Babylon was an ancient Mesopotamian city on the banks of the Euphrates River, in a region near present-day Al Hillah, Iraq. Founded in the 18th century BCE under the rule of Hammurabi, it expanded to become the epicenter of an extensive kingdom. In the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, with kings Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II, it reached the pinnacle of its splendor, extending its dominion over the Near East. With famous monuments like the Etemenanki and the Hanging Gardens, Babylon inspired the myth of the Tower of Babel. Its decline and abandonment in the first millennium CE were confirmed by archaeological excavations led by the German Robert Koldewey in the 20th century.
