From about 2000 to 500 BC Babylon was the capital of the Babylonian Empire and a major center of religion and trade.
Around 1900 Semitic peoples, possibly known as the Amorites, migrate into Mesopotamian and capture the city-state of Babylon.
It was also the site of the legendary Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rulers of the ancient world, Hammurabi is thought to have come to the throne of Babylon in about 1792 BC. Hammurabi’s capital was protected by strong walls.
The last king of the Old Babylonian Empire, Samsuditana, is over thrown by Hittite invaders.
Then, in the 7th century BC, the Assyrians captured and sacked the city.
It was not until the Babylonian general Nabopolassar defeated the Assyrians in 626 BC. By 600 BC, Nabopolassar son’s King Nebuchadnezzar had fashioned Babylon into the pagan empire of Babylonia, a center of religion, commerce, and government.
He rebuilt the capital and transformed it into the finest city in the ancient Middle East.
There is a romantic legend that the Hanging Gardens were built for Nebuchadnezzar’s wife, Amytis, a Mede who missed the green mountain.
Babylonia may have been the most powerful monarchy in the history of the world.
Babylon fell in one night to the armies of Cyrus the Persian in 539 BC and ceased to be a world power.
History of Babylon
