Babylon, also known as Babel, was an ancient city and kingdom in Mesopotamia which was founded by the Akkadians in 2300 BC. After Hammurabi, king of the Amorites, created a short-lived empire in the 18th century BC, he turned Babylon into a major city and the capital of Babylonia. It eclipsed Nippur as Babylonia's holy city, and it was the world's largest city from 1770 to 1670 BC. It changed hands several times as new empires conquered older ones, and it was destroyed and rebuilt by the Assyrians. From 612 to 320 BC, it was once again the largest city in the world, and it was the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC. In 323 BC, the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great died of fever in Babylon, and the ensuing wars between his successors virtually emptied the city. By 275 BC, its inhabitants had been transported to Seleucia, and Babylon became an abandoned city.
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