Babylon
Ancient city · Iraq
- Abandoned
- 1
- Founded
- 2200 BC
- Population
- 150,000
- Coordinates
- 32.523, 44.424
Why it was abandoned
🏛️ Ancient ruins
Detected automatically from the text: древний город в Месопотамии, столица Вавилонии
History
Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres 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. Nearby ancient sites include Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha.