The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

Babylon
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Babylon (babilon) A city, place, society, etc.,
notorious for corruption or depravity. <strong>The</strong> reference
is to the biblical city of Babylon, the wealthy
capital of ancient Babylonia on the Euphrates
River. In the New Testament, Babylon is a symbol
for a prosperous human society that has no time
for God. Its fall is described in Revelation 18.
Many cities have since been identifi ed as modern
Babylons. “<strong>The</strong>re is iron- dust on everything; and
the smoke is seen through the windows rolling
heavily out of the tall chimneys to mingle with the
smoke from a vaporous Babylon of other chimneys”
(Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1852–53).
See also babylonian captivity; babylonian
numbers; whore of babylon.
Babylonian captivity (babiloneebn) A lengthy
period of exile or subjugation. <strong>The</strong> original Babylonian
captivity was the time the Jews spent in
exile in Babylon in the years 587–538 b.c. (2 Kings
25). <strong>The</strong> term was subsequently revived to describe
the period of exile of the popes to Avignon in the
years 1309–77, during which time they were
dominated by the French monarchy and presided
over a corrupt, materialist court. He spent the next
fi ve years in a kind of willing Babylonian captivity, submitting
himself to her every whim.
Babylonian numbers (babiloneebn) <strong>The</strong> involved
and unreliable forecasts of astrologers and fortunetellers.
<strong>The</strong> phrase comes from a quotation from
Horace’s Odes (24–13 b.c.), which in translation
reads, “Do not make trial of Babylonian calculations.”
In classical times Babylonian astrologers
were considered among the most sophisticated of
their kind. Her interest in what are sometimes termed
Babylonian numbers quickly exasperated her entourage.
Baca, Valley of See vale of tears.
Bacchae See bacchante.
bacchanalia (bakbnaylyb) A drunken orgy; any
outburst of dissolute, riotous behavior. <strong>The</strong> word
alludes to the orgiastic celebrations that took place
in ancient Rome in honor of bacchus, the god of
wine (himself the equivalent of the Greek god
Dionysus). Celebrants abandoned themselves to
all manner of licentious excess, including singing,
dancing, drinking, and unrestrained sexual indulgence.
<strong>The</strong> festival, which was imported to Rome
around 200 b.c., was banned by the Senate in 186
b.c. “<strong>The</strong> learned profession of the law was certainly
not behind any other learned profession in
its Bacchanalian propensities” (Charles Dickens, A
Tale of Two Cities, 1859). See also bacchante.
bacchante (bbkantee) A drunken female reveler.
In ancient Rome the bacchantes, also known as
bacchae or maenads, were women who followed
bacchus, the god of wine, and were notorious
for their indulgence, sexual immorality, and
drunkenness—central features of the celebrations
known as the bacchanalia. (<strong>The</strong> male form of
the word is bacchant, but the female form is far
more common.) “<strong>The</strong> praise of folly, as he went
on, soared into a philosophy, and Philosophy herself
became young, and catching the mad music of
Plea sure, wearing, one might fancy, her winestained
robe and wreath of ivy, danced like a Bacchante
over the hills of life, and mocked the slow
Silenus for being sober” (Oscar Wilde, <strong>The</strong> Picture
of Dorian Gray, 1891).
Bacchus (bakbs) <strong>The</strong> god of wine and thus, by
extension, of any alcoholic drink. Bacchus was
the son of Zeus and Semele and the Roman equivalent
of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. He was
variously depicted as a bearded, merry man or as