Babylonia

Babylonia was a city state in  central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and Syria) over 3000 years ago. At that time the region also included the city states of Assyria to the north, and Elam to the south-east. 

Its capital city was Babylon, which meant The Gate of the Gods. Babylon was sited on the bank of the lower Euphrates River in modern day Iraq, 55 miles south of Baghdad and 5 miles north of Hillah.

Babylon is first mentioned as a small town by Sargon (c 2300 BC), the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire. According to tradition it was he who built it. 

A tablet describes the Akkadian king Šar-kali-šarri laying the foundations in Babylon of new temples for Annūnı̄tum and Ilaba. 

A tunnel was built under the Euphrates River to connect the two halves of Babylon between 2180 and 2160 BC. It was the biggest underwater tunnel until one was built beneath the Thames in 1824.

The empire was built out of the lands of the former Akkadian empire. An Amorite dynasties founded a small kingdom of Kazallu which included the then still minor town of Babylon circa 1894 BC. It  ultimately took over the others and formed the first Babylonian empire, also called the First Babylonian dynasty.

Babylonia first rose to importance under Hammurabi (c. 1810 – c. 1750 BC), the sixth king of the First Babylonian dynasty. It was called at the time "the country of Akkad", a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire.

By MapMaster - Own work,

Babylonia was sacked by the Hittites after which it was ruled by Kassites for 576 years. Next it was ruled by Elam, before regaining its independence.

Babylon became a magnificent city under Nebuchadnezzar I(c. 1125–1104 BC), the fourth king of the  Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He fought and defeated the Elamites and drove them from Babylonian territory, invading Elam itself, sacking the Elamite capital Susa. 

Babylonia kept its independence for about three centuries. They were then conquered by the Neo-Assyrians. A century later they again became free, to form the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar II was the greatest king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 605 BC to 562 BC. Nebuchadnezzar remains famous for his military campaigns, construction projects in Babylon, and for the important part he played in Jewish history. At the time of his death, Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful ruler in the known world.

Nebuchadnezzar constructed some magnificent hanging gardens to please and console his favorite wife, Amytis.

The walls of Babylon were among the wonders of Babylon. Built by Nebuchadnezzar, they were faced with glazed tile and pierced by openings fitted with magnificent brass gates. 

In Babylonia, the homes looked much like those of Egypt. Babylonia's soil was marshy, however, so houses were built on brick platforms to raise them above street level. Ventilation was not as advanced as in Egypt.

When sick the Babylonians preferred to leave the treatment of their sickness to the general public rather than relying on the wisdom of physicians. When somebody fell ill, he was taken to the city square, where nobody was allowed to walk past without asking the sick individual what he was suffering from and whether he could help. If previously the pedestrian had suffered from the same ailment, or seen it treated before, then he could recommend the best cure.

The Ancient Babylonians did math in base 60 instead of base 10. That's why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 360 degrees in a circle.

The Babylonian cult of Ishtar required every woman to sleep with a stranger at least once in her life at the local temple. This was felt to reflect the dual nature of womankind as mother and prostitute.

The punishment for serving bad beer in Babylon was drowning.

Ancient Babylon had suburbs. A 539 B.C cuneiform clay tablet stating: "Our property seems to me the most beautiful in the world. It is so close to Babylon that we enjoy all the advantages of the city, and yet when we come home we are away from the noise and dust."

On October 29, 539 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia entered Babylon, and detained the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Nabonidus. To accomplish this feat, the Persian army, using a basin dug earlier by the Babylonian Queen Nitokris to protect Babylon against Median attacks, diverted the Euphrates river into a canal so that the water level dropped to thigh level, which allowed the invading forces to march directly through the river bed to enter at night.

Cyrus the Great liberated the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, allowing them to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Cyrus the Great liberated the Jews from the Babylonian captivity

Throughout 1898 and the early part of 1899 architect and archaeologist Robert Koldewey reconnoitered the ancient city of Babylon. He uncovered the enormous walls of the city, so wide four span of horses could drive abreast. Babylon had been enormous, larger than any other citadel known to history. Koldewey unearthed the base of a tower on which King Nabopolassar claimed "At that time Marduk [the god] commanded me to build the Tower of Babel which had become weakened by time and fallen into disrepair..." Wherever Koldewey turned his spade, he turned up verification of things the Bible had to say about the great kings and empires that once existed in the Mideast.

Sources Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc
RM 2012. Helicon Publishing is division of RM