Babylonia: Map & History
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based on the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia.
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Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based on the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia. It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was retrospectively called "the country of Akkad", a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the culturally and linguistically-related state of Assyria in Upper Mesopotamia, which was also an Akkadian-populated and derived civilisation, and with Elam to the east. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi, and reverted to a small kingdom centered around the city of Babylon.
Modern Countries Once Part of Babylonia
At its mapped extent, Babylonia covered territory in 2 present-day countries. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Babylonia's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Babylonia in Depth
History
Mesopotamia had already enjoyed a long history before the emergence of Babylon, with Sumerian civilization emerging in the region c. 5400 BC, and the Akkadian-speakers who would go on to form Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia appearing somewhere between the 35th and 30th century BC.
During the 3rd millennium BC, an intimate cultural symbiosis occurred between Sumerian and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian and vice versa is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium as a sprachbund.
Culture
Bronze Age to Early Iron Age Mesopotamian culture is sometimes summarized as "Assyro-Babylonian", because of the close ethnic, linguistic and cultural interdependence of the two political centers. The term "Babylonia", especially in writings from around the early 20th century, was formerly used to also include Southern Mesopotamia's earliest pre-Babylonian history, and not only in reference to the later city-state of Babylon proper. This geographic usage of the name "Babylonia" has generally been replaced by the more accurate term Sumer or Sumero-Akkadian in more recent writing, referring to the pre-Assyro-Babylonian Mesopotamian civilization.
Legacy
Babylonia, and particularly its capital city Babylon, has long held a place in the Abrahamic religions as a symbol of excess and dissolute power. Many references are made to Babylon in the Bible, both literally (historical) and allegorically. The mentions in the Tanakh tend to be historical or prophetic, while New Testament apocalyptic references to the Whore of Babylon are more likely figurative, or cryptic references possibly to pagan Rome, or some other archetype. The legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel are seen as symbols of luxurious and arrogant power respectively.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Babylonia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Babylonia: Key Facts
| Capital | Babylon |
|---|---|
| Founded | 19th century BCE |
| Dissolved | 539 BCE |
Facts from Wikidata Q47690 (CC0).
Babylonia Map Over Time
Dated world maps on which Babylonia appears, with the other states of the time.
Babylonia Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 226,484 km² in 1350 BCE.
Babylonia: Frequently Asked Questions
When did Babylonia exist?
Babylonia is dated to 1800 BCE – 601 BCE, in the Bronze Age Civilizations era.
What was the capital of Babylonia?
The capital of Babylonia was Babylon.
How large was Babylonia at its peak?
At its peak in 1350 BC Babylonia covered about 226,484 km².
How did the map of Babylonia change over time?
Babylonia appears on 3 dated world maps in the atlas, from 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE. Each shows its borders in that year next to the other states of the time.
Other Sovereign Realms
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