Babylon summary

Know about the history and ruins of Babylon, an ancient city in Baghdad, Iraq

Written and fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Babylon.

Iraq, country of southwestern Asia. During ancient times, lands that now constitute Iraq were known as Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”), a region whose extensive alluvial plains gave rise to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, including those of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria.

A map of the continent of Asia, including its countries, boundaries, and capital cities, as well as parts of Europe, Africa, and surrounding oceans.

Asia Summary

Asia, the world’s largest and most diverse continent. It occupies the eastern four-fifths of the giant Eurasian landmass. Asia is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the use of the term to describe such a vast area always carries the potential of obscuring the enormous

Hammurabi, limestone relief; in the British Museum

Hammurabi Summary

Hammurabi was the sixth and best-known ruler of the 1st (Amorite) dynasty of Babylon (reigning c. 1792–1750 bce), noted for his surviving set of laws, once considered the oldest promulgation of laws in human history. See Hammurabi, Code of. Like all the kings of his dynasty except his father and