Babylon
Related: city - decadence - luxury - vice - Hollywood Babylon - vice
Babylon has achieved considerable prominence throughout the ages as a symbol and by-word of decadence and corruption. The New Testament book of Revelation, for example, mentions the city on several occasions in this role. More recently, the 1983 Kenneth Anger book Hollywood Babylon has characterised the American film industry along the same lines. [Mar 2006]
In the Rastafarian religion, Babylon refers to the oppressive power structure that adherents believe has been responsible for keeping their people poor and oppressed for generations. Use of the term carries the connotation of white people being the oppressor, though this is not necessarily the meaning in any specific instance. [2004]
Definition
- A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption.
- A place of captivity or exile.
Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia in Mesopotamia (in contemporary Iraq). The name is the Greek form of Babel; Semitic form Babilu, meaning "The Gate of God".
Under Nebuchadnezzar it became one of the most splendid cities of the ancient world. It was even the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon [Aug 2004]
Rastafari
In the Rastafarian religion, Babylon refers to the oppressive power structure that adherents believe has been responsible for keeping their people poor and oppressed for generations. Use of the term carries the connotation of white people being the oppressor, though this is not necessarily the meaning in any specific instance. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon [Aug 2004]
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