History

The first mention of Babylon was from the time of Sargon the Great, who reigned at Akkad about 2400 B.C. About this time Babylon benefited from a change in the channel of the Euphrates. The First Dynasty of Babylon was founded about 1830 B.C. The sixth king was Hammurabi, who reigned about 1792–1750 B.C. In 1595 B.C. the Hittites sacked Babylon, and soon afterwards the city passed under the control of the barbarian Kassites.

Babylon eventually regained independence under the leadership of the native Chaldeans, but in the eighth century B.C. it came under the rule of the Assyrians. In 689 B.C. Sennacherib of Assyria completely destroyed Babylon because it had revolted, but the next Assyrian king rebuilt the city. In 612 B.C. Nabopolassar of Babylon helped destroy the Assyrian Empire. Under his son Nebuchadnezzar Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian, or Chaldean, Empire. In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Great captured Babylon and made it part of his Persian Empire. The city fell to Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. After Baghdad was founded in 762 A.D. , Babylon declined and disappeared.