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Babylon

capital city of Babylonia and an archaeological site in modern-day Iraq

37 dated entries naming Babylon, drawn from 33 separate years between 2138 BCE and 573 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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22nd century BC

  • 2138 BCE2138 BC: A solar eclipse on 9 May and a lunar eclipse on 24 May' occur and are believed to be the double eclipse that took place 23 years after the ascension of king Shulgi of Babylon by those holding to the long chronology.source

18th century BC

  • 1770 BCE1770 BC: Babylon, capital of Babylonia becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Thebes, capital of Egypt.source

7th century BC

  • 693 BCE693 BC—Babylon is destroyed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib, but the city will be rebuilt in even greater splendor and luxury. He fights his way back north and captures various cities along the River Euphrates (or 691 BC or 689 BC).source
  • 675 BCEKing Esarhaddon begins to rebuild Babylon (approximate date).source
  • 668 BCEShamash-shum-ukin, second son of the late Assyrian king Esarhaddon, becomes king of Babylon.source
  • 656 BCEKing Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon forms a secret alliance with Arabs, Aramaeans, Elamites, Persians, and Egyptians against his half brother Ashurbanipal.source
  • 653 BCEElamite forces attack southern Babylon. A large Assyrian army sent by king Ashurbanipal defeat the Elamites, in the Battle of Ulai, and kill their king, Teumman. He is succeeded by his nephew Ummanigash.source
  • 652 BCEElam withdraws from her alliance with king Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon, who launches a premature attack on his half brother Ashurbanipal at year's end without waiting for reinforcements that have been promised by the Egyptian king Psamtik I.source
  • 651 BCEKing Ashurbanipal defeats the Babylonian army of his half brother Shamash-shum-ukin and surrounds the fortified city of Babylon. Beginning a 3-year siege during which the Assyrians will defeat Shamash-shum-ukin's allies.source
  • 648 BCEBabylon falls to Assyrian forces after a 3-year siege (see 651 BC); starved out by his half brother Ashurbanipal, king Shamash-shum-ukin commits suicide in his burning palace, as the Assyrians slaughter his city's garrison and much of its population.source
  • 612 BCEBabylon, capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from Nineveh.source

6th century BC

  • 575 BCEIshtar Gate and throne room wall from Babylon, Iraq is made. The modified version for installation is now on display in Germany.source
  • 559 BCEIn the year of his accession (560–559 BC), the Babylonian king Neriglissar commands the declaration of an intercalendary month, so that his first year of kingship begins on Nisan 1 of 559 BC.source
  • 557 BCELabashi-Marduk is king of Babylon during this year, succeeding Neriglissar, who reigned three years, and is followed by Nabonidus, who reigns 17 years.source
  • 556 BCENabonidus succeeds Labashi-Marduk as king of Babylon.source
  • 556 BCELabashi-Marduk succeeds Neriglissar as king of Babylon.source
  • 556 BCELabashi-Marduk, king of Babylonsource
  • 539 BCEOctober 29 – Fall of Babylon: Achaemenid troops under Gobryas enter Babylon unopposed. Cyrus enters the city, incorporating the Neo-Babylonian Empire into the Achaemenid Empire and turning the latter into the largest in the history of the world up until that point.source
  • 538 BCEThe Babylonian captivity of the Jews in Babylon ends when Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, allows them to return to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest; possible start of construction of the Second Temple.source
  • 522 BCEBabylon rebels against Persian rule.source

5th century BC

  • 484 BCEDespite an attempt at rebellion, the land and city of Babylon remains solidly under Persian rule.source
  • 424 BCEXerxes II rules as King of Persia for only about 45 days until he is killed. He is reportedly murdered, while drunk, by Pharnacyas and Menostanes on the orders of Sogdianus, the son of one of Artaxerxes I's concubines, Alogyne of Babylon.source
  • 404 BCEThe Persian King Darius II dies of an illness in Babylon. He is succeeded by his son Artaxerxes II (Memnon—'the Mindful').source

4th century BC

  • 325 BCEAlexander the Great orders his admiral, Nearchus, to sail from the Hydaspes River in western India to the Persian Gulf and up the Euphrates River to Babylon while Alexander's army starts marching through Gedrosia (Baluchistan).source
  • 323 BCE10 June/11 June – In Babylon, Alexander the Great dies, ten days after being taken ill after a prolonged banquet and drinking bout. Diogenes, the philosopher he met years before, when he was just about to set out on his conquests, allegedly dies on the exact same day.source
  • 323 BCEJune 13 – Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire died in Babylon (b. 356 BC)source
  • 321 BCELeaving Eumenes to hold Asia Minor against Craterus and Antigonus, Perdiccas marches against Ptolemy, but when he fails to cross the Nile he is murdered by mutinous officers. Prominent among the mutineers is Seleucus. A truce is arranged, leaving Ptolemy in power in Egypt and Seleucus in power in Babylon.source
  • 320 BCEAlexander the Great's various generals control different parts of Alexander's empire. Ptolemy controls Egypt, Seleucus controls Babylon and Syria, Antipater and his son Cassander control Macedon and Greece, Antigonus controls Phrygia and other parts of Asia Minor, Lysimachus controls Thrace and Pergamum and Eumenes controls the Cappadocia and Pontus areas.source
  • 320 BCEAlexandria in Macedonian Egypt becomes the largest city of the world, taking over the lead from Babylon in Macedonian Babylonia.source
  • 318 BCEAntigonus resolves to become lord of all Asia, and in conjunction with Cassander and Ptolemy. He enters into negotiations with Eumenes; but Eumenes remains faithful to the royal house. He raises an army and forms a coalition with the satraps of the eastern provinces. He then captures Babylon from Antigonus.source
  • 317 BCESeleucus joins Antigonus against Eumenes and recaptures Babylon.source
  • 315 BCEAntigonus claims authority over most of Asia, seizes the treasury at Susa and enters Babylon, where Seleucus is governor. Seleucus flees to Ptolemy in Egypt and enters into a league with him, Lysimachus (the ruler of Thrace) and Cassander, against Antigonus. This leads to the First Coalition War.source
  • 314 BCEAntigonus, the ruler of the Asian parts of the late Alexander the Great's empire, faces a coalition consisting of Cassander, the Macedonian regent; Lysimachus, the satrap of Thrace; and Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt, who have taken the side of the ousted satrap of Babylon, Seleucus.source
  • 311 BCEThe remaining Antigonid loyalists in Babylonia retreat to the citadel of Babylon. They also put Seleucus' remaining friends in Babylon there (under a strong guard). Seleucus besieges the citadel and manages to take it by storm.source

3rd century BC

  • 245 BCEBabylon and Susa fall to the Ptolemaic armies of Ptolemy III.source

2nd century

  • 116Emperor Trajan completes his invasion of Parthia by capturing the cities of Seleucia, Babylon, Ctesiphon and Susa, marking the high-water mark of the Roman Empire's eastern expansion.source

6th century

  • 573Byzantine–Sassanid War: Persian forces under the command of King Khosrau I capture the Byzantine stronghold of Dara, after a six-month siege. Meanwhile, a smaller Persian army under Adarmahan advances from Babylon through the desert, crosses the Euphrates River and ravages Syria. The cities of Apamea and Antiochia are plundered.source

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