Babylonian Empire Timeline

(1894 BC – 539 BC)

The Babylonian Empire was a powerful ancient Mesopotamian state centered on the city of Babylon. It reached its first height under King Hammurabi, famous for his legal code, and later flourished as the Neo-Babylonian Empire under rulers like Nebuchadnezzar II, who built the legendary Hanging Gardens and expanded the empire before its conquest by Persia. More Less

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Founding and Old Babylonian Empire

Sumu-abum founds Babylonia

1894 BC

Babylonia was founded as an independent state c. 1894 BC by an Amorite chieftain named Sumu-abum, who established Babylon as the center of a new kingdom in southern Mesopotamia.

Babylonia remains a minor state

1894 BC - 1792 BC

For over a century after its founding, Babylonia was a minor and relatively weak state, overshadowed by older and more powerful neighbors such as Isin, Larsa, Assyria and Elam.

Image source: Babylonia

Reign of Hammurabi begins

1792 BC - 1750 BC

Hammurabi (r. c. 1792–1750 BC) turned Babylon into a major power, transforming it from a small kingdom into one of the dominant states of Mesopotamia through diplomacy and warfare.

Image source: Hammurabi

Hammurabi conquers Mesopotamia and beyond

1763 BC - 1750 BC

Hammurabi eventually conquered Mesopotamia and lands beyond it, founding the Old or First Babylonian Empire and making Babylon the preeminent political power of the region.

Image source: Old Babylonian Empire

Marduk becomes patron deity of Babylon

1750 BC

Marduk held the position of patron deity of the city of Babylon since the reign of Hammurabi (18th century BC) in Babylon's first dynasty, remaining central to Babylonian religion for centuries afterward.

Image source: Marduk

Death of Hammurabi

1750 BC

After Hammurabi's death in c. 1750 BC, his dynasty lasted another century and a half, but the Babylonian Empire he built quickly collapsed and Babylon once more became a small state.

Collapse of the Old Babylonian Empire

1750 BC - 1595 BC

Following Hammurabi's death, the empire rapidly shrank, with territories lost to rivals, though his dynasty continued to rule a reduced Babylonian state for another 150 years.

Kassite and Middle Period

Hittite sack of Babylon

1595 BC

Babylonia fell to the Hittite king Mursili I c. 1595 BC, who raided and sacked Babylon, ending the rule of Hammurabi's dynasty and opening the way for Kassite domination.

Kassite dynasty takes control of Babylonia

1595 BC - 1155 BC

After the Hittite raid, the Kassites took control of Babylonia and ruled for almost five centuries, one of the longest-lasting dynasties in ancient Mesopotamian history.

Image source: Kassite dynasty

Kassites deposed by native Babylonian rulers

1155 BC

The Kassites were eventually deposed by native Babylonian rulers, who continued to rule the Babylonian rump state, maintaining a diminished but persistent Babylonian kingdom.

Neo-Babylonian Empire

Catastrophic centuries for independent Babylon

900 BC - 700 BC

The 9th and 8th centuries BC were catastrophic for the independent Babylonian kingdom, with many weak kings either failing to control all the constituent groups, to defeat rivals, or to maintain important trade routes.

Babylonians assimilate into unified culture

800 BC - 700 BC

By the 8th century BC, the constituent groups of the native Babylonians, the main population in the large cities, had lost their old identities and had assimilated into a unified 'Babylonian' culture.

Assyrian conquest of Babylonia

729 BC

The Assyrians conquered Babylonia, beginning a century-long struggle for Babylonian independence against unstable Assyrian rule, including several unsuccessful Babylonian revolts.

Image source: Assyria

Babylonian revolts against Assyrian rule

729 BC - 626 BC

Under Assyrian domination, Babylonians launched several unsuccessful revolts seeking independence during more than a century of often unstable and contested Assyrian rule.

Cylinder seals replaced by stamp seals

626 BC - 539 BC

Over the course of the Neo-Babylonian century, cylinder seals increasingly fell into disuse, eventually being entirely replaced by stamp seals in administrative practice.

