6 Oct - PolledHistory: The Fall of Babylon

 Hello! 

The Fall of  Babylonian civilization was a pivotal event, ending a millenium spanning civilization that invented and discovered many things and had amazing infrastructure and architecture. There were several Babylonian empires to talk about.

The first being the Babylonian Empire that spanned between 1900 to 1600 BC and then much later, by 626 BC, a new Neo Babylonian Empire formed. Babylon rose by around 1900 BC. Around this time, the rivers of Mesopotamia moved, making Babylon, conveniently, in a great spot. 

Babylon fluorished soon later, expanding throughout Mesopotamia (the area between and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), and under the reign of Hammurabi they reached their peak. Hammurabi set the first code of laws. There were two Babylonian empire and thus two "falls".

The first "fall" happened when the Hittites suddenly came, deposed the Babylonian dynasty, burned Babylon, and left. The Babylonian Empire collapsed, and the Mesopotamian river valley shifted from empire to empire until, by 800 BCE, Assyria was dominant. 

However, a new Babylonian dynasty rose, rebelled, and finally took over the Assyrian tereitory. Babylon was a great city. The greek historian Herodotus said it was an exact square in dimension, though probably exaggerated. Babylon was powerful again, the city and its empire. Suddenly, the Achaenemid Persians came, and Cyrus II came in, and the empire was destroyed, ending Babylon's role as a major player, though the Persian empire borrowed many cultural and scientific feats from them.

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