FACTOID #180:Armenia was the first nation to formally adopt Christianity, and today has one of the few Christian cultures to still sacrifice animals on Sunday.
Babylonia was an ancient state in Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. Its capital was Babylon. The earliest mention of Babylon can be found in a tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad, dating back to the 23rd century BC.
The Babylonians began to dominate southern Mesopotamia under their sixth ruler, Hammurabi (1780–1750 BC). He was a highly efficient ruler, famous for the code of laws that he laid down, and he gave the region stability after turbulent times. It was one of ancient Mesopotamia's major empires.
Babylon became the central power of Mesopotamia. The armies of Babylonia were well-disciplined, and they conquered the city-states of Isin, Elam, and Uruk, and the strong Kingdom of Mari. But Mesopotamia had no clear boundaries, making it vulnerable to attack. Trade and culture thrived for 150 years, but then the Hittites sacked Babylon in 1595 BC. Its cities continued for 100 years under different foreign rulers. Then, for 500 years, Babylon was overshadowed by Assyria before its rise to greatness.
Mathematics and science
The mathematicians of Babylonia devised a system of counting based on the number 60, from which we get the number of seconds in a minute and of minutes in an hour and the number of degrees (60×6) in a circle. Babylonian scholars developed early sciences and astrology from the knowledge they gained from the Sumerians.
Location
The city of Babylon, the main city of Babylonia, was found on the Euphrates River, about 110 kilometres south of modern Baghdad, just north of what is now the Iraqi town of al-Hillah.
THE BABYLONIAN LEGENDS OF THE CREATION (http://fax.libