Babylon, though founded already in the 3rd millennium, is a latecomer among Mesopotamian cities. In the 2nd millennium, under the 1st Dynasty of Babylon (Hammurabi), it became the seat of royal power. However, most of the remains from the 2nd millenium are inaccessible below the groundwater horizon; information must be gleaned from inscriptions. Tower of Babylon: The ziggurat dedicated to the city god Marduk might have been begun in the 12thc BC (its lowest parts lie in the groundwater) but it was completed only in the 7th and 6th c. The seven-story-tower carried on top the sanctuary. Xerxes reduced the tower to ruins, and Alexander the Great began to demolish it in order to make room for a new structure - a project that was cut short by his death. The image shows the results of plundering of the coveted fired bricks by local inhabitants in the 19th c. AD: Groundwater instead of burnt bricks now encloses the core of the ziggurat which consists of unburnt clay bricks. The handle of "the saucepan"(a local monicker for the structure) is formed by the trench of the old stairway leading up to the second story, Iraq.