Karen Radner is Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Ancient Near Middle East & Honorary Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History, University College London.

Radner begins with amusing anecdotes about the hedonistic connotations of Babylon today and then launches into a history of the city from earliest times to the Roman Empire in this scholarly yet easily readable volume, which includes a time line … There are illustrations in color and black-and-white, maps, and excerpts from primary sources. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels.

• TimelineList of figure captionsIntroductionCh.1 Babylon in time and spaceCh.2 Babylon's loss and rediscovery Ch.3 Capital: Hammurabi's BabylonCh.4. Font of knowledge: Burnaburiaš’s Babylon Ch.5 Linking Heaven and Earth: Marduk's BabylonCh.6 Negotiating Power: Babylon and the AssyriansCh.7 Megacity: Nebuchadnezzar's BabylonCh.8 Clipped Wings: Babylon and the PersiansCh.9 Slow Fade: Babylon after Alexander the GreatNotesBibliographyIndex