Babylon

 Babylon

Babylon was the capital city of the ancient Babylonian Empire. The city, built along both banks of the Euphrates river, had steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad (2334–2279 BC) of the Akkadian Empire. The site of the ancient city lies 88 kilometers south of present-day Baghdad. The last known record of habitation of the town dates from the 10th century AD, when it was referred to as the "small village of Babel"

. The town became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the first Babylonian Empire, now known as the Old Babylonian Empire, in the 19th century BC. The Amorite king Hammurabi founded the short-lived 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 (an ancient Sumerian city.) as the region's holy city. The empire became smaller  under the rule of Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna, and Babylon, after being defeated by other empires, spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After the Assyrians had destroyed and then rebuilt it, Babylon became the capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire, a neo-Assyrian successor state, from 609 to 539 BC.  After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires.

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Facts:

Sumu-abum created the first Babylonian dynasty in 1894 BC. He was an Amorite Chieftain.

It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from 1770 – 1670 BC, and then again from 612 – 320 BC. Estimates for the maximum reaches of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares or 9 square kilometers.

It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the maximum reaches of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares or 9 square kilometers.

The city was equipped with a 300 foot tall Ziggurat (a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia.) as the center of the wall. 

In ancient Babylon, Procession Avenue was a stone road that the visitors should pass before they came inside the city of Babylon. Then everyone had to pass a massive arched gate with dragon and bull decoration. It was called Ishtar gate.

Women in Babylonian society were relatively well treated. Women were allowed to become priests and were free to sell wine and start their own businesses, although their primary role in the home remained paramount.

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One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World exists in Babylon, and is the famous Hanging Gardens.It was made by King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC. It was made for his wife, Queen Amytis. She came from a hilly region covered in lush vegetation. However, the sandy and lifeless geography of Babylon, besides the Euphrates, made her homesick. To make the queen happy, King Nebuchadnezzar made the hanging gardens, which reconstructed the queen's home.

The Babylonian king Hammurabi had made rules for the whole empire. Hammurabi’s code of more than 200 written rules and regulations covered issues of land, property, industry, agriculture, etc.The code was written on clay tablets and tall, stone pillars. The rules were specific and strict, and they acted as a guideline for most daily activities and situations. The code was based on the principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and laid the foundations for many of the world’s legal systems today. The laws were implemented by judges, or ‘amelu’, who were drawn from the upper-class strata of society.