“Early in his tenure, Saddam Hussein announced his intentions to restore Iraq’s Babylonian heritage. He launched a meticulous, multi-billion-dollar excavation and reconstruction of the ancient city located sixty miles south of Baghdad, rebuilding a number of its most significant sites. They included Nechadnezzar’s opulent grand palace, the vast Esagila temple precinct, the beautiful Via Sacra processional boulevard, and the resplendent hanging gardens of the Lugalgirra Distric. In addition, he rewrote the Iraqi constitution to mirror that of Hammurabi. He reformed the bureaucracy to emulate that of Merodachbaladan. He restructured the military to mimic that of Nabopolassar. He even revived academic and experimental interests in the cult of Ishtar” (George Grant, The Blood of the Moon, p. 29).
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