巴比伦在哪里?它还存在吗?

At the height of its glory in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.E., the city of Babylon was the largest and wealthiest in the ancient world.

在公元前七、六世纪的鼎盛时期巴比伦城是古代世界上最大、最富有的城市。

Under the ruthless and ambitious King Nebuchadnezzar II, the sprawling settlement in modern-day Iraq grew as large as Chicago, and boasted towering temples, ornately tiled palaces and imposing city walls thick enough for two chariots to pass each other side by side.

在残酷而野心勃勃的尼布甲尼撒二世统治下，现代伊拉克的庞大定居点发展到了芝加哥一样大，并以高耸的寺庙、华丽的瓦片宫殿和雄伟的城墙而自豪，城墙的厚度足以让两辆战车并排通过。

According to legend, it may also have been home to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , and a hubristic sky-scraping temple that some historians believe inspired the biblical Tower of Babel.

根据传说，它可能也是巴比伦空中花园的所在地，古代世界七大奇迹之一，以及一座傲慢的摩天大楼，一些历史学家认为是这座摩天大楼启发了圣经中的巴别塔。

But the glory days of Babylon were short-lived. As foretold by Old Testament prophets, the grand city fell to the Persians in 539 B.C.E. and slowly crumbled over centuries of foreign invasions and occupations.

但巴比伦的荣耀是短暂的。正如旧约先知所预言的，这座大城市在公元前539年落入波斯人手中，并在几个世纪的外国入侵和占领中慢慢崩溃。

Although Babylon was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, there isn't much left to see of the once-unstoppable empire.

尽管巴比伦在2019年被联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产，但这个让希腊历史学家眼花缭乱、曾经势不可挡的帝国已经所剩无几。