Babylonia [2000 - 323 BC] - derives it's name from the city Babylon.
Babylon (Babylonian, Bab-ilim or Babil, 'Gate of God'), one of the most important cities of the ancient world, whose location today is marked by a broad area of ruins just east of the Euphrates River, 90 km (56 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq.
Babylon travel, Iraq Tourist Attractions
Babylonia was located in what is now southern Iraq. Babylonian literature was well developed in the 3rd millennium B.C. Records have been found of highly developed religion, history and science, including medicine, chemistry, alchemy, botany, zoology, math and astronomy.
In the Old Testament it is called 'Shinar' - Akkadia and Sumer as well as 'the land of the Chaldeans.'
The Babylonians lived in Mesopotamia, a fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Babylon travel attractions
THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
The ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The greatness of this achievement serves as an indication of the level of ancient Babylonian art and architecture.
The Hanging Gardens were built on top of stone arches 23 metres above ground and watered from the Euphrates by a complicated mechanical system. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built by King Nebuchadnezzar II about 600 BC, were a mountainlike series of planted terraces.
Babylon travel tourism
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were a series of terraces filled with plants. Excavations have found an elaborate tunnel and pulley system that apparently brought water from the ground level to the top terrace.
THE BABYLONIAN LEGACY
More than 1200 years had elapsed from the glorious reign of Hammurabi to the subjugation of Babylonia by the Persians. During this long span of time the Babylonian social structure, economic organization, arts and crafts, science and literature, judicial system, and religious beliefs underwent considerable modification, but generally only in details, not in essence. Grounded almost wholly on the culture of Sumer, Babylonian cultural achievements left a deep impress on the entire ancient world, and particularly on the Hebrews and the Greeks. Even present-day civilization is indebted culturally to Babylonian civilization to some extent. For instance, Babylonian influence is pervasive throughout the Bible and in the works of such Greek poets as Homer and Hesiod, in the geometry of the Greek mathematician Euclid, in astronomy, in astrology, and in heraldry.