BABOO, or BABU, name applied to a native Hindu gentleman who has some knowledge of English.

BABOON, LEWIS, the name Arbuthnot gives to Louis XIV. in his “History of John Bull.”

BA`BRIUS, or GABRIUS, a Greek poet of uncertain date; turned the fables of AEsop and of others into verse, with alterations.

BABY-FARMING, a system of nursing new-born infants whose parents may wish them out of sight.

BABYLON, the capital city of Babylonia, one of the richest and most magnificent cities of the East, the gigantic walls and hanging gardens of which were classed among the seven wonders of the world; was taken, according to tradition, by Cyrus in 538 B.C., by diverting out of their channel the waters of the Euphrates, which flowed through it and by Darius in 519 B.C., through the self-sacrifice of Zophyrus.  The name was often metaphorically applied to Rome by the early Christians, and is to-day to great centres of population, such as London, where the overcrowding, the accumulation of material wealth, and the so-called refinements of civilisation, are conceived to have a corrupting effect on the religion and morals of the inhabitants.

BABYLO`NIA, the name given by the Greeks to that country called in the Old Testament, Shinar, Babel, and “the land of the Chaldees”; it occupied the rich, fertile plain through which the lower waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris flow, now the Turkish province of Irak-Arabi or Bagdad.  From very early times it was the seat of a highly developed civilisation introduced by the Sumero-Accadians, who descended on the plain from the mountains in the NW.  Semitic tribes subsequently settled among the Accadians and impressed their characteristics on the language and institutions of the country.  The 8th century B.C. was marked by a fierce struggle with the northern empire of Assyria, in which Babylonia eventually succumbed and became an Assyrian province.  But Nabopolassar in 625 B.C. asserted his independence, and under his son Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonia rose to the zenith of its power.  Judah was captive in the country from 599 to 538 B.C.  In that year Cyrus conquered it for Persia, and its history became merged in that of Persia.

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, the name given to the deportation of Jews from Judea to Babylon after the capture of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, and which continued for 70 years, till they were allowed to return to their own land by Cyrus, who had conquered Babylon; those who returned were solely of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.

BACCHANALIA, a festival, originally of a loose and riotous character, in honour of Bacchus.

BACCHANTES, those who took part in the festival of Bacchus, confined originally to women, and were called by a number of names, such as Maenads, Thyads, &c.; they wore their hair dishevelled and thrown back, and had loose flowing garments.

BAC`CHUS, son of Zeus and Semele, the god of the vine, and promoter of its culture as well as the civilisation which accompanied it; represented as riding in a car drawn by tame tigers, and carrying a THYRSUS (q. v.); he rendered signal service to Zeus in the war of the gods with the GIANTS (q. v.).  See DIONYSUS.