Babylon

Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower <a href="/facts/Euphrates/RbCk68gt">Euphrates</a> river in southern <a href="/facts/Mesopotamia/f0mmbhTK">Mesopotamia</a>, within modern-day <a href="/facts/Hillah/L8gETD93">Hillah</a>, <a href="/facts/Iraq/pqYSFJw8">Iraq</a>, about 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of modern-day <a href="/facts/Baghdad/RbtLzzHe">Baghdad</a>. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the <a href="/facts/Akkadian_language/esQDlrFw">Akkadian-speaking</a> region of <a href="/facts/Babylonia/J4jjdUua">Babylonia</a>. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC <a href="/facts/Old_Babylonian_Empire/qAa4pT2M">Old Babylonian Empire</a>, and the 7th–6th century BC <a href="/facts/Neo-Babylonian_Empire/GfIPHmzs">Neo-Babylonian Empire</a>. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the <a href="/facts/Achaemenid_Empire/avlzWxF0">Achaemenid Empire</a>. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the <a href="/facts/Ancient_Near_East/Ipt8t839">ancient Near East</a>, until its decline during the <a href="/facts/Hellenistic_period/q6BgQsaF">Hellenistic period</a>. Nearby ancient sites are <a href="/facts/Kish_(Sumer)/hd2lAbY1">Kish</a>, <a href="/facts/Borsippa/IfaNgK6a">Borsippa</a>, <a href="/facts/Dilbat/o9UYI1sw">Dilbat</a>, and <a href="/facts/Kutha/6qW1L8nB">Kutha</a>.
The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a <a href="/facts/Clay_tablet/9mbScsAn">clay tablet</a> from the reign of <a href="/facts/Shar-Kali-Sharri/BsBI5U9K">Shar-Kali-Sharri</a> (2217–2193 BC), of the <a href="/facts/Akkadian_Empire/kWx9zFF6">Akkadian Empire</a>. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city, subject to the Akkadian Empire. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the <a href="/facts/Gutian_rule_in_Mesopotamia/QwufCLVE">Gutian Dynasty</a> for a few decades, before the rise of the <a href="/facts/Third_Dynasty_of_Ur/rBJUxXah">Third Dynasty of Ur</a>, which encompassed the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon.
The town became part of a small independent <a href="/facts/City-state/aj1EjbYy">city-state</a> with the rise of the first Babylonian Empire, now known as the <a href="/facts/Old_Babylonian_Empire/qAa4pT2M">Old Babylonian Empire</a>, in the 17th century BC. The <a href="/facts/Amorites/phVjneVo">Amorite</a> king <a href="/facts/Hammurabi/FRm62rbU">Hammurabi</a> founded the short-lived Old Babylonian Empire in the 16th century BC. He built Babylon into a major city and declared himself its king. Southern Mesopotamia became known as <a href="/facts/Babylonia/J4jjdUua">Babylonia</a>, and Babylon eclipsed <a href="/facts/Nippur/0FPnbKa1">Nippur</a> as the region's holy city. The empire waned under Hammurabi's son <a href="/facts/Samsu-iluna/dw8JURwm">Samsu-iluna</a>, and Babylon spent long periods under <a href="/facts/Assyrian_people/qfHqDhDc">Assyrian</a>, <a href="/facts/Kassites/wVwot9jL">Kassite</a> and <a href="/facts/Elam/qzj9ATAt">Elamite</a> domination. After the Assyrians destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived <a href="/facts/Neo-Babylonian_Empire/GfIPHmzs">Neo-Babylonian Empire</a>, from 626 to 539 BC. The <a href="/facts/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon/F1lIa4PD">Hanging Gardens of Babylon</a> were ranked as one of the <a href="/facts/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World/xHWcHYfV">Seven Wonders of the Ancient World</a>, allegedly existing between approximately 600 BC and AD 1. However, there are questions about whether the Hanging Gardens of Babylon even existed, as there is no mention within any extant Babylonian texts of its existence. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the <a href="/facts/Achaemenid/avlzWxF0">Achaemenid</a>, <a href="/facts/Seleucid_Empire/NSYMLBYa">Seleucid</a>, <a href="/facts/Parthian_Empire/2Yxcllsk">Parthian</a>, <a href="/facts/Roman_Empire/l4E1aUuV">Roman</a>, <a href="/facts/Sasanian_Empire/JvbRevkA">Sassanid</a>, and <a href="/facts/Muslim_conquest_of_Persia/o3y3Wxhk">Muslim</a> empires. The last known habitation of the town dates from the 11th century, when it was referred to as the "small village of Babel".
It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world c. 1770 – c. 1670 BC, and again c. 612 – c. 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 (3½ sq. mi.) to 900 ha (2,200 acres). The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in <a href="/facts/Cuneiform/MgIQoGu8">cuneiform</a> texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in the <a href="/facts/Bible/SqkRTKCh">Bible</a>, descriptions in other classical writing, especially by <a href="/facts/Herodotus/hTgRSAnv">Herodotus</a>, and second-hand descriptions, citing the work of <a href="/facts/Ctesias/n8bshjCv">Ctesias</a> and <a href="/facts/Berossus/9VLsDkVA">Berossus</a>—present an incomplete and sometimes contradictory picture of the ancient city, even at its peak in the sixth century BC. <a href="/facts/UNESCO/QSbkRv3o">UNESCO</a> inscribed Babylon as a <a href="/facts/World_Heritage_Site/6AbWWKV4">World Heritage Site</a> in 2019. The site receives thousands of visitors each year, almost all of whom are Iraqis. Construction is rapidly increasing, which has caused encroachments upon the ruins.
Babylon stopped functioning as an urban centre between the 2nd century BC and the 7th century CE. Over those 700 years, it gradually declined from a major city to near-total abandonment. Small communities have continued to live in the area, and nearby towns such as Hillah remain inhabited on the historical site.

Babylon open-in-new

Babylon