Episode Details

Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, deported the Jewish people to Babylon, and built the Hanging Gardens and the Ishtar Gate. He turned Babylon into the most magnificent city in the ancient world while ruling with a brutality that earned him a permanent place in biblical villainy.

This episode traces the reign of a king who was both destroyer and builder on a scale the ancient world had never seen.

• The destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Captivity
• The Ishtar Gate, the Hanging Gardens, and the rebuilding of Babylon
• His military campaigns across the Near East
• The biblical account of his madness and what it may reflect historically