Babylonia

Babylonia (/ˌbæbɪˈloʊniə/; Akkadian: 𒆳𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠, māt Akkadī) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "the country of Akkad" (Māt Akkadī in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire.[1][2] It was often involved in rivalry with the older state of Assyria to the north and Elam to the east in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi (fl. c. 1792–1752 BC middle chronology, or c. 1696–1654 BC, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted to a small kingdom.

Quick facts: Babylonia𒆳𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (Akkadian) māt Akkad... ▼

Babylonia 𒆳𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (Akkadian) māt Akkadī
1894 BC–539 BC
The extent of the Babylonian Empire at the start and end of Hammurabi's reign, located in what today is modern day Iraq
Capital	Babylon
Official languages	Akkadian Sumerian Aramaic
Common languages	Akkadian Aramaic
Religion	Babylonian religion
History
• Established	1894 BC
• Disestablished	539 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Sumeria Akkadian Empire Achaemenid Empire
Today part of	Iraq

Part of a series on the
History of Iraq
Prehistory Ubaid period Hassuna culture Halaf culture Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period Samarra culture (Eridu) Uruk period Jemdet Nasr Period
Bronze Age Sumer Assyria Akkadian Empire Gutian dynasty of Sumer Third Dynasty of Ur Isin-Larsa period First Babylonian Empire Kassites Simurrum Middle Assyrian Empire Babylonia Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire
Iron Age Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Roman Mesopotamia Sasanian Asorestan
Middle Ages Islamic conquest Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Hamdanids Buyid amirate of Iraq Marwanids Uqaylids Al-Mazeedi Ayyubids Seljuk Empire Atabegs of Azerbaijan Zengids Ilkhanate Jalairid Sultanate Timurid Empire Kara Koyunlu Aq Qoyunlu
Early modern period Safavids Ottoman Iraq Mamluk dynasty
Modern Iraq Mandatory Iraq Kingdom of Iraq Republic of Iraq (1958–68) Ba'athist rule (1968–2003) Occupation (2003–11) Recent history
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Like Assyria, the Babylonian state retained the written Akkadian language (the language of its native populace) for official use, despite its Northwest Semitic-speaking Amorite founders and Kassite successors, who spoke a language isolate, not being native Mesopotamians. It retained the Sumerian language for religious use (as did Assyria), but already by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earlier Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in Babylonian and Assyrian culture, and the region would remain an important cultural center, even under its protracted periods of outside rule.