Babylon (ğ’†� ğ’€­ ğ’Š� ğ’† KAN 4.DIÄœIR.RA KI Akkadian: BÄ�bili(m); Aramaic: בבל, Babel; Arabic: بÙ�ابÙ�Ù„ â€�, BÄ�bil; Hebrew: בָּבֶל â€�â€�, Bavel; Syriac: Ü’Ü’Ü â€�, BÄ�wÄ“l) was a key kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia. The city was built on the Euphrates river and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon was originally a small Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 23rd century BC (2300 BC).

The town became an independent city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in the nineteenth century BC. After the Amorite king Hammurabi created a short-lived empire in the 18th century BC, southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as its holy city. The empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539Â BC. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires.

It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770 to 1670Â BC, and again between c. 612 and 320Â BC.

It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.

Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares (2,200 acres).

The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres (53Â mi) south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris.

The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in cuneiform texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in the Bible, descriptions in classical writing (especially by Herodotus), and second-hand descriptions (citing the work of Ctesias and Berossus)—present an incomplete and sometimes contradictory picture of the ancient city even at its peak in the sixth century BC.

The English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn (Βαβυλ�ν), a transliteration of the Akkadian B�bilim.

Gilgamesh (/ˈɡɪlɡəˌmɛʃ/[1] or /ɡɪlˈɡɑ�mɛʃ/;[2]:163 𒄑𒂆𒈦, Gilgameš, originally Bilgamesh 𒄑𒉈𒂵𒈩) is the main character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an Akkadian poem that is considered the first great work of literature,[3] and in earlier Sumerian poems.

In the epic, Gilgamesh is a demiherro of superhuman strength who builds the city walls of Uruk to defend his people and, after the death of his friend Enkidu, then travels to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who had survived the Great Flood.[4] His name translates roughly to mean "The Ancestor is a Young-man",[5] from Bil.ga = Ancestor, Elder[6]:33 and Mes/Mesh3 = Young-Man.[6]:174[n 1]

Gilgamesh is generally seen by scholars as a historical figure, since inscriptions have been found which confirm the existence of other figures associated with him in the epic.

If Gilgamesh existed, he probably was a king who reigned sometime between 2800 and 2500 BC.[7][not verified in body] The Sumerian King List claims that Gilgamesh ruled the city of Uruk for 126 years.

According to the Tummal Inscription,[n 2] Gilgamesh and his son Ur-Nungal rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil in Tummal, a sacred quarter in

The "gate of god" translation is increasingly viewed as a folk etymology to explain an unknown original non-Semitic placename. Linguist I.J. Gelb suggested in 1955 that the name Babil is in reference to an earlier city name, and Joan Oates claims in her book Babylon that the rendering Gateway of the gods is no longer accepted by modern scholars. The name "Babil" could derive from "Bawer" located by Ernst Herzfeld in Ancient Iran. David Rohl holds that the original Babylon is to be identified with Eridu.

In the Bible, the name appears as Babel (Hebrew: בָּבֶל â€�â€�, Bavel, Tib.  בָּבֶל, BÄ�vel; Syriac: Ü’Ü’Ü â€�, BÄ�wÄ“l), interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures'Book of Genesis to mean "confusion", from the verb bilbél (בלבל, "to confuse"). The modern English verb, to "babble", or to speak meaningless words, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection.

Ancient records in some situations use Babylon as a name for other cities, including cities like Borsippa within Babylon's sphere of influence, and Nineveh for a short period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon.

The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (53 mi) south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer (1.24 mi × 0.62 mi), oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the former western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain.

Only a small portion of the ancient city (3% of the area within the inner walls; 1.5% of the area within the outer walls; 0.05% at the depth of Middle and Old Babylon) has been excavated.

Known remains include:

Archaeologists have recovered few artifacts predating the Neo-Babylonian period.

The water table in the region has risen greatly over the centuries and artifacts from the time before the Neo-Babylonian Empire are unavailable to current standard archaeological methods. Additionally, the Neo-Babylonians conducted significant rebuilding projects in the city, which destroyed or obscured much of the earlier record. Babylon was pillaged numerous times after revolting against foreign rule, most notably by the Hittites and Elamites in the 2nd millennium, then by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Achaemenid Empire in the 1st millennium. Much of the western half of the city is now beneath the river, and other parts of the site have been mined for commercial building materials.

Only the Koldewey expedition recovered artifacts from the Old Babylonian period.

These included 967 clay tablets, stored in private houses, with Sumerian literature and lexical documents.

Nearby ancient settlements are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha. Marad and Sippar were 60Â km in either direction along the Euphrates.