Olof Pedersén
A digital model of Babylon is under development. Both archaeological
material and ancient texts are used on a detailed level for the
reconstruction of this famous ancient city. Architectural computer
programs are used for building the model, which is placed in
environmental and historical contexts. An integrated GIS analysis is
used for the city’s relation to the surroundings on different scales.
The model will be used for developing and testing alternative
reconstructions, creating new questions and providing answers. The
development of the city is shown on different historical levels. Maps
and other drawings are exported from the model.
Downloads of preliminary material are available here.

Model of Babylon during the final part
of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. Processional Way in front of the
Ishtar Gate of glazed bricks. Street covered with limestone and breccia
stones.
The ArchiCAD program is used for the model and the Artlantis program
for the renderings. The preliminary work has been part both of the Urban
Mind Project at Uppsala University and the Excellence Cluster Topoi at
Freie Universität Berlin. Inspection on site has been facilitated by
Word Monuments Fund and State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. The
project is associated with the Babylon project
at Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin, where a reworking of the
findings of Koldewey’s famous excavation 1899-1917 is in preparation.
It is the intention in the coming years to use the model for detailed
interpretations of the different periods of the city’s history thereby
including both the large numbers of contemporary ancient texts and the
archaeological material. The large-scale excavations with registration
of find spots of huge numbers of objects combined with the use of modern
technology allow for promising advances in the interpretation of
Babylon.