BABYLONIA (now Irak Arabi), an old Asiatic empire, occupying the region watered by the lower course of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and by their combined stream. The inhabitants, though usually designated Babylonians, were sometimes called Chaldeans. At the earliest period of which we have record, the whole valley of the Tigris and Euphrates was inhabited by tribes of Turanian or Tartar origin. Along with these, however, there early existed an intrusive Semitic element, which gradually increased in number till at the time the Babylonians and Assyrians (the latter being a kindred people) became known to the western historians they were essentially Semitic peoples. The great city of Babylon, or Babel, was the capital of Babylonia, which was called by the Hebrews Shinar. The chief cities, besides Babylon, were Ur, Calneh, Erech, and Sippara. Babylonia and Assyria were often spoken of together as Assyria.
The discovery and interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions have enabled the history of Babylonia to be carried back to about 4000 B. C. The country was then ruled by a number of kings or princes, each in his own city. About 2700 B. C., Babylonia came under the rule of a single monarch. Latterly it had serious wars with neighboring nations, and for several hundred years previous to 2000 B. C. Babylonia was subject to the neighboring Elam. It then regained its independence, and for 1,000 years it was the foremost state of western Asia in power, as well as in science, art, and civilization. The rise of the Assyrian empire brought about the decline of Babylonia, which latterly was under Assyrian domination, though with in tervals of independence. Tiglath-Pileser
II. of Assyria (745-727) made himself master of Babylonia; but the conquest of the country had to be repeated by his successor, Sargon, who expelled the Baby lonian King, Merodach-Baladan, and all but finally subdued the country, the com plete subjugation being effected by Sennacherib. After some 60 years, the second or later Babylonian empire arose under Nabopolassar, who, joining the Medes against the Assyrians, freed Baby lon from the superiority of the latter power, 625 B. C. The new empire was at its height of power and glory under Nabopolassar's son' Nebuchadnezzar (604-561), who subjected Jerusalem, Tyre, Phoenicia, and even Egypt, and carried his dominion to the shores of the Mediterranean and northward to the Armenian Mountains. The capital, Baby lon, was rebuilt by him, and then formed one of the greatest and most magnificent cities the world has ever seen. He was succeeded by his son, Evil-Merodach, but the dynasty soon came to an end, the last King being Nabonetus, or Nabonadius, who came to the throne in 555 B. C., and made his son, Belshazzar, co-ruler with him. Babylon was taken by Cyrus, the Persian monarch, in 538, and the second Babylonian empire came to an end, Baby lonia being incorporated in the Persian empire. Its subsequent history was simi lar to that of ASSYRIA (q. v.).
The account of the civilization, arts, and social advancement of the Assyrians already given in the article Assyria, may be taken as generally applying also to the Babylonians.