Explore / World Cultures The city of Babylon on the River
Euphrates in southern Iraq first came to prominence as the royal
city of king Hammurabi (about 1790-1750 BC). He established his
control over many other kingdoms stretching from the Persian
Gulf to Syria. The British Museum holds one of the iconic
artworks of this period, the so-called “Queen of the Night”.
From around 1500 BC a dynasty of Kassite kings took control in
Babylon and unified southern Iraq into the kingdom of Babylonia.
The Babylonian cities were the centres of great scribal learning
and produced writings on divination, astrology, medicine and
mathematics. The Kassite kings corresponded with the Egyptian
Pharaohs as revealed by cuneiform letters found at Amarna in
Egypt, now in the British Museum. Babylonia had an uneasy
relationship with its northern neighbour Assyria and opposed its
military expansion. In 689 BC Babylon was sacked by the
Assyrians but as the city was highly regarded it was restored to
its former status soon after. Other