BABYLON

The city of Babylon. Often mistaken as one of the former names of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the ruined city of Babylon actually is situated roughly 90 kms away from Baghdad. What today is a hardcore Islamic region was once a 'cradle of civilisation', the entire Tigris-Euphrates river valley. Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia were one of the chief civilisations of Antiquity Era that saw the birth and emergence of Babylon. Interestingly, the natives addressed the city as 'Babilim' and Babylon was the Greek way of pronouncing it. Babylon's existence traces back to Ubaid period (5900 BC to 4300 BC), which is considered as one of the earliest human civilisations on earth. 

The chronology of Iraqi civilisation and cultures is quite messy since they belong to a really old age. But here is an attempt to lay out that chronology. 

1. Baradostian culture (around 35,000 BC)
2. Zarzian culture (around 11,000 BC; at this time the Persian Gulf was much inwards to what it is today)
3. M'lefaatian culture (8000 BC)
4. Ubaid culture (6500 BC - 3800 BC; possible foundations of early Babylon city)
5. Uruk period (5000 BC - 3000 BC)
6. Jemdet Nasr period (3000 BC - 2900 BC)
7. Akkadian Empire (2314 BC - 2180 BC)
8. The Gutian dynasty (2199 BC)
9. Third Dynasty of Ur or the Neo-Sumerian Empire (2112 BC - 2004 BC)
10. Isin-Larsa period (2013 BC - 1858 BC)
11. The First Babylonian Dynasty (1858 BC - 1595 BC)

The great boundaries 

Babylon didn't end up here. Actually, it existed till the 539 BC when the Achaemenid Empire took over finally. The city existed for roughly 6000 years before its fall but even today one can trace back some ruins that are being preserved by the Iraqi government. The mud-bricked gigantic structure of ancient Babylon was the typical styled city existing that time. Interestingly, at the fall of Babylon, the only other regions where civilisations existed were the Mediterranean (the Greek city-states and the Carthaginian Empire), Egypt, Sudan (the Kush Kingdom), Iran (Medes and Elam kingdoms), Turkey (Lydian Empire), India (the Vedic period and establishment of the first Indian republics) and China (the Zhou dynasty). 

Great buildings

Although Babylon existed for several millennia, the largest boundaries of the empire was stretched only in the 7th century BC. Nebuchadnezzar II reconstructed the empire and it was during this period that Babylonia extended from Iraq to the Levant. Nebuchadnezzar's city was constructed along the Euphrates river and had 14 temples including the Marduk Temple. The worship of God Marduk was actually enforced by a previous ruler Hammurabi (1810 BC - 1750 BC) who is also credited to have written what is now known as 'Code of Hammurabi' - one of the earliest law materials in written form. Hammurabi is also the one who made Babylon as the capital of its empire, thus derived the name Babylonia. It is also said that during the time of Nebuchadnezzar II, the ancient world wonder Hanging Gardens of Babylon was built although its exact location is yet not concrete. Another epic structure was built at Babylon was the Tower of Babel, an etamenanki (foundation of heaven) ziggurat (precursor to the Egyptian pyramids), that was believed a stairway to heaven. It was Nebuchadnezzar's palace where Alexander the Great died in 323 BC. 

Babylon in the Bible

Babylon has been described in many historical texts by various historians as well as mentioned in the Holy Bible (280 times, to be precise). It has also been referred by several alternate names in different versions of the Bible. Land of the Chaldeans (Ezekiel 12:13 NIV), Land of Shinar (Daniel 1:2, ESV; Zechariah 5:11, ESV), Desert of the Sea (Isaiah 21:1, 9), Lady of Kingdoms (Isaiah 47:5), Land of Merathaim (Jeremiah 50:1, 21), Sheshach (Jeremiah 25:12, 26, KJV). 

Here's a map of the great Babylon city with various sites as excavated between 1899 to 1980s. The background to the map is a painting of Tower of Babel.