Babylon is one of the most famous cities of antiquity. It was the capital of southern Mesopotamia (Babylonia) from the early 2nd millennium to the early 1st millennium BCE and capital of the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empire in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, when it was at the height of its splendour. Its extensive ruins, on the Euphrates River about 55 miles (88 km) south of Baghdad, lie near the modern town of Al-Ḥillah, Iraq.

After the fall of the 3rd dynasty of Ur, under which Babylon had been a provincial centre, it became the nucleus of a small kingdom established in 1894 BCE by the Amorite king Sumuabum, whose successors consolidated its status. The sixth and best-known of the Amorite dynasts, Hammurabi (1792–50 BCE), conquered the surrounding city-states and raised Babylon to the capital of a kingdom comprising all of southern Mesopotamia and part of Assyria (northern Iraq). Its political importance, together with its favourable location, made it henceforth the main commercial and administrative centre of Babylonia, while its wealth and prestige made it a target for foreign conquerors.

The spelling "Babylon" is the Latin representation of Greek "Babylṓn" (Βαβυλών), derived from the native (Babylonian - extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia) "Bābilim", meaning "gate of the god(s)".

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