BABYLON (Country)
Country in Western Asia, at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent. Babylon was its capital. The country of Babylon was called both “Shinar” (Gen. 10:10; 11:2; Is. 11:11) and “the country of the Chaldeans” (Jer. 24:5; Ezek. 12:13).
It was limited to the north by Mesopotamia, with the line of demarcation at a place near Hit, on the Euphrates, a little below Samarra, on the banks of the Tigris. It is a natural border, which separates the slightly elevated northern plain, of secondary formation, from the depressed southern part, formed by alluvium from the Euphrates and Tigris basins.
To the east, the limits are the mountains of Elam. To the south, it ended in the Persian Gulf; to the west, through the Arabian desert. In ancient times, Babylon had an area of around 65,000 km2, but the northern part of the Persian Gulf is continually being filled with alluvium, so that this country is currently approximately 692 km long and 300 km wide. This territory was irrigated with canals, and its soil was of incomparable fertility.
The political division of Babylon in ancient times was made up of two regions: Sumer and Akkad.
Sumer, or Sumeria, the southern region, ran from the Persian Gulf to a line passing a little north of 32° latitude. Cities of Sumer: Nippur, Adab, Lagasch, Umma, Larsa, Erec (Uruk), Ur, Eridu. Most of these cities were on the banks of the Euphrates, or not far from it.
Acad occupied the rest of the country, up to 34° latitude. Major cities of Acad: Babylon, Borsippa, Dilbat, Kisch, Cutha, Opis, Sippar, Agade (Acad).
Before the arrival of the Sumerians and Semites, Babylon was inhabited by peoples about whom we do not know much. Based on one of the proposed chronologies, the Sumerians occupied Sumer and the Akkadians occupied Acad between the years 3000 and 2500 BC. We do not know the race or origin of the Sumerians, and they spoke an agglutinative language. They knew the sexagesimal and decimal systems, and invented cuneiform writing.
Originally, each city had its own god, goddess, or trio of protective divinities: Anu (the sky); Enlil (air and earth); Ea (the waters). The cities were, at first, independent kingdoms. The chronology of this period is very uncertain and disputed, and is based on very flimsy and speculative data.
Later, between 2425-2245 BC. (2550, according to others) the Semitic dynasty began to reign over Akkad. Sargon, a great Semitic conqueror, took over all the cities of Sumer. His empire extended from Elam to Assyria, and to the Mediterranean. Then nomadic tribes from the east, the Gutians, weakened the Semitic power, and dominated Babylon for 125 years.
After them, power returned to the hands of the Sumerians, who held it from the year 2135 to approximately 2025. It must be insisted that these chronologies are not certain, but only an attempt at an approximation. Ur-Nammu or Zur-Nammu (Ur-Engur), the first king of the 3rd dynasty of Ur, codified the Sumerian laws; also his son. His sovereignty extended over Assur and Arbela to the Persian Gulf, and from Susa to Lebanon.
By the year 2025, Tsin and Larsa supplanted Ur. Sumer was then invaded by the Elamites from the east, and by the Amorites from the west. The 1st Amorite dynasty of Babylon dates back to around 1900 BC.
This city became so important that it gave its name to the plain of Shinar. Hammurabi was the 6th king of this dynasty. There is no unanimity about the date of his reign. Dates are considered between 1728 to 1686 (Albright) or 1455 to 1400 (Courville).
There are compelling reasons for assigning the later date to Hammurabi (see Bibliography, Courville in UGARIT). Hammurabi reunited Sumer and Akkad, which were jointly called Babylon. He conquered all of Mesopotamia, carried out great public works, and compiled a legislative compilation.
Babylon experienced very turbulent times, being dominated by Assyria, on some occasions. He also experienced Aramaic invasions. From 729 to 625, Babylon was part of the Assyrian Empire.
The Chaldeans, who lived at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, advanced towards Babylon. Merodach-baladan, one of its kings, allied himself with the Aramaean tribes and Elam. In the year 721 he proclaimed himself king of Babylon. In 712 he sent an embassy to Hezekiah, king of Judah, but was defeated by Sennacherib in 703. Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, died in 626.
The following year Nebopolassar became king of Babylon, founding the New Babylonian Empire, also called the Chaldean Empire. Allied with Cyaxares, king of Media, he destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC. His son Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in the year 605, and pursued him to the border of Egypt, but had to return due to the death of his father.
The Chaldeans now dominated the entire Fertile Crescent. Nebuchadnezzar enjoyed one of the longest and most brilliant reigns in history. He so beautified Babylon that he was given the name of the builder king. He took possession of Jerusalem twice (597 and 586), destroying it.
His son Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach), who reigned from 562 to 560, released Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from prison (2 Kings 25:27). He was succeeded by Neriglisar (560-556) and Labaschi Marduk. Nabonidus, a Babylonian, came to the throne in 556. He appointed Belshazzar regent.
In 539, Gobryas (Darius), general of Cyrus, king of Persia, took Babylon. The Persians reigned over Babylon from 539 to 332 BC. Alexander the Great dominated the empire until 323. The Seleucids reigned over Babylon from 312 to 171 BC.
The Parthians dominated the territory from 171 BC. to 226 AD, when the Sassanids took the reins of power, until the conquest of the country by the Muslim Arabs. After the fall of Jerusalem into the hands of the Roman general Titus (70 AD), Jewish schools were founded in the country of Babylon, which were dedicated to the study of the Law, remaining there for several centuries, and giving rise to the Babylonian Talmud and the text Masoretic of the OT.