History of Babylon

Babylon (𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠KA2.DIĜIR.RAKI Akkadian: Bābili(m); Aramaic: בבל, Babel; Arabic: بَابِل‎, Bābil; Hebrew: בָּבֶל‎, Bavel; Classical Syriac: ܒܒܠ‎, Bāwēl) was a key kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia from the 18th to 6th centuries BC. The city was built on the Euphrates river and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon was originally a small Akkadian town dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BC.

The town became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in the 19th century BC. After the Amorite king Hammurabi created a short-lived empire in the 18th century BC, he built Babylon up into a major city and declared himself its king, and southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as its holy city. The empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the short lived Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, although a number of scholars believe these were actually in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires.

It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770 – c. 1670 BC, and again between c. 612 – c. 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.[2] Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890[3] to 900 hectares (2,200 acres).[4]

The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (53 mi) south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris.

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 classical writing (especially by Herodotus), and second-hand descriptions (citing 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.[5]

巴比伦（𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠KA2.DIĜIR.RAKI阿卡德：巴比利（M）;阿拉姆语：בבל，巴贝尔;阿拉伯语：بابل，巴比伦，希伯来文：בָּבֶל，Bavel;古典叙利亚：ܒܒܠ，Bāwēl）是从古代两河流域的关键王国18日至6公元前数百年。该城始建于幼发拉底河和等份分成沿其左右岸，陡峭的河堤遏制河流的季节性洪水。巴比伦最初是一个小城镇阿卡从阿卡德帝国段C约会。公元前2300年。

镇成为了一个独立的小城市国家，第一亚摩利巴比伦王朝的前19世纪崛起的一部分。亚摩利国王汉谟拉比后创造了公元前18世纪一个短命的帝国，他建立了巴比伦成为一个主要的城市，并宣布自己的王，和南部的美索不达米亚成为著名的巴比伦和巴比伦黯然失色尼普尔为圣城。帝国统治下汉谟拉比的儿子萨姆苏·伊路那减弱和巴比伦下亚述，Kassite和埃兰统治花费很长时间。被破坏，然后被亚述人重修后，巴比伦成为短命的新巴比伦王国的首都从609到公元前539年。巴比伦的空中花园是古代世界七大奇迹之一，虽然有一些学者认为，这些实际上是在尼尼微的亚述首都。新巴比伦帝国灭亡后，来到城阿契美尼德，塞琉古，帕提亚人，罗马和萨珊帝国的统治之下。

据估计，巴比伦是由C是世界上最大的城市。 1770 - ℃。 BC，和c之间再次1670。 612 - ℃。 BC 320。这或许是第一个城市达到20万以上的人口。[2]概算890 [3]〜900公顷（2200英亩）其区域范围的最大程度。[4]

城市的残骸是在现今的希拉，巴比伦省，伊拉克，约85千米（53英里）在巴格达以南，包括大破告诉泥砖建筑和杂物。

关于网站本身的巴比伦开挖信息的主要来源，在楔形文字文献在美索不达米亚的其他地方发现，在圣经中引用，在古典写作（尤其是希罗多德），以及二手描述描述（引用克特西亚斯的工作，贝罗索斯）甚至在其在第六世纪BC峰-present古城的不完整的和有时是矛盾的图片。[5]