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Babylon ( BAB-il-on) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (53 miles) south of modern-day Baghdad.

Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon also served as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East until its decline during the Hellenistic period. Both the Hanging Gardens and Walls of Babylon were ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC), of the Akkadian Empire. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and was neither an independent state nor a large city, merely a town of the Akkadian Empire. The collapse of the Akkadian Empire was followed by a few decades under the south Mesopotamian Gutian Dynasty, then the Third Dynasty of Ur ruling the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon. The town became part of a small independent city-state in the early second millennium BC. The Amorite king Hammurabi founded the 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 destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire, from 626 to 539 BC. 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 habitation of the town dates from the 11th century AD, 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. 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 Herodotus and other classical authors, and second-hand summaries of 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 recognized Babylon as a World Heritage Site in 2019.

The earliest reasonably firm mention of the city of Babylon comes from one of Shar-Kali-Sharri's year names, which reports the founding of temples of Annunitum and Ilaba in KÁ.DINGIRki, thought to be Babylon, indicating that the folk etymology was already widely known in the Akkadian Empire (c. In some instances, ancient records use "Babylon" as a name for other cities, including Borsippa within Babylon's sphere of influence, and Nineveh for a brief period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon.

The earliest attested mention of Babylon dates to the late 3rd millennium BC, during the reign of the Akkadian ruler Shar-Kali-Sharri, one of whose year names mentions the construction of two temples there. Babylon was ruled by an ensi (governor) for the empire.

However, Babylon maintained its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon.

Others referred to Baghdad as "Babylon" or "New Babylon" and described various structures encountered in the region as the Tower of Babel.

Isaiah 13:19 says the following regarding Babylon: "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Quick Facts

• The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC), of the Akkadian Empire.
• The collapse of the Akkadian Empire was followed by a few decades under the south Mesopotamian Gutian Dynasty, then the Third Dynasty of Ur ruling the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon.
• Both the Hanging Gardens and Walls of Babylon were ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
• Southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia, and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the region's holy city.
• Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and was neither an independent state nor a large city, merely a town of the Akkadian Empire.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Babylon". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.