title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Robert Thompson, a professor of communications and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, told "The New York Times"There is something kind of unique about ["SpongeBob"]. It seems to be a refreshing breath from the pre-irony era. There's no sense of the elbow-in-rib, tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that so permeates the rest of American culture—including kids' shows like the "Rugrats". I think what's subversive about it is it's so incredibly naive—deliberately. Because there's nothing in it that's trying to be hip or cool or anything else, hipness can be grafted onto it. In another interview with "Los Angeles Times", he commentated on the show's adult audience: "[On one hand] It's a kind of time machine that transports parents back to when they watched TV in their footie [pajamas]. On the other hand, it's very hip in the way it's presented. It is very edgy to adults who know how to read and listen between the frames." Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz ranked "SpongeBob SquarePants" as the 22nd greatest American TV series of all time in their 2016 book "". In a 2007 interview, Barack Obama said SpongeBob is his favorite TV character and admitted that "SpongeBob SquarePants" is "the show I watch with my daughters."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: "SpongeBob SquarePants" has received many awards and nominations; among these are four Emmy Awards (Outstanding Special Class Animated Program in 2010; Outstanding Sound Editing – Animation" in 2014; Outstanding Children's Animated Series in 2018; and Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program in 2018 for Kenny); six Annie Awards; and two BAFTA Children's Awards. In 2006, IGN ranked "SpongeBob SquarePants" 15th on its list, Top 25 Animated Series of All Time, and in 2013, it ranked the series 12th on its list, The Top 25 Animated Series for Adults. In addition, the website's UK division ran a Top 100 Animated Series list, and like its US counterpart, ranked "SpongeBob SquarePants" 15th.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: "TV Guide" listed SpongeBob SquarePants himself at number nine on its list 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time in 2002. In June 2010, "Entertainment Weekly" named SpongeBob one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years. Viewers of UK television network Channel 4 voted "SpongeBob SquarePants" the 28th Greatest Cartoon in a 2004 poll. The series is among the All-TIME 100 TV Shows as chosen by "Time" television critic James Poniewozik in 2007. He said, "It's the most funny, surreal, inventive example of the explosion in creative kids' (and adult) entertainment that Nick, Cartoon Network and their ilk made possible." In 2013, the publication ranked "SpongeBob SquarePants" the eighth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time. Television critic Matt Zoller Seitz included the series in his 2016 book with Alan Sepinwall titled "TV (The Book)" as the 22nd greatest American television series of all time, saying that ""SpongeBob SquarePants" is an absurdist masterpiece that Salvador Dalí and Groucho Marx would have watched together in their smoking jackets".


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In July 2009, Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York launched a wax sculpture of SpongeBob in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary. SpongeBob became the first animated character sculpted entirely out of wax.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: The character has also become a trend in Egypt at Cairo's Tahrir Square. After the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, SpongeBob became a fashion phenomenon, appearing on various merchandise items from hijabs to boxer shorts. The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called "SpongeBob on the Nile". The project was founded by American students Andrew Leber and Elisabeth Jaquette and attempts to document every appearance of SpongeBob in Egypt. Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled "Midan Masr". He wrote, "Why isn't he [SpongeBob] at least holding a Molotov cocktail? Or raising a fist?" The phenomenon has even spread to Libya, where a Libyan rebel in SpongeBob dress was photographed celebrating the revolution. Although "The Guardian" and "Vice" have asserted that the trend has little to no political significance, "joke" presidential campaigns have been undertaken for SpongeBob in Egypt and Syria.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: A clip was posted to YouTube in February 2013 that features soldiers in the Russian army and navy singing the "SpongeBob SquarePants" theme song as they march. According to the website that uploaded the video, this is one of the "most popular marching songs" in the Russian military. The video garnered nearly 50,000 views within its first week.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Following Hillenburg's death in November 2018, more than 1.2 million fans signed a petition for the National Football League to have the song "Sweet Victory" from the season 2 episode "Band Geeks" performed in his honor at the Super Bowl LIII halftime show. Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium's Twitter account, the venue of the show, tweeted a GIF of SpongeBob dancing in "Band Geeks" in December. Maroon 5 who were performing at the game, included a brief clip of SpongeBob in a preview video, leading fans to believe the song would be performed. While the song's opening was ultimately included, it served as a transition into artist Travis Scott's set, which left many fans disappointed. In response to fans' disappointment at not hearing the complete "Sweet Victory" song during the halftime show at the Super Bowl LIII, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League showed a clip of the full "Sweet Victory" song during a game at the American Airlines Center. In the clip, the characters' band uniforms are recolored green after the Stars.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Several species of organism have been named in reference to "SpongeBob". In May 2011, a new species of mushroom, "Spongiforma squarepantsii", was described and named after the series' title character. In 2019, a species of sea sponge, "Clathria hillenburgi", was named in honor of Hillenburg, also referencing his creation of "SpongeBob SquarePants". In 2020, a species of abyssal sea star, "Astrolirus patricki", was described and named after Patrick Star; individuals of this species were found to be closely associated with hexactinellid sponges, and it was thus named after Patrick as a reference to the character's friendship with SpongeBob.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In honor of Stephen Hillenburg, a non-profit fan project, titled "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Rehydrated", was released online on May 1, 2022. It consists of a recreation of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" reanimated by 300 people with re-recorded music and dialogue. Amid the YouTube premiere, the video was taken down by Paramount Global due to copyright laws. As a result, the hashtag #JusticeForSpongeBob became trending on Twitter against Paramount's action. The video was restored the following day.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In 2005, an online video that showed clips from "SpongeBob SquarePants" and other children's shows set to the Sister Sledge song "We Are Family" to promote diversity and tolerance was attacked by an evangelical group in the United States. They saw SpongeBob being used to "advocate homosexuality". James Dobson of Focus on the Family accused the video of promoting homosexuality because it was sponsored by a pro-tolerance group. The incident prompted the question whether SpongeBob is gay. Although the character has enjoyed popularity with gay viewers, series creator Stephen Hillenburg had already denied SpongeBob is gay three years earlier, clarifying at the time he considered the character to be "somewhat asexual". After Dobson's comments, Hillenburg reasserted his position, stating that sexual preference does not play a part in what they are "trying to do" with the series. Tom Kenny and other production members were distraught that the issue had arisen. Dobson later said his comments were taken out of context and his original complaints were not with SpongeBob, the video, or any of the characters in the video, but rather with the organization that sponsored the video, the We Are Family Foundation. Dobson said they posted pro-gay material on their website, but later removed it. After the controversy, John H. Thomas, the United Church of Christ's general minister and president, said they would welcome SpongeBob into their ministry. He said: "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Queer theorist Jeffery P. Dennis, author of the journal article "Queertoons", argued that SpongeBob and Sandy are not romantically in love, but added he believed SpongeBob and Patrick "are paired with arguably erotic intensity". Martin Goodman of "Animation World Magazine" called Dennis' comments regarding SpongeBob and Patrick "interesting". Ukrainian website Family Under the Protection of the Holy Virgin, which has been described as a "fringe Catholic" group by "The Wall Street Journal", criticized "SpongeBob SquarePants" for its alleged "promotion of homosexuality". The group sought to have the series banned, along with several other popular children's properties. The National Expert Commission of Ukraine on the Protection of Public Morality took up the matter for review in August 2012. Questions of SpongeBob's sexuality resurfaced in 2020 after Nickelodeon's official Twitter account posted an image of the character, in rainbow colors with text celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and its allies during Pride Month. Although the post did not make any assertions about SpongeBob's sexual orientation, numerous users responded on social media, claiming they already had their suspicions that he might be gay or reasserting Hillenburg's description of asexuality.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In April 2009, Burger King released a SpongeBob-themed advertisement featuring a parody of Sir Mix-a-Lot's song "Baby Got Back". The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood protested the ad for being sexist and inappropriately sexual, especially considering SpongeBob's fan base includes young children. In official statements released by Burger King and Nickelodeon, both companies claimed the campaign was aimed at parents.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: A 2011 study conducted at the University of Virginia, published in the journal "Pediatrics", suggested that allowing preschool-aged audiences to watch the series caused short-term disruptions in mental function and attention span because of frequent shot changes, compared to control groups watching "Caillou" and drawing pictures. A Nickelodeon executive responded in an interview the series was not intended for an audience of that age and that the study used "questionable methodology and could not possibly provide the basis for any valid findings that parents could trust."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Several of the series' episodes have also been the subject of controversy. In a report titled "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing", which documents the increase in potentially violent, profane, and sexual content in children's programming, the Parents Television Council, a watchdog media group, claimed the season 2 "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode "Sailor Mouth" was an implicit attempt to promote and satirize use of profanity among children. "SpongeBob's Last Stand" (season 7) and "Selling Out" (season 4) have been criticized for promoting environmentalism and left-wing politics because of their negative portrayal of big business. "SpongeBob, You're Fired" (season 9) caused widespread controversy and sparked a political debate over its portrayal of unemployment; after Fox News and the "New York Post" commented on the episode, Media Matters for America accused the two organizations of using the episode to "attack the social safety net." This statement was echoed by Al Sharpton, who claimed conservatives' "new hero" to be "a sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea." In 2014, the education minister of Kazakhstan, Zabira Orazalieva, deemed the show too violent for children, labeling the titular character a "self-absorbed hooligan" who "regularly inflicts violence on others in his community and seems to enjoy what he does."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In 2019, University of Washington professor Holly M. Barker stated that the show promotes "violent and racist" colonialism, since Bikini Bottom is named after Bikini Atoll, a place where natives were resettled by the US government for nuclear testing. Barker also pointed out that cultural appropriation of Pacific culture in the show. Because of such content, children have "become acculturated to an ideology that includes the U.S. character SpongeBob residing on another people’s homeland", according to Barker. ViacomCBS eventually pulled the episode "Mid-Life Crustacean" (season 3), first aired in 2003, out of circulation in March 2021, presumably due to its ending in which SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs partake in a panty raid. "We determined some story elements were not kid-appropriate", a Nickelodeon representative stated. A later episode, "Kwarantined Krab" (season 12), was also made unavailable for release, over its similarities to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Various media outlets including MSN, "The A.V. Club", and "Vulture" have reported that "SpongeBob"s popularity declined following the release of the 2004 film and Hillenburg's departure as showrunner. In 2012, MSN cited a post on "Encyclopedia SpongeBobia", a Fandom-hosted wiki, which said that many fans felt the series had "jumped the shark" following the release of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" and that online fansites were becoming "deserted."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: As of 2011, episodes produced since the first film have been variously categorized by DVD Talk and DVD Verdict as "tedious;" "boring" and "dreck;" a "depressing plateau of mediocrity;" and "laugh-skimpy." In 2018, "Vulture" noted the most popular online memes of the series usually focused on episodes from the first three seasons. That same year, "The A.V. Club" wrote that as the series went on, "[it] leaned hard into kid-friendly physical humor and gross out moments that appealed to no one in particular".


