Babylon is the name of an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia, with its rulers establishing two important empires in antiquity, namely the 18th century BC Old Babylonian Empire and the 7th-6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the city would also be used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East until its decline during the Hellenistic period.
The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC) of the Akkadian Empire.[2] Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city; like the rest of Mesopotamia, it was subject to the Akkadian Empire which united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. After the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the south Mesopotamian region was dominated by the Gutian people for a few decades before the rise of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which encompassed the whole of Mesopotamia, including the town of Babylon.
Babylon by Any Other Name
Babylon is referred to by many names in the Bible:
Land of the Chaldeans (Ezekiel 12:13, NIV)
Land of Shinar (Daniel 1:2, ESV; Zechariah 5:11, ESV)
Desert of the Sea (Isaiah 21:1, 9)
Lady of kingdoms (Isaiah 47:5)
Land of Merathaim (Jeremiah 50:1, 21)
Sheshach (Jeremiah 25:12, 26, KJV)