Babylon

An ancient Semitic city in the Euphrates valley, which after 2250 B.C., as the capital 
of Babylonia, became a center of world commerce and of the arts and sciences, its life marked 
by luxury and magnificence. The city in which they built the Tower of Babel, its location 
coincides approximately with that of the modern city of Baghdad – now the center of a vast 
agricultural community. The Babylonians attached great importance to the motions of the 
planets, accurately fixed their orbits and worked out tables of the phases of the Moon, whereby 
eclipses could be correctly predicted. Their great astrological work, “The Illumination of Bel,” 
was compiled within the period of 2100-1900 B.C.. From fragments of the tablets of another 
astrological work which has been preserved, it is found that their calendar began with March 21; 
and its twelve divisions, and their names, give evidence of astrological significance. Their story 
of the deluge closely parallels that of the Bible, and the location of their Mount Nisir (Mount of 
Refuge) is seemingly that of Mt. Ararat, where the ark stranded. Their Hanging Gardens were 
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. From what remains of their literature, it 
appears that with the rise of astrology there arose a wave of fatalism which, however, later gave 
way to a doctrine of self-determination – the belief that the stars impel but do not compel. 
Babylon is generally conceded to have been the cradle of astrology. It was overthrown in 539 A.
D., by Xerxes, the Persian. 

DeVore, Nicholas. Encyclopedia of Astrology. New York: Philosophical Library, 1947.