Even in the spring there is nothing on which sheep and goats might be seen feeding. Babylon has indeed come to an inglorious end. Curator-in-Chief of the French National Museums André Parrot said:

      “The impression it always made on me was one of utter desolation. . . . [Tourists] are generally deeply disappointed and almost with one voice exclaim that there is nothing to see. They expect to find palaces, temples, and the ‘Tower of Babel’; they are shown only masses of ruins, most of them consisting of baked brick​—that is to say, sun-dried clay blocks, grey-coloured and crumbling, and in no way impressive. The destruction wrought by man has been completed by the ravages of nature which still takes its toll of everything which excavation has brought to light. Eroded or undermined by rain, wind, and frost, the most magnificent monument, if it is not kept in repair, will return to the dust from which it was reclaimed. . . . No human power can arrest this ceaseless spoliation. It is no longer possible to reconstruct Babylon; her destiny is accomplished. . . . Babylon . . . has completely disappeared.”​—Babylon and the Old Testament, pp. 13, 14.