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Nickelodeon faced criticism from fans and former staff like Paul Tibbitt when the network greenlit spinoffs (see below) after the death of Hillenburg, who had previously expressed hesitation in deriving from the parent series. "The show is about SpongeBob, he's the core element, and it's about how he relates to the other characters," Hillenburg told "Television Business International". "Patrick by himself might be a bit too much. So I don't see any spin-offs."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: On February 14, 2019, it was announced that a "SpongeBob SquarePants" spin-off is in development. On June 4, it was announced the spinoff will be titled "Kamp Koral". The plot will focus on a 10-year-old SpongeBob and his friends at the titular camp located in the Kelp Forest, where they spend the summer catching jellyfish, building campfires, and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck. It serves as a tie-in to the animated film "". It was confirmed production of the series began in June 2019.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Nickelodeon animation head Ramsey Naito said of the series, "SpongeBob has an incredible universe to expand upon and the greenlight for "Kamp Koral" is a testament to the strength and longevity of these characters known and loved by generations of fans around the world." Like "SpongeBob SquarePants", the series is co-executive produced by Marc Ceccarelli, Jennie Monica, and Vincent Waller. "Kamp Koral" is produced using computer animation rather than the digital ink and paint animation used for "SpongeBob SquarePants".


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: On February 19, 2020, it was announced that the series had an official title of "Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years", and would be premiering in July 2020. On July 30, 2020, it was announced that the series would be released on CBS All Access (now Paramount+), the ViacomCBS streaming service, in early 2021. On January 28, 2021, it was announced that the series would premiere on March 4, 2021.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: On August 10, 2020, it was reported that a Patrick Star talk show titled "The Patrick Star Show" was in development with a 13-episode order. Additionally, it was reported that the show would be similar to other talk shows such as "The Larry Sanders Show" and "Comedy Bang! Bang!" The series premiered on Nickelodeon on July 9, 2021, with the series set to be available on Paramount+ later on.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Originally, "SpongeBob SquarePants" was streaming on Netflix. However, the series was removed from the United States in 2013 due to their deal with Viacom not being renewed. The series was also available to stream on Hulu starting in 2012 until being removed in 2016. The series later streamed on Amazon Prime Video in 2013 after the Netflix deal ended. As part of the rebranding plan of Paramount+, the series joined along with other ViacomCBS shows on July 30, 2020.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Currently, the first 6 seasons are available to be streamed on Prime Video and the first 12 seasons through Paramount+. The series is available to stream on Netflix in Canada.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: The 32-page bimonthly comic book series, "SpongeBob Comics", was announced in November 2010 and debuted the following February. Before this, "SpongeBob SquarePants" comics had been published in "Nickelodeon Magazine", and episodes of the television series had been adapted by "Cine-Manga", but "SpongeBob Comics" was the first American comic book series devoted solely to "SpongeBob SquarePants". It also served as "SpongeBob SquarePants" creator Stephen Hillenburg's debut as a comic book author. The series was published by Hillenburg's production company, United Plankton Pictures, and distributed by Bongo Comics Group. Hillenburg described the stories from the comic books as "original and always true to the humor, characters, and universe of the SpongeBob SquarePants series." Leading up to the release of the series, Hillenburg said, "I'm hoping that fans will enjoy finally having a "SpongeBob" comic book from me."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Chris Duffy, the former senior editor of "Nickelodeon Magazine", serves as managing editor of "SpongeBob Comics". Hillenburg and Duffy met with various cartoonists—including James Kochalka, Hilary Barta, Graham Annable, Gregg Schigiel, and Jacob Chabot—to contribute to each issues. Retired horror comics writer and artist Stephen R. Bissette returned to write a special Halloween issue in 2012, with Tony Millionaire and Al Jaffee. In an interview with Tom Spurgeon, Bissette said, "I've even broken my retirement to do one work-for-hire gig [for "SpongeBob Comics"] so I could share everything about that kind of current job."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In the United Kingdom, Titan Magazines published comics based on "SpongeBob SquarePants" every four weeks from February 3, 2005, through November 28, 2013. Titan Magazines also teamed up with Lego to release a limited edition "SpongeBob"-themed comic.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies produced "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie", an animated film adaptation of the series released on November 19, 2004. The film was directed by Hillenburg, and written by long-time series writers Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, Paul Tibbitt, and Hillenburg. He and Julia Pistor produced the film, while Gregor Narholz composed the film's score. The film is about Plankton's evil plan to steal King Neptune's crown and send it to Shell City. SpongeBob and Patrick must retrieve it and save Mr. Krabs' life from Neptune's raft and their home, Bikini Bottom, from Plankton's plan. It features guest appearances by Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune, Scarlett Johansson as the King's daughter Mindy, Alec Baldwin as Dennis, and David Hasselhoff as himself, and received a positive critical reception, It grossed over $140 million worldwide. Three television films were released: "SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis" in 2007, "SpongeBob's Truth or Square" in 2009, and "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" in 2019.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: A sequel to the 2004 film, "", was released in theaters on February 6, 2015. The series' main cast members reprised their roles. The underwater parts are animated traditionally in the manner of the series—the live-action parts use CGI animation with the SpongeBob characters. The film has a budget similar to the previous film and cost less than $100 million to produce.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: On April 30, 2015, Viacom announced a third film was in development. In April 2018, Tim Hill was named as director, and the film's original title, "It's a Wonderful Sponge", was revealed. Paramount originally scheduled a release date of July 17, 2020, later moving it earlier to May 22, 2020. In October 2018, it was announced the movie will be an origin story of how SpongeBob came to Bikini Bottom and how he got his square pants. Around the same time, it was announced that Hans Zimmer will compose the music. The first poster along with a title change to "Sponge on the Run" was revealed on November 12, 2019, with the first trailer releasing on November 14. The film was later delayed to July 31, 2020 (and later August 7, 2020) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film's worldwide theatrical release was later cancelled in June 2020 and it was announced that it would be released in Canadian theaters on August 14, 2020, followed by a release on premium video on demand before heading to Paramount+ in early 2021. On January 28, 2021, it was announced that the film would be released on the service on March 4, 2021.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In November 2019, a "music-based" Squidward project was reported to be in development for Netflix. In early March 2020, ViacomCBS announced that it would be producing two spin-off films based on the series for the streaming service.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: On August 24, 2021, Brian Robbins, CEO of Nickelodeon, has stated that a new "SpongeBob" film is "in the works." On February 15, 2022, it was announced that three character spinoff films were in the works for Paramount+, as well as a theatrical "SpongeBob" film. The first character spinoff film is set to be released in 2023.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Collections of original music featured in the series have been released on the albums "" (2001), "SpongeBob's Greatest Hits" (2009), and "" (2005). The first two charted on the US "Billboard" 200, reaching number 171 and 122, respectively.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Several songs have been recorded for the purpose of a single or album release, and have not been featured on the show. The song "My Tidy Whities" written by Tom Kenny and Andy Paley was released only on the album "The Best Day Ever" (2006). Kenny's inspiration for the song was "underwear humor," saying: "Underwear humor is always a surefire laugh-getter with kids ... Just seeing a character that odd wearing really prosaic, normal, Kmart, three-to-a-pack underwear is a funny drawing ... We thought it was funny to make a really lush, beautiful love song to his underwear."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: A soundtrack album "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – Music from the Movie and More...", featuring the film's score was released along with the feature-length film in November 2004. Various artists including the Flaming Lips, Wilco, Ween, Motörhead, the Shins, and Avril Lavigne contributed to the soundtrack that reached number 76 on the US "Billboard" 200.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: The SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D film and ride opened at several locations including Six Flags Over Texas, Flamingo Land Resort, and the Shedd Aquarium. The ride features water squirts, real bubbles, and other sensory enhancements. In 2012, Nickelodeon teamed up again with SimEx-Iwerks Entertainment and Super 78 to produce "SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D: The Great Jelly Rescue". The attraction opened in early 2013 at the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration. It was also installed at the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando in Orlando, Florida. The seven-minute film follows SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy rescuing the jellyfish of Jellyfish Fields from Plankton's evil clutches. On May 23, 2015, an interactive 3D show titled "SpongeBob SubPants Adventure" opened in Texas at Moody Gardens. The show was replaced with a generic "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" re-theming in 2019.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: A variety of SpongeBob SquarePants-related attractions are currently located within Nickelodeon themed-areas at Movie Park Germany, Pleasure Beach Blackpool, Sea World, American Dream Meadowlands, and Mall of America, which includes the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge euro-fighter roller coaster.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Numerous video games based on the series have been produced. Some of the early games include: "" (2001) and "" (2003). In 2013, Nickelodeon published and distributed "SpongeBob Moves In!", a freemium city-building game app developed by Kung Fu Factory for iOS and Android. On June 5, 2019, THQ Nordic announced "", a full remake of the console versions of the original 2003 game. The game was released 1 year later on June 23, 2020 and includes cut content from the original game. On May 28, 2020, Apple Arcade released a game called Spongebob Squarepants: Patty Pursuit. In 2021, EA Sports introduced a SpongeBob-themed level to the Yard section of its "Madden NFL 21" video game.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Nickelodeon launched the first global "SpongeBob SquarePants"-themed short film competition, SpongeBob SquareShorts: Original Fan Tributes, in 2013. The contest encouraged fans and filmmakers around the world to create original short films inspired by SpongeBob for a chance to win a prize and a trip for four people to a screening event in Hollywood. The contest opened on May 6 and ran through June 28, 2013. On July 19, 2013, Nickelodeon announced the competition's finalists. On August 13, 2013, the under 18 years of age category was won by David of the United States for his "The Krabby Commercial", while the "Finally Home" short by Nicole of South Africa won the 18 and over category.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: "SpongeBob SquarePants" was adapted as a stage musical in 2016 by director Tina Landau. "SpongeBob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical" premiered in Chicago in 2016 and opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on December 4, 2017. The musical opened to critical acclaim, and tied for most-nominated production at the 2018 72nd Tony Awards with twelve Tony nominations.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Online memes relating to "SpongeBob SquarePants" have achieved widespread popularity on the Internet, so much so that "Vox"'s Aja Romano declared in 2019 that "Spongebob memes came to rule internet culture." A subreddit devoted to memes based on the animated series has, as of May 2019, accumulated over 1.7 million subscribers, a figure exponentially higher than subreddits devoted to the series itself.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Matt Schimkowitz, a senior editor for "Know Your Meme", told "Time" that a combination of factors make "SpongeBob" memes so popular. He speculated that nostalgia for the past, alongside the cartoon's young audience, contributed to the "SpongeBob Squarepants"'s outsized presence in Internet meme culture. Schimkowitz further added that memes derived from the series are exceptionally good at expressing emotions.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Michael Gold of "The New York Times" concurred. The writer opined that because of the show's "high episode count" and that it was "so ubiquitous at the beginning of the 21st century," "SpongeBob SquarePants" became "easy meme fodder."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Nickelodeon and members of the SpongeBob cast have expressed approval for the trend. Tom Kenny told "Time" that he found "SpongeBob" memes relatable and good-natured. Kenny said that while the show's characters can be considered complex, they are also simple, creating a wealth of content for meme creators to work with. Nickelodeon has manufactured a line of toys based on some of the show's most recognizable meme formats, and has even included references to well-known memes in video games.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Among the show's most popular memes are the mocking SpongeBob meme, referring to an image macro from the episode, "Little Yellow Book," a screenshot of a surprised Patrick Star from the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, an image of Spongebob appearing exhausted in the episode, "Nature Pants," and a particularly disheveled illustration of Squidward from "Squid's Day Off."