Image source: Cylinder seal

Chaldean dynasty rules Babylon

626 BC - 539 BC

The Chaldean dynasty founded by Nabopolassar ruled Babylon for less than a century, presiding over the height of Neo-Babylonian power before its conquest by Persia.

Image source: Neo-Babylonian Empire

Rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire

626 BC - 609 BC

Beginning with Nabopolassar's coronation in 626 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire grew in strength and became firmly established as the Assyrian Empire weakened.

Nabopolassar crowned King of Babylon

Nov 626 BC

In November 626 BC, Nabopolassar was crowned King of Babylon, restoring Babylonia as an independent kingdom after more than a century of direct Assyrian rule.

Image source: Nabopolassar

Fall of the Assyrian Empire

612 BC - 609 BC

The Neo-Babylonian Empire became firmly established through the fall of the Assyrian Empire between 612 and 609 BC, with Babylon inheriting much of Assyria's former territory.

Image source: Neo-Assyrian Empire

Foreign Rule and Cultural Legacy

Achaemenid Persian conquest of Babylon

539 BC

The Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 539 BC, ending less than a century after the founding of the Chaldean dynasty under Nabopolassar.

Image source: Fall of Babylon

Achaemenid rulers recognized as kings of Babylon

539 BC

Despite Achaemenid attention and the recognition of the Achaemenid rulers as kings of Babylon, Babylonia resented the Achaemenids, just as the Assyrians had been resented a century earlier.

Image source: Achaemenid Empire

Babylonian culture endures under the Achaemenids

539 BC - 330 BC

Babylonian culture endured for centuries under Achaemenid Persian rule and survived under the later Hellenic Macedonian and Seleucid Empires, whose rulers were also listed as kings of Babylon in Babylonian civil documents.

Macedonian conquest of Babylon

330 BC

The Hellenic Macedonian Empire took control of Babylon after defeating the Achaemenids, and Macedonian rulers continued to be listed as kings of Babylon in Babylonian civil documents.

Image source: Macedonia (ancient kingdom)

Greeks settle in Babylon

330 BC

During the centuries of Macedonian and Seleucid rule, Greeks settled in Babylon. By Parthian times two major recognized groups lived in the city: the Babylonians and the Greeks.

Image source: Babylon

Seleucid rule over Babylon

305 BC - 141 BC

The Seleucid Empire ruled Babylon for centuries, and Seleucid rulers, like their Macedonian predecessors, were listed as kings of Babylon in local civil documents while Babylonian culture persisted.

Image source: Seleucid Empire

Parthian conquest of Mesopotamia

141 BC

The Parthian Empire took control of Babylon and Mesopotamia, ushering in a new era of foreign rule under which Babylonian culture continued to survive for some time.

Image source: Parthian Empire

Babylonian names recorded under early Parthian rule

127 BC

In the first century or so of Parthian rule, Babylonian culture was still alive: people in the city bore traditional Babylonian names such as Bel-aḫḫe-uṣur and Nabu-mušetiq-uddi, mentioned as receivers of silver in a 127 BC legal document.

Babylonians remain culturally distinct into the 1st century BC

100 BC

After the Persian conquest, Babylon remained culturally distinct for centuries, with references to people with Babylonian names and to the Babylonian religion known from as late as the Parthian Empire in the 1st century BC.

Astronomical diaries stop being written

50 BC

The astronomical diaries kept since the days of ancient Babylon survived through Persian and Hellenic rule but stopped being written in the mid-1st century BC, marking the fading of an ancient scholarly tradition.

Image source: Babylonian astronomical diaries

Babylon referenced in the Book of Revelation

95 AD

The Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible refers to Babylon many centuries after it ceased to be a major political center, using it as a powerful symbol long after the city's decline.

Image source: Book of Revelation

Key Facts

King Hammurabi (r. c. 1792–1750 BC) unified Mesopotamia and issued one of history's earliest and most famous written legal codes, the Code of Hammurabi.
Babylon was located along the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq and became a major center of trade, science, and culture.
The Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) Empire rose around 626 BC under Nabopolassar after the fall of Assyria.
Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 BC) expanded the empire, destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, and allegedly built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The empire fell in 539 BC when Cyrus the Great of Persia captured Babylon, ending Babylonian independence.

Source

This Babylonian Empire timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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