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Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (55 miles) south of modern day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia.
Babylonia (/ ˌ b æ b ɪ ˈ l oʊ n i ə /; Akkadian: 𒆳𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠, māt Akkadī) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran).
In the 6th century BC there was new construction in Ur under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. The last Babylonian king, Nabonidus , improved the ziggurat. However, the city started to decline from around 530 BC after Babylonia fell to the Persian Achaemenid Empire , and was no longer inhabited by the early 5th century BC.
Babylon is perhaps most famous today for its repeated appearances in the Bible, where it appears both literally (in reference to historical events) and allegorically (symbolizing other things). The Neo-Babylonian Empire is featured in several prophecies and in descriptions of the destruction of Jerusalem and subsequent Babylonian captivity.
The city of Babylon is shown on the Euphrates, in the northern half of the map. Susa, the capital of Elam, is shown to the south, Urartu to the northeast, and Habban, the capital of the Kassites, is shown (incorrectly) to the northwest. Mesopotamia is surrounded by a circular "bitter river" or Ocean, and seven or eight foreign regions are ...
Among the social systems of the Four Great Ancient Civilizations, Egypt and Babylon adopted slavery, India implemented the caste system, and China adopted the feudal system and the well-field system before the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. Each civilization had its own myths and legends. The state entities were born later.
The origins of the First Babylonian dynasty are hard to pinpoint because Babylon itself yields few archaeological materials intact due to a high water table.The evidence that survived throughout the years includes written records such as royal and votive inscriptions, literary texts, and lists of year-names.
However, the gardens were said to still exist at the time that later writers described them, and some of these accounts are regarded as deriving from people who had visited Babylon. [2] Herodotus , who describes Babylon in his Histories , does not mention the Hanging Gardens, [ 22 ] although it could be that the gardens were not yet well known ...