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: The popularity of "SpongeBob SquarePants" inspired merchandise from T-shirts to posters. In 2009, it was reported that the franchise had generated an estimated $8 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon. The series is also the most distributed property of Paramount Media Networks. "SpongeBob" is viewed in 170 countries speaking 24 languages, and has become "a killer merchandising app". The title character and his friends have been used as a theme for special editions of well-known family board games, including Monopoly, Life, and Operation, as well as a "SpongeBob SquarePants" edition of Ants in the Pants, and Yahtzee.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In 2001, Nickelodeon signed a marketing deal with Target Corporation and Burger King, expanding its merchandising. The popularity of SpongeBob has translated well into sales. In 2002, "SpongeBob SquarePants" dolls sold at a rate of 75,000 per week—faster than Tickle Me Elmo dolls were selling at the time. SpongeBob has gained popularity in Japan, specifically with Japanese women. Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom purposefully targeted marketing at women there. Skeptics initially doubted that SpongeBob could be popular in Japan, as the character's design is very different from already popular designs for Hello Kitty and Pikachu. Ratings and merchandise sales showed "SpongeBob SquarePants" has caught on with parents and with college audiences. In a 2013 promotion, college-oriented website Music.com gave away 80,000 "SpongeBob" T-shirts, four times more than during a similar promotion for Comedy Central's "South Park".


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Kids' meal tie-ins have been released in fast food restaurants in many parts of the world, including Burger King in Europe and North America, as well as Wendy's in North America, and Hungry Jack's in Australia. A McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in with SpongeBob-themed Happy Meal boxes and toys was released in Europe and other international markets in the summer of 2007. In Australia, the advertisement for the McDonald's "SpongeBob" Happy Meal won the Pester Power Award because the ads enticed young children to want its food because of the free toy. As a tie-in beverage for the DVD release of "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie", 7-Eleven released the limited edition Under-the-Sea Pineapple Slurpee in March 2004. Pirate's Booty released limited edition "SpongeBob SquarePants" Pirate's Booty snacks in 2013.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In 2007, high-end "SpongeBob"-themed electronics were introduced by Imation Electronics Products under the Npower brand, including MP3 players, digital cameras, a DVD player, and a flatscreen television. Pictures of "SpongeBob SquarePants" began to appear on the labels of 8 ounce cans of Green Giant cut green beans and packages of frozen Green Giant green beans and butter sauce in 2007, which featured free stickers. This was part of an initiative to encourage kids to eat their vegetables. The Simmons Jewelry Co. released a $75,000 diamond pendant as part of a "SpongeBob" collection. In New Zealand, the UK-based Beechdean Group unveiled the "SpongeBob SquarePants" Vanilla Ice Cream character product as part of a license deal with Nickelodeon. NZ Drinks launched the "SpongeBob SquarePants" bottled water.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: Build-A-Bear Workshop introduced the new "SpongeBob SquarePants" collection in stores and online in North America on May 17, 2013. Shoppers can dress their SpongeBob and Patrick plush in a variety of clothing and accessories. Sandy Cheeks and Gary the Snail are also available as pre-stuffed minis. Build-A-Bear Workshop stores nationwide celebrated the arrival of SpongeBob with a series of special events from May 17 through May 19.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: On July 13, 2013, Toyota, with Nickelodeon, unveiled a "SpongeBob"-inspired Toyota Highlander. The 2014 Toyota Highlander was launched on SpongeBob Day at the San Diego Padres v. Giants game. The "SpongeBob" Toyota Highlander visited seven U.S. locations during its release, including the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando in Florida.


title: SpongeBob SquarePants

text: In April 2019, Nickelodeon released a series of toys adapted from various SpongeBob Internet memes. These included "Handsome Squidward", "Imaginaaation SpongeBob", "Mocking SpongeBob", "SpongeGar", and "Surprised Patrick". Shortly after the release of the line, most of the toys sold out on Amazon.com.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as "Gunsmoke" (1962–1965), "Hawk" (1966) and "Dan August" (1970–1971). Although Reynolds had leading roles in such films as "Navajo Joe" (1966) and "100 Rifles" (1969), his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in "Deliverance" (1972). Reynolds played the leading role – often a lovable rogue – in a number of subsequent box office hits, such as "White Lightning" (1973), "The Longest Yard" (1974), "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) (which started a six-year box office reign), "Semi-Tough" (1977), "The End" (1978), "Hooper" (1978), "Starting Over" (1979), "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980), "The Cannonball Run" (1981), "Sharky's Machine" (1981), "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982), and "Cannonball Run II" (1984), several of which he directed himself. He was nominated twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds was voted the world's number one box-office star from 1978 to 1982 in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, a record he shares with Bing Crosby. After a number of box-office failures, Reynolds returned to television, starring in the sitcom "Evening Shade" (1990–1994), which won him a Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His performance as high-minded pornographer Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" (1997) brought him renewed critical attention, earning him another Golden Globe (for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture), with nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born on February 11, 1936, to Harriet Fernette "Fern" ("née" Miller) and Burton Milo Reynolds (1906–2002). His family descended from Dutch, English, Scots-Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Reynolds also claimed Cherokee and Italian roots.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: During his career, Reynolds often claimed to have been born in Waycross, Georgia, although in 2015, he stated that he was actually born in Lansing, Michigan. In his autobiography, he stated that Lansing is where his family lived when his father was drafted into the United States Army.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds, his mother, and his sister joined his father at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where they subsequently lived for two years. When his father was sent to Europe, the family moved to Lake City, Michigan, where his mother had been raised. In 1946, the family moved to Riviera Beach, Florida. Reynolds' father eventually became Chief of Police of Riviera Beach, which is adjacent to the north end of West Palm Beach, Florida.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: During 10th grade at Palm Beach High School, Reynolds was named First Team All State and All Southern as a fullback, and received multiple scholarship offers.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: After graduating from Palm Beach High School, he attended Florida State University on a football scholarship and played halfback, starting in 1954. While at Florida State, he roomed with future college-football coach, broadcaster, and analyst Lee Corso, and also became a brother of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds had an outstanding freshman year in football. However, he injured his knee in the first game of his sophomore season, and, later that year, lost his spleen and injured his other knee in a bad car accident. He did not return to the university for almost two years. To keep up with his studies, he enrolled at Palm Beach Junior College (PBJC) in neighboring Lake Park in early 1956. When Reynolds returned to Florida State in 1957, he rejoined the football team, although his leg injured in the car accident slowed him down. He was blamed, fairly or not, for the team's loss to North Carolina State on October 12, 1957. Immediately following the game he told his teammates that he was done with football.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: During his term at PBJC in early 1956, Reynolds was in an English class taught by Watson B. Duncan III. Duncan pushed him into trying out for a play he was producing, "Outward Bound". He cast him in the lead role based on having heard him read Shakespeare in class, leading to his winning the 1956 Florida State Drama Award for his performance. "I read two words and they gave me a lead", he later said.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In his autobiography, he referred to Duncan as his mentor and the most influential person in his life.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: The Florida State Drama Award included a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse, a summer stock theater, in Hyde Park, New York. Reynolds saw the opportunity as an agreeable alternative to more physically demanding summer jobs, but did not yet see acting as a possible career. While working there, Reynolds met Joanne Woodward, who helped him find an agent.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "I don't think I ever actually saw him perform", said Woodward later. "I knew him as this cute, shy, attractive boy. He had the kind of lovely personality that made you want to do something for him."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was cast in "Tea and Sympathy" at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. After his Broadway debut in "Look, We've Come Through", he received favorable reviews for his performance and went on tour with the cast, driving the bus as well as appearing on stage.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: After the tour, Reynolds returned to New York and enrolled in acting classes, along with Frank Gifford, Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons and Jan Murray.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "I was a working actor for two years before I finally took my first real acting class (with Wynn Handman at the Neighborhood Playhouse)", he said. "It was a lot of technique, truth, moment-to-moment, how to listen, improv."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: After a botched improvisation in acting class, Reynolds briefly considered returning to Florida, but soon gained a part in a revival of "Mister Roberts", in which Charlton Heston played the starring role.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: After the play closed, the director, John Forsythe, arranged a film audition with Joshua Logan for Reynolds. The film was "Sayonara" (1957). Reynolds was told he could not be in the film because he looked too much like Marlon Brando. Logan advised Reynolds to go to Hollywood, although Reynolds did not feel confident enough to do so. (Another source says Reynolds did a screen test after studio talent agent Lew Wasserman saw the effect Reynolds had on secretaries in his office but the test was unsuccessful.)


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He worked in a variety of jobs, such as waiting tables, washing dishes, driving a delivery truck and as a bouncer at the Roseland Ballroom. Reynolds wrote that, while working as a dockworker, he was offered $150 to jump through a glass window on a live television show.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds began acting on television in the late 1950s, guest starring on shows like "Flight", "M Squad", "Schlitz Playhouse", "The Lawless Years" and "Pony Express". He signed a seven-year contract with Universal. "I don't care whether he can act or not", said Wasserman. "Anyone who has this effect on women deserves a break."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds' first big break came when he was cast alongside Darren McGavin in the lead of the TV series "Riverboat" (1959–61), playing Ben Frazer. According to a contemporary report, Reynolds was considered "a double for Marlon Brando". The show went for two seasons but Reynolds quit after only 20 episodes, claiming he did not get along with McGavin or the executive producer, and that he had "a stupid part."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds then said that he "couldn't get a job. I didn't have a very good reputation. You just don't walk out on a network television series."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds returned to guest starring on television shows. As he put it, "I played heavies in every series in town", appearing in episodes of "Playhouse 90", "Johnny Ringo", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Lock Up", "The Blue Angels", "Michael Shayne", "Zane Grey Theater", "The Aquanauts" and "The Brothers Brannagan". "They were depressing years", he later said.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds made his film debut in the low budget "Angel Baby" (1961), billed fourth. He followed it with a role in a war film, "Armored Command" (1961). "It was the one picture that Howard Keel didn't sing on", reminisced Reynolds later. "That was a terrible mistake."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1961, he returned to Broadway to appear in "Look, We've Come Through", under the direction of José Quintero, but it lasted only five performances.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds continued to guest star on shows such as "Naked City", "Ripcord", "Everglades", "Route 66", "Perry Mason", and "The Twilight Zone" ("The Bard", an hour-long send-up of Reynolds' look-alike Marlon Brando). He later said, "I learned more about my craft in these guest shots than I did standing around and looking virile on "Riverboat.""


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1962, Dennis Weaver wanted to leave the cast of "Gunsmoke", one of the top rated shows in the country. The producers developed a new character, "halfbreed" blacksmith Quint Asper: Reynolds was cast, beating over 300 other contenders. Reynolds announced he would stay on the show "until it ends. I think it's a terrible mistake for an actor to leave a series in the middle of it." Reynolds left "Gunsmoke" in 1965. He later said that being in that show was "the happiest period of my life. I hated to leave that show but I felt I had served my apprenticeship and there wasn't room for two leading men."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was cast in his first lead role in a film, the low-budget action film, "Operation C.I.A." (1965). He guest starred on "Flipper", "The F.B.I." and "12 O'Clock High".


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds was given the title role in a TV series, "Hawk" (1966–67), playing Native American detective John Hawk. It ran for 17 episodes before being cancelled.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He played another Native American in the Spaghetti Western "Navajo Joe" (1966) shot in Spain. "It wasn't my favorite picture", ...he said later... "I had two expressions—mad and madder."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He guest starred on "Gentle Ben" and made a pilot for a TV series, "Lassiter", where he would have played a magazine journalist. It was not picked up.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds then made a series of films in quick succession. "Shark!" (1969), shot in Mexico, was directed by Sam Fuller, who removed his name from it, after which its release was held up for a number of years. Reynolds described "Fade In" as "the best thing I've ever done", but it was not released for a number of years, and the director, Jud Taylor, took his name off. "Impasse" (1969) was a war movie shot in the Philippines. He played the title role in "Sam Whiskey" (1969), a comic Western written by William W. Norton, which Reynolds later said was "way ahead of its time. I was playing light comedy and nobody cared."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds supported Jim Brown and Raquel Welch in another Western, "100 Rifles" (1969), later saying, "I spent the entire time refereeing fights between Jim Brown and Raquel Welch."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In a 1969 interview, he expressed interest in playing roles like the John Garfield part in "The Postman Always Rings Twice", but no one gave him those opportunities. "Instead, the producer hands me a script and says 'I know it's not there now kid, but I know we can make it work.'"


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds had been offered a lead role in "MASH" (1970), but turned it down after "they told me the other two leads would be Barbra Streisand's husband and that tall, skinny guy who was in "The Dirty Dozen"." Tom Skerritt played the role and Reynolds, instead, went into "Skullduggery" (1970), shot in Jamaica. Reynolds joked that after making "those wonderful, forgettable pictures... I suddenly realized I was as hot as Leo Gorcey."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds then starred in two TV films: "Hunters Are for Killing" (1970) and "Run, Simon, Run" (1970). In "Hunters Are for Killing", his character was originally a Native American, but Reynolds requested this element be changed, feeling he had played that role too many times already, and it was not needed for the character anyway.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds played the title character in police drama "Dan August" (1970–71), produced by Quinn Martin. The series was given a full-season order of 26 episodes based on the reputation of Martin and Reynolds but struggled in the ratings against "Hawaii Five-0" and was not renewed.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Albert R. Broccoli asked Reynolds to take over the role of James Bond from Sean Connery, but he turned that role down, saying, "An American can't play James Bond. It just can't be done."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Following the cancellation of the series, Reynolds did his first stage play in six years, a production of "The Tender Trap" at Arlington Park Theatre. He was offered other TV pilots but was reluctant to play a detective again.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Around this time, he had become well known as an entertaining talk-show guest, starting with an appearance on "The Merv Griffin Show". He made jokes at his own expense, calling himself America's most "well-known unknown" who only made the kind of movies "they show in airplanes or prisons or anywhere else the people can't get out." He proved enormously popular and was frequently asked back by Griffin and Johnny Carson; he even guest hosted the "Tonight Show". He was so popular as a guest that he was offered his own talk show but he wanted to continue as an actor.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He later said his talk show appearances were "the best thing that ever happened to me. They changed everything drastically overnight. I spent ten years looking virile, saying, 'Put up your hands.' After the Carson, Griffin, Frost, Dinah's show, suddenly I have a personality."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "I realized that people liked me, that I was enough", said Reynolds. "So if I could transfer that character—the irreverent, self-deprecating side of me, my favorite side of me—onto the screen, I could have a big career.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds had his breakthrough role in "Deliverance", directed by John Boorman, who cast him on the basis of a talk show appearance. "It's the first time I haven't had a script with Paul Newman's and Robert Redford's fingerprints all over it," Reynolds joked. "The producers actually came to me first."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "I've waited 15 years to do a really good movie," he said in 1972. "I made so many bad pictures. I was never able to turn anyone down. The greatest curse in Hollywood is to be a well-known unknown."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds also gained notoriety around this time when he began a well-publicized relationship with Dinah Shore, who was 20 years his senior, and after he posed naked in the April 1972 issue of "Cosmopolitan". Reynolds said he posed for Cosmopolitan for "a kick. I have a strange sense of humor" and because he knew he had "Deliverance" coming out. He later expressed regret for posing for "Cosmopolitan".


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "Deliverance" was a huge commercial and critical success, which, along with talk-show appearances, helped establish Reynolds as a major movie star. "The night of the Academy Awards, I counted a half-dozen Burt Reynolds jokes", he later said. "I had become a household name, the most talked-about star at the award show."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was then in "Fuzz" (1972), reuniting him with Welch, and also made a cameo in the Woody Allen film, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)" (1972). He also returned to the stage, appearing in "The Rainmaker" at the Arlington.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds had the title role in "Shamus" (1973), playing a modern-day private eye. The film drew lackluster reviews, but nonetheless became a solid box-office success. Reynolds described it as "not a bad film, kind of cute."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was in "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" (1973), co-starring Sarah Miles. The film was a minor hit, perhaps best remembered for the scandal of Miles' lover, an aspiring screenwriter, committing suicide during the filming.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds was meant to reunite with Boorman in "Zardoz", but fell ill and was replaced by Sean Connery.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Another turning point in Reynolds' career came when he made the light-hearted car-chase film written by Norton, "White Lightning" (1973). Reynolds later called it "the beginning of a whole series of films made in the South, about the South and for the South... you could make back the cost of the negative just in Memphis alone. Anything outside of that was just gravy." Car-chase films would be Reynolds' most profitable genre. At the end of 1973, Reynolds was voted into the list of the ten most-popular box-office stars in the US at number four. He would stay on that list until 1984.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He made a sports comedy with Robert Aldrich, "The Longest Yard" (1974) which was popular. Aldrich later said "I think that on occasion, he's a much better actor than he's given credit for. Not always: sometimes he acts like a caricature of himself."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds then appeared in two big-budget fiascos: "At Long Last Love" (1975), a musical for Peter Bogdanovich, and "Lucky Lady" (1975) with Gene Hackman and Liza Minnelli.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: More popular was another light-hearted car-chase film, "W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings" (1975), and a tough cop drama with Aldrich, "Hustle" (1975). He did a cameo for Mel Brooks in "Silent Movie" (1976).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds made his directorial debut in 1976 with "Gator", the sequel to "White Lightning", written by Norton. "I waited 20 years to do it [directing] and I enjoyed it more than anything I've ever done in this business," he said after filming. "And I happen to think it's what I do best."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was reunited with Bogdanovich for the screwball comedy, "Nickelodeon" (1976), which was a commercial disappointment. Aldrich later commented, "Bogdanovich can get him to do the telephone book! Anybody else has to persuade him to do something. He's fascinated by Bogdanovich. I can't understand it." He turned down the part of Clark Gable in "Gable and Lombard".


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds had the biggest hit of his career with a car-chase film, "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977), directed by Hal Needham and co-starring Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, and Sally Field.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He followed it with a comedy about football players, "Semi-Tough" (1977), co-starring Jill Clayburgh and Kris Kristofferson and produced by David Merrick. He then directed his second film, "The End" (1978), a black comedy, playing a role originally written for Woody Allen.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: More popular was a car comedy he made with Needham and Field, "Hooper" (1978), where he played a stuntman.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "My ability as an actor gets a little better every time", he said around this time. "I'm very prolific in the amount of films I make—two-and-a-half or three a year—and when I look at any picture I do now compared to "Deliverance", it's miles above what I was doing then. But when you're doing films that are somewhat similar to each other, as I've been doing, people take it for granted."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He turned down the role played by Alan Alda in "California Suite" (1978) because he felt the part was too small.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He also said, "I'd rather direct than act. I'd rather do that than anything. It's the second-best sensation I've ever had." He added that David Merrick had offered to produce two films Reynolds would direct without having to act in them.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds tried a change of pace with "Starting Over" (1979), a romantic comedy, again co-starring Clayburgh and Candice Bergen; it was co-written and produced by James L. Brooks. He played a jewel thief in "Rough Cut" (1980) produced by Merrick, who fired and then rehired director Don Siegel during filming.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds had two huge hits with more car films directed by Needham, "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980) and "The Cannonball Run" (1981). He starred in David Steinberg's film "Paternity" (1981) and directed himself in a tough action film, "Sharky's Machine" (1981).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds wanted to try a musical again, and agreed to do "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982). It was a box-office hit, as was "Best Friends" (1982) with Goldie Hawn. In 1982, Reynolds was voted the most popular star in the US for the fifth year in a row.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: The only thing I really enjoy is this business, and I think my audience knows that. I've never been able to figure out exactly who that audience is. I know there have been a few pictures even my mother didn't go see, but there's always been an audience for them. I guess it is because they always know that I give it 100 percent, and good or bad, there's going to be quite a lot of me in that picture. That's what they're looking for. I don't have any pretensions about wanting to be Hamlet. I would just like to be the best Burt Reynolds around.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: James L. Brooks offered Reynolds the role of astronaut Garrett Breedlove in "Terms of Endearment" (1983) but he turned it down to do "Stroker Ace" (1983), another car-chase comedy directed by Needham. The "Endearment" role went to Jack Nicholson, who went on to win an Academy Award. Reynolds said in 1987 that "I felt I owed Hal more than I owed Jim" but "Stroker Ace" flopped.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1983, an unnamed producer had said that while Reynolds' salaries would not decline because of "Stroker Ace"s failure, "if two or three more such pictures don't work, people will just stop putting him in that kind of movie and that's the kind of film for which he gets paid the most". Reynolds felt this was a turning point in his career from which he never recovered. "That's where I lost them", he said of his fans.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "The Man Who Loved Women" (1983), directed by Blake Edwards, also flopped. In an interview around this time, he said:


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Getting to the top has turned out to be a hell of a lot more fun than staying there. I've got Tom Selleck crawling up my back. I'm in my late 40s. I realize I have four or five more years where I can play certain kinds of parts and get away with it. That's why I'm leaning more and more toward directing and producing. I don't want to be stumbling around town doing Gabby Hayes parts a few years from now. I'd like to pick and choose and maybe go work for a perfume factory like Mr. Cary Grant, and look wonderful with everybody saying, 'Gee, I wish he hadn't retired'.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "Cannonball Run II" (1984), directed by Needham, brought in some money but only half of the original. "City Heat" (1984), which teamed Reynolds and Eastwood, was mildly popular but was considered a major critical and box-office disappointment. Reynolds was badly injured during filming when he was hit in the jaw with a real chair instead of a breakaway prop, causing him excruciating chronic pain as well as a sharp weight loss which resulted in rumors circulating for years that he had AIDS.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds returned to directing with "Stick" (1985), from an Elmore Leonard novel, but it was both a critical and commercial failure. So too were three other action films he made: "Heat" (1986), based on a William Goldman novel, "Malone" (1987), and "Rent-a-Cop" (1987) with Liza Minnelli. He later said that he did "Heat" and "Malone" "because there were so many rumors about me [about AIDS]. I had to get out and be seen".


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1987, Reynolds teamed up with Bert Convy to co-produce the game show "Win, Lose or Draw" for their production company, Burt and Bert Productions. The show was based on “sketch pad charades”, a game he often played with his friends in his living room in Jupiter. Vicki Lawrence hosted the daytime version on NBC while Convy hosted the syndicated version until 1989 when he left to host "3rd Degree", also created by Reynolds and Convy.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds attempted a screwball comedy, "Switching Channels" (1989), but it also was a box-office disappointment. Even more poorly received was "Physical Evidence" (1989), directed by Michael Crichton. Reynolds received excellent reviews for the caper comedy "Breaking In" (1989), but the commercial reception was poor.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: "When I was doing very well," he said at the time, "I wasn't conscious I was doing very well, but I became very conscious when I wasn't doing very well. The atmosphere changed."


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds returned to TV series with "B.L. Stryker" (1989–90). It ran two seasons, during which time Reynolds played a supporting part in "Modern Love" (1990).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds then starred in a sitcom, "Evening Shade" (1990–94) as former Pittsburgh Steelers player Woodward "Wood" Newton. The program was a considerable success, with 98 episodes over four seasons. This role earned him an Emmy Award. Reynolds credited this role for his membership in Steeler Nation.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: During his tenure on "Evening Shade", Reynolds was seen in other projects, starting with a cameo in "The Player" (1992) (playing himself complaining about people in Hollywood).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: On August 23, 1993, the children's film "Cop & 1/2" premiered, in which Reynolds played the lead. On August 25, the Randy Travis television special "Wind in the Wire" first aired; Reynolds was among the guests. On October 15, CBS first aired the television film "The Man from Left Field", co-starring Reba McEntire. Reynolds starred and directed.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: When "Evening Shade" ended, Reynolds played the lead in a horror film, "The Maddening" (1995). However, he gradually moved into being more of a character actor – he had key support roles in "Citizen Ruth" (1996), an early work from Alexander Payne, and "Striptease" (1996) with Demi Moore. He had to audition for the latter. The film's producer later said, "To be honest, we were not enthusiastic at first. There was the hair and his reputation, but we were curious." Reynolds got the role and earned some strong reviews.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds was a supporting actor in "Frankenstein and Me" (1996), "Mad Dog Time" (1996), "The Cherokee Kid" (1996), "Meet Wally Sparks" (1997) with Rodney Dangerfield, and "Bean" (1997) with Rowan Atkinson. He had the lead in "Raven" (1996), a straight-to-video action film. Around this time he claimed he was broke, having gone through $13 million.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1996, Reynolds' agent said "Regarding Burt, there's a split between the executives in town who are under 40 and those who are over 40. The younger executives are more open to Burt because they grew up loving "Deliverance". But the older executives remember how crazy he was, and they are less receptive." He also hosted segments for the Encore Action premium cable network in the late 1990s and 2000s.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds appeared as an adult film director in the hit film "Boogie Nights" (1997), which was considered a comeback role for him; he received 12 acting awards and three nominations for the role, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Reynolds' first and only nomination for the award. Reynolds was offered a role in "Boogie Nights" writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's subsequent film, "Magnolia" (1999), but he declined, saying that he hated working on "Boogie Nights" and hated Anderson.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds returned to directing with "Hard Time" (1998), an action TV film starring himself. It led to two sequels, which he did not direct, "" (1999) and "" (1999) (the latter directed by Hal Needham).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He starred in the straight-to-video "The Hunter's Moon" (1999), "Stringer" (1999), and "Waterproof" (2000). He played supporting roles in "Pups" (1999) and "Mystery, Alaska" (1999), and had the lead in "The Crew" (2000) alongside Richard Dreyfuss.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds directed "The Last Producer" (2000), starring himself, and was second-billed in Renny Harlin's "Driven" (2001), starring Sylvester Stallone. He was also in "Tempted" (2001), "Hotel" (2001) (directed by Mike Figgis), and "The Hollywood Sign" (2001).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds was top-billed in "Snapshots" (2002) with Julie Christie, "Time of the Wolf" (2002), and "Hard Ground" (2003), and had supporting roles in "Johnson County War" (2002) with Tom Berenger, and "Miss Lettie and Me" (2003) with Mary Tyler Moore.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was in a series of supporting roles that referred to earlier performances: "Without a Paddle" (2004), a riff on his role in "Deliverance", "The Longest Yard" (2005), a remake of his 1974 hit with Adam Sandler playing Reynolds' old role (while Reynolds played the Michael Conrad part from the original); and "The Dukes of Hazzard" (2005) as Boss Hogg in a nod to his performances in 1970s car-chase films.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds continued to play lead roles in films such as "Cloud 9" (2006), "Forget About It" (2006), "Deal" (2008), and "A Bunch of Amateurs" (2008), and supporting parts in "End Game" (2006), "Grilled" (2006), "Broken Bridges" (2006), "In the Name of the King" (2007), "Not Another Not Another Movie" (2011), and "Reel Love" (2011).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds voiced himself as the Mayor of Steelport in "", released in 2011. Players can recruit Reynolds as a "homie", depending on their in-game choices.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds also voiced himself in the animated series "Archer", in the episode "The Man from Jupiter" (2012). The character of Sterling Archer was largely inspired by Burt Reynolds.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He was top billed in "Category 5" (2014) and "Elbow Grease" (2016) and could be seen in key roles in "Pocket Listing" (2016), and "Hollow Creek" (2015). He returned to a regular role on TV in "Hitting the Breaks" (2016) but it only ran for ten episodes. He was in "Apple of My Eye" (2016) and took the lead in "The Last Movie Star" (2017).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds appeared posthumously in the 2019 film "An Innocent Kiss" as well as in the 2020 film "Defining Moments", which includes his final performance.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In May 2018, Reynolds had joined the cast for Quentin Tarantino's film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" as George Spahn (an eighty year old blind man who rented out his ranch to Charles Manson), but he died before shooting his scenes and was later replaced by Bruce Dern.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds co-authored the 1997 children's book, "Barkley Unleashed: A Pirate's Tail", a "whimsical tale [that] illustrates the importance of perseverance, the wonders of friendship and the power of imagination".


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1973, Reynolds released the country/easy listening album "Ask Me What I Am". He also sang in two movie musicals: "At Long Last Love" (1975) and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982).


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Despite his lucrative career, in 1996 he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, due in part to an extravagant lifestyle, a divorce from Loni Anderson and failed investments in some Florida restaurant chains. Reynolds emerged from bankruptcy two years later.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds in college "was so good-looking, I used him as bait," college roommate Lee Corso recalled. "He'd walk across campus and bring back two girls, one beautiful and one ugly; I got the ugly girl. His ugly girlfriends were better than anyone I could get on my own." Reynolds was married to English actress Judy Carne from 1963 to 1965. He and American singer-actress Dinah Shore (20 years his senior) were in a relationship from early 1971 until 1975. In the mid-1970s, Reynolds briefly dated singer Tammy Wynette. He had a relationship from 1976 to 1980 (then off-and-on until 1982) with American actress Sally Field, during which time they appeared together in four films. In 2016, he regarded Field as the love of his life. Reynolds was married to American actress Loni Anderson from 1988 to 1994. They adopted a son, Quinton. He and Anderson separated after he fell in love with a cocktail waitress, Pam Seals, with whom he later traded lawsuits, which were settled out of court.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In the late 1970s, Reynolds opened Burt's Place, a nightclub restaurant in the Omni International Hotel in the Hotel District of Downtown Atlanta. He was a lifelong fan of American football, a result of his collegiate career, and was a minority owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL from 1982 to 1986. The team's name was inspired by the "Smokey and the Bandit" trilogy and Skoal Bandit, a primary sponsor for the team as a result of also sponsoring Reynolds' motor racing team.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds co-owned a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team, Mach 1 Racing, with Hal Needham, which ran the No. 33 Skoal Bandit car with driver Harry Gant. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Florida State University in 1981 and later endorsed the construction of a new performing arts facility in Sarasota, Florida.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: He also owned a private "dinner theater" in Jupiter, Florida, with a focus on training young performers looking to enter show business. The theater was later renamed the Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theater and closed in 1997 after Reynolds declared bankruptcy.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: In 1984, he opened a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, named Burt & Jacks, which he co-owned with Jack Jackson.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: While filming "City Heat" in 1984, Reynolds was struck in the face with a metal chair on the first day of filming, which resulted in temporomandibular joint dysfunction. He was restricted to a liquid diet and lost thirty pounds from not eating. The painkillers he was prescribed led to addiction, which lasted several years. He underwent back surgery in 2009 and a quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery in February 2010.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: On August 16, 2011, Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation filed foreclosure papers, claiming Reynolds owed US$1.2 million on his home in Hobe Sound, Florida. Until its sale during bankruptcy, he owned the Burt Reynolds Ranch, where scenes for "Smokey and the Bandit" were filmed and which once had a petting zoo. In April 2014, the 153-acre (62 ha) rural property was rezoned for residential use and the Palm Beach County school system was empowered to sell it, which it did to the residential developer K. Hovnanian Homes.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: Reynolds died of a heart attack at the Jupiter Medical Center in Jupiter, Florida, on September 6, 2018, at the age of 82. His ex-wife Loni Anderson and their son Quinton held a private memorial service for Reynolds at a funeral home in North Palm Beach, Florida, on September 20. Those in attendance included Sally Field, FSU coach Bobby Bowden, friend Lee Corso, and quarterback Doug Flutie. Reynolds' body was cremated and his ashes were given to his niece, Nancy Lee Brown Hess. He was subsequently interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on February 11, 2021, on what would have been his 85th birthday. In September 2021, a bronze bust of Reynolds was placed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.


title: Burt Reynolds

text: On the day of Reynolds' death, Antenna TV, which airs "The Tonight Show" nightly, aired an episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" from February 11, 1982, featuring an interview and a "This Is Your Life"-style skit with Reynolds. The local media in Atlanta and elsewhere in the state noted on their television news programs that evening that he was the first to make major films in Georgia, all of which were successful, which helped make the state one of the top filming locations in the country. His niece, Nancy Lee Hess, produced a 2020 biography and documentary about Reynolds titled "I Am Burt Reynolds".


title: Burt Reynolds

text: During the height of his career, Reynolds was considered a male sex symbol and icon of American masculinity. Stephen Dalton wrote in "The Hollywood Reporter" that Reynolds "always seemed to embody an uncomplicated, undiluted, effortlessly likable strain of American masculinity that was driven much more by sunny mischief than angsty machismo." Reynolds' roles were often defined by his larger-than-life physicality and masculinity, contrasted with juvenile but self-aware humor. Though he was not considered a serious dramatic actor during his heyday, his later career was defined by performances that often reflected on his own reputation, creating what Dalton called "sophisticated, soulful performances."


title: Babylon

text: Babylon was the capital city of the ancient Babylonian Empire, which itself is a term referring to either of two separate empires in the Mesopotamian area in antiquity. These two empires achieved regional dominance between the 19th and 15th centuries BC, and again between the 7th and 6th centuries BC. The city, built along both banks of the Euphrates river, had steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. The site of the ancient city lies just south of present-day Baghdad.


title: Babylon

text: The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC) of the Akkadian Empire. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city; like the rest of Mesopotamia, it was subject to the Akkadian Empire which united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the Gutian people for a few decades before the rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which, apart from northern Assyria, encompassed the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon.


title: Babylon

text: The town became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the first Babylonian Empire, now known as the Old Babylonian Empire, in the 19th century BC. The Amorite king Hammurabi founded the short-lived Old Babylonian Empire in the 18th century BC. He built Babylon into a major city and declared himself its king. Southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia, and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the region's holy city. The empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna, and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After the Assyrians had destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire, a neo-Assyrian successor state, from 609 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, Sassanid, and Muslim empires. The last known record of habitation of the town dates from the 10th century AD, when it was referred to as the "small village of Babel".


title: Babylon

text: It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world , and again . It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 to .


title: Babylon

text: The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and its boundaries have been based on the perimeter of the ancient outer city walls, an area of about . They comprise a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in cuneiform texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in the Bible, descriptions in other classical writing (especially by Herodotus), and second-hand descriptions (citing the work of Ctesias and Berossus)—present an incomplete and sometimes contradictory picture of the ancient city, even at its peak in the sixth century BC. UNESCO inscribed Babylon as a World Heritage Site in 2019. The site receives thousands of visitors each year, almost all of whom are Iraqis. Construction is rapidly increasing, which has caused encroachments on the ruins.


title: Babylon

text: The spelling "Babylon" is the Latin representation of Greek "Babylṓn" (), derived from the native (Babylonian) "", meaning "gate of the god(s)".


title: Babylon

text: The cuneiform spelling was (KA₂.DIG̃IR.RA). This would correspond to the Sumerian phrase "kan dig̃irak".


title: Babylon

text: The sign 𒆍 (KA₂) is the logogram for "gate", 𒀭 (DIG̃IR) means "god", and 𒊏 (RA) represents the coda of the word "dig̃ir" (-r) followed by the genitive suffix "-ak". The final 𒆠 () is a determinative indicating that the previous signs are to be understood as a place name.


title: Babylon

text: Archibald Sayce, writing in the 1870s, postulated that the Semitic name was a loan-translation of the original Sumerian name.


title: Babylon

text: However, the "gate of god" interpretation is increasingly viewed as a Semitic folk etymology to explain an unknown original non-Semitic placename. I. J. Gelb in 1955 argued that the original name was "Babilla", of unknown meaning and origin, as there were other similarly named places in Sumer, and there are no other examples of Sumerian place-names being replaced with Akkadian translations. He deduced that it later transformed into Akkadian "", and that the Sumerian name "Kan-dig̃irak" was a loan translation of the Semitic folk etymology, and not the original name. The re-translation of the Semitic name into Sumerian would have taken place at the time of the "Neo-Sumerian" Third Dynasty of Ur. ("Bab-Il").


title: Babylon

text: In the Hebrew Bible, the name appears as "Babel" ( "Bavel",   "Bāḇel"; "Bāwēl", Bāḇel; in "Bābil"), interpreted in the Book of Genesis to mean "confusion", from the verb "bilbél" (, "to confuse"). The modern English verb, "" ("to speak foolish, excited, or confusing talk"), is popularly thought to derive from this name but there is no direct connection.


title: Babylon

text: Ancient records in some situations use "Babylon" as a name for other cities, including cities like Borsippa within Babylon's sphere of influence, and Nineveh for a short period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon.


title: Babylon

text: The ancient city, built along both banks of the Euphrates river, had steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about , oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the former western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain.


title: Babylon

text: Only a small portion of the ancient city (3% of the area within the inner walls; 1.5% of the area within the outer walls; 0.1% at the depth of Middle and Old Babylon) has been excavated. Known remains include:


title: Babylon

text: Archaeologists have recovered few artifacts predating the Neo-Babylonian period. The water table in the region has risen greatly over the centuries, and artifacts from the time before the Neo-Babylonian Empire are unavailable to current standard archaeological methods. Additionally, the Neo-Babylonians conducted significant rebuilding projects in the city, which destroyed or obscured much of the earlier record. Babylon was pillaged numerous times after revolting against foreign rule, most notably by the Hittites and Elamites in the 2nd millennium, then by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire in the 1st millennium BC. Much of the western half of the city is now beneath the river, and other parts of the site have been mined for commercial building materials.


title: Babylon

text: Only the Koldewey expedition recovered artifacts from the Old Babylonian period. These included 967 clay tablets, stored in private houses, with Sumerian literature and lexical documents.


title: Babylon

text: Nearby ancient settlements are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha. Marad and Sippar were in either direction along the Euphrates.


title: Babylon

text: The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in cuneiform texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in the Bible, descriptions in other classical writing (especially by Herodotus), and second-hand descriptions (citing the work of Ctesias and Berossus)—present an incomplete and sometimes contradictory picture of the ancient city, even at its peak in the sixth century BC. Babylon was described, perhaps even visited, by a number of classical historians including Ctesias, Herodotus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Strabo, and Cleitarchus. These reports are of variable accuracy and some of the content was politically motivated, but these still provide useful information.


title: Babylon

text: Historical knowledge of early Babylon must be pieced together from epigraphic remains found elsewhere, such as at Uruk, Nippur, Sippar, Mari, and Haradum.


title: Babylon

text: The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC) of the Akkadian Empire. References to the city of Babylon can be found in Akkadian and Sumerian literature from the late third millennium BC. One of the earliest is a tablet describing the Akkadian king Šar-kali-šarri laying the foundations in Babylon of new temples for Annūnı̄tum and Ilaba. Babylon also appears in the administrative records of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which collected in-kind tax payments and appointed an "ensi" as local governor.


title: Babylon

text: The so-called Weidner Chronicle (also known as "ABC 19") states that Sargon of Akkad ( in the short chronology) had built Babylon "in front of Akkad" (ABC 19:51). A later chronicle states that Sargon "dug up the dirt of the pit of Babylon, and made a counterpart of Babylon next to Akkad". (ABC 20:18–19). Van de Mieroop has suggested that those sources may refer to the much later Assyrian king Sargon II of the Neo-Assyrian Empire rather than Sargon of Akkad.


title: Babylon

text: Ctesias, quoted by Diodorus Siculus and in George Syncellus's "Chronographia", claimed to have access to manuscripts from Babylonian archives, which date the founding of Babylon to 2286 BC, under the reign of its first king, Belus. A similar figure is found in the writings of Berossus, who, according to Pliny, stated that astronomical observations commenced at Babylon 490 years before the Greek era of Phoroneus, indicating 2243 BC. Stephanus of Byzantium wrote that Babylon was built 1002 years before the date given by Hellanicus of Lesbos for the siege of Troy (1229 BC), which would date Babylon's foundation to 2231 BC. All of these dates place Babylon's foundation in the 23rd century BC; however, cuneiform records have not been found to correspond with these classical (post-cuneiform) accounts.


title: Babylon

text: The first attested mention of Babylon was in the late 3rd millennium BC during the Akkadian Empire reign of ruler Shar-Kali-Sharri one of whose year names mentions building two temples there. Babylon was ruled by ensi (governors) for the empire. Some of the known governors were Abba, Arši-aḫ, Itūr-ilum, Murteli, Unabatal, and Puzur-Tutu. After that nothing is heard of the city until the time of Sumu-la-El. After around 1950 BC Amorite kingdoms appear in Uruk and Larsa in the south.


title: Babylon

text: According to a Babylonian king list, Amorite rule in Babylon began () with a chieftain named Sumu-abum, who declared independence from the neighboring city-state of Kazallu. Sumu-la-El, whose dates may be concurrent with those of Sumu-abum, is usually given as the progenitor of the First Babylonian dynasty. Both are credited with building the walls of Babylon. In any case, the records describe Sumu-la-El's military successes establishing a regional sphere of influence for Babylon.


title: Babylon

text: Babylon was initially a minor city-state, and controlled little surrounding territory; its first four Amorite rulers did not assume the title of king. The older and more powerful states of, Elam, Isin, and Larsa overshadowed Babylon until it became the capital of Hammurabi's short-lived empire about a century later. Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750 BC) is famous for codifying the laws of Babylonia into the "Code of Hammurabi". He conquered all of the cities and city states of southern Mesopotamia, including Isin, Larsa, Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, Eridu, Kish, Adab, Eshnunna, Akshak, Shuruppak, Bad-tibira, Sippar, and Girsu, coalescing them into one kingdom, ruled from Babylon. Hammurabi also invaded and conquered Elam to the east, and the kingdoms of Mari and Ebla to the northwest. After a conflict with the Old Assyrian period king Ishme-Dagan, he forced his successor to pay tribute late in his reign.


title: Babylon

text: After the reign of Hammurabi, the whole of southern Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia. From this time, Babylon supplanted Nippur and Eridu as the major religious centers of southern Mesopotamia. Hammurabi's empire destabilized after his death. The far south of Mesopotamia broke away, forming the native Sealand Dynasty, and the Elamites appropriated territory in eastern Mesopotamia. The Amorite dynasty remained in power in Babylon, which again became a small city state. After the destruction of the city the Kassites rose to control the region.


title: Babylon

text: Texts from Old Babylon often include references to Shamash, the sun-god of Sippar, treated as a supreme deity, and Marduk, considered as his son. Marduk was later elevated to a higher status and Shamash lowered, perhaps reflecting Babylon's rising political power.


title: Babylon

text: In 1595 BC the city was overthrown by the Hittite Empire from Asia Minor. Thereafter, Kassites from the Zagros Mountains captured the city of Babylon, renaming it Karduniash, ushering in a dynasty that lasted for 435 years, until 1160 BC.


title: Babylon

text: Babylon weakened during the Kassite era, and as a result, Kassite Babylon began paying tribute to the Pharaoh of Egypt, Thutmose III, following his eighth campaign against Mitanni. Kassite Babylon eventually became subject to the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1053 BC) to the north, and Elam to the east, with both powers vying for control of the city.


title: Babylon

text: By 1155 BC, after continued attacks and annexing of territory by the Assyrians and Elamites, the Kassites were deposed in Babylon. An Akkadian south Mesopotamian dynasty then ruled for the first time. However, Babylon remained weak and subject to domination by Assyria. Its ineffectual native kings were unable to prevent new waves of foreign West Semitic settlers from the deserts of the Levant, including the Arameans and Suteans in the 11th century BC, and finally the Chaldeans in the 9th century BC, entering and appropriating areas of Babylonia for themselves. The Arameans briefly ruled in Babylon during the late 11th century BC.


title: Babylon

text: During the rule of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BC), Babylonia was under constant Assyrian domination or direct control. During the reign of Sennacherib of Assyria, Babylonia was in a constant state of revolt, led by a chieftain named Merodach-Baladan, in alliance with the Elamites, and suppressed only by the complete destruction of the city of Babylon. In 689 BC, its walls, temples and palaces were razed, and the rubble was thrown into the Arakhtu, the sea bordering the earlier Babylon on the south. The destruction of the religious center shocked many, and the subsequent murder of Sennacherib by two of his own sons while praying to the god Nisroch was considered an act of atonement. Consequently, his successor, Esarhaddon hastened to rebuild the old city and make it his residence for part of the year. After his death, Babylonia was governed by his elder son, the Assyrian prince Shamash-shum-ukin, who eventually started a civil war in 652 BC against his own brother, Ashurbanipal, who ruled in Nineveh. Shamash-shum-ukin enlisted the help of other peoples against Assyria, including Elam, Persia, the Chaldeans, and Suteans of southern Mesopotamia, and the Canaanites and Arabs dwelling in the deserts south of Mesopotamia.


title: Babylon

text: Once again, Babylon was besieged by the Assyrians, starved into surrender and its allies were defeated. Ashurbanipal celebrated a "service of reconciliation", but did not venture to "take the hands" of Bel. An Assyrian governor named Kandalanu was appointed as ruler of the city. Ashurbanipal did collect texts from Babylon for inclusion in his extensive library at Ninevah.


title: Babylon

text: After the death of Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian empire was destabilized due to a series of internal civil wars throughout the reigns of the Assyrian kings Ashur-etil-ilani, Sin-shumu-lishir, and Sinsharishkun. Eventually, Babylon, like many other parts of the Near East, took advantage of the chaos within Assyria to free itself from Assyrian rule. In the subsequent overthrow of the Assyrian Empire by an alliance of peoples, the Babylonians saw another example of divine vengeance.


title: Babylon

text: Under Nabopolassar, Babylon escaped Assyrian rule, and the allied Medo-Babylonian armies finally destroyed the Assyrian Empire between 626 BC and 609 BC. Babylon thus became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian (sometimes called the Chaldean) Empire.


title: Babylon

text: With the recovery of Babylonian independence, a new era of architectural activity ensued, particularly during the reign of his son Nebuchadnezzar II (604–561 BC). Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including the Etemenanki ziggurat, and the construction of the Ishtar Gate—the most prominent of eight gates around Babylon. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.


title: Babylon

text: Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, said to have been built for his homesick wife, Amytis. Whether the gardens actually existed is a matter of dispute. German archaeologist Robert Koldewey speculated that he had discovered its foundations, but many historians disagree about the location. Stephanie Dalley has argued that the hanging gardens were actually located in the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.


title: Babylon

text: Nebuchadnezzar is also notoriously associated with the Babylonian exile of the Jews, the result of an imperial technique of pacification, used also by the Assyrians, in which ethnic groups in conquered areas were deported en masse to the capital. According to the Hebrew Bible, he destroyed Solomon's Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylon. The defeat was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.


title: Babylon

text: In 539 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, with a military engagement known as the Battle of Opis. Babylon's walls were considered impenetrable. The only way into the city was through one of its many gates or through the Euphrates River. Metal grates were installed underwater, allowing the river to flow through the city walls while preventing intrusion. The Persians devised a plan to enter the city via the river. During a Babylonian national feast, Cyrus' troops upstream diverted the Euphrates River, allowing Cyrus' soldiers to enter the city through the lowered water. The Persian army conquered the outlying areas of the city while the majority of Babylonians at the city center were unaware of the breach. The account was elaborated upon by Herodotus and is also mentioned in parts of the Hebrew Bible. Herodotus also described a moat, an enormously tall and broad wall cemented with bitumen and with buildings on top, and a hundred gates to the city. He also writes that the Babylonians wear turbans and perfume and bury their dead in honey, that they practice ritual prostitution, and that three tribes among them eat nothing but fish. The hundred gates can be considered a reference to Homer, and following the pronouncement of Archibald Henry Sayce in 1883, Herodotus' account of Babylon has largely been considered to represent Greek folklore rather than an authentic voyage to Babylon. However, recently, Dalley and others have suggested taking Herodotus' account seriously.


title: Babylon

text: According to 2 Chronicles 36 of the Hebrew Bible, Cyrus later issued a decree permitting captive people, including the Jews, to return to their own lands. The text found on the Cyrus Cylinder has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroborative evidence of this policy, although the interpretation is disputed because the text identifies only Mesopotamian sanctuaries but makes no mention of Jews, Jerusalem, or Judea.


title: Babylon

text: Under Cyrus and the subsequent Persian king Darius I, Babylon became the capital city of the 9th Satrapy (Babylonia in the south and Athura in the north), as well as a center of learning and scientific advancement. In Achaemenid Persia, the ancient Babylonian arts of astronomy and mathematics were revitalized, and Babylonian scholars completed maps of constellations. The city became the administrative capital of the Persian Empire and remained prominent for over two centuries. Many important archaeological discoveries have been made that can provide a better understanding of that era.


title: Babylon

text: The early Persian kings had attempted to maintain the religious ceremonies of Marduk, who was the most important god, but by the reign of Darius III, over-taxation and the strain of numerous wars led to a deterioration of Babylon's main shrines and canals, and the destabilization of the surrounding region. There were numerous attempts at rebellion and in 522 BC (Nebuchadnezzar III), 521 BC (Nebuchadnezzar IV) and 482 BC (Bel-shimani and Shamash-eriba) native Babylonian kings briefly regained independence. However, these revolts were quickly repressed and Babylon remained under Persian rule for two centuries, until Alexander the Great's entry in 331 BC.


title: Babylon

text: In October of 331 BC, Darius III, the last Achaemenid king of the Persian Empire, was defeated by the forces of the Ancient Macedonian ruler Alexander at the Battle of Gaugamela.


title: Babylon

text: Under Alexander, Babylon again flourished as a center of learning and commerce. However, following Alexander's death in 323 BC in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, his empire was divided amongst his generals, the Diadochi, and decades of fighting soon began. The constant turmoil virtually emptied the city of Babylon. A tablet dated 275 BC states that the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to Seleucia, where a palace and a temple (Esagila) were built. With this deportation, Babylon became insignificant as a city, although more than a century later, sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary.


title: Babylon

text: Under the Parthian and Sassanid Empires, Babylon (like Assyria) became a province of these Persian Empires for nine centuries, until after AD 650. Although it was captured briefly by Trajan in AD 116 to be part of the newly conquered province of Mesopotamia, his successor Hadrian relinquished his conquests east of the Euphrates river, which became again the Roman Empire's eastern boundary.


title: Babylon

text: However, Babylon maintained its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon. Examples of their culture are found in the Babylonian Talmud, the Gnostic Mandaean religion, Eastern Rite Christianity and the religion of the philosopher Mani. Christianity was introduced to Mesopotamia in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and Babylon was the seat of a Bishop of the Church of the East until well after the Arab/Islamic conquest. Coins from the Parthian, Sasanian and Arabic periods excavated in Babylon demonstrate the continuity of settlement there.


title: Babylon

text: In the mid-7th century, Mesopotamia was invaded and settled by the expanding Muslim Empire, and a period of Islamization followed. Babylon was dissolved as a province and Aramaic and Church of the East Christianity eventually became marginalized. Ibn Hawqal (10th century) and the Arab scholar, al-Qazwini (13th century), describe Babylon (Babil) as a small village. The latter described a well referred to as the 'Dungeon of Daniel' that was visited by Christians and Jews during holidays. The grave-shrine of Amran ibn Ali was visited by Muslims.


title: Babylon

text: Babylon is mentioned in medieval Arabic writings as a source of bricks, said to have been used in cities from Baghdad to Basra.


title: Babylon

text: European travellers, in many cases, could not discover the city's location, or mistook Fallujah for it. Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th-century traveller, mentions Babylon, but it is not clear if he went there. Others referred to Baghdad as Babylon or New Babylon and described various structures encountered in the region as the Tower of Babel. Pietro della Valle travelled to the village of Babil in Babylon in the 17th century and noted the existence of both baked and dried mudbricks cemented with bitumen.


title: Babylon

text: The eighteenth century saw an increasing flow of travellers to Babylon, including Carsten Niebuhr and Pierre-Joseph de Beauchamp, as well as measurements of its latitude. Beauchamp's memoir, published in English translation in 1792, provoked the British East India Company to direct its agents in Baghdad and Basra to acquire Mesopotamian relics for shipment to London.


title: Babylon

text: By 1905, there were several villages in Babylon, one of which was Qwaresh with about 200 households located within the boundaries of the ancient inner city walls. The village grew due to the need for laborers during the German Oriental Society excavations (1899-1917).


title: Babylon

text: Claudius Rich, working for the British East India Company in Baghdad, excavated Babylon in 1811–12 and again in 1817. Captain Robert Mignan explored the site briefly in 1827 and in 1829 he completed a map of Babylon which includes the location of several villages. William Loftus visited there in 1849. Austen Henry Layard made some soundings during a brief visit in 1850 before abandoning the site.


title: Babylon

text: Fulgence Fresnel, Julius Oppert and Felix Thomas heavily excavated Babylon from 1852 to 1854. However, much of their work was lost in the Qurnah Disaster when a transport ship and four rafts sank on the Tigris river in May 1855. They had been carrying over 200 crates of artifacts from various excavation missions when they were attacked by Tigris river pirates near Al-Qurnah. Recovery efforts, assisted by the Ottoman authorities and British Residence in Baghdad, loaded the equivalent of 80 crates on a ship for Le Havre in May 1856. Few antiquities from the Fresnel mission would make it to France. Subsequent efforts to recover the lost antiquities from the Tigris, including a Japanese expedition in 1971–72, have been largely unsuccessful.


title: Babylon

text: Henry Rawlinson and George Smith worked there briefly in 1854. The next excavation was conducted by Hormuzd Rassam on behalf of the British Museum. Work began in 1879, continuing until 1882, and was prompted by widespread looting of the site. Using industrial scale digging in search of artifacts, Rassam recovered a large quantity of cuneiform tablets and other finds. The zealous excavation methods, common at the time, caused significant damage to the archaeological context. Many tablets had appeared on the market in 1876 before Rassam's excavation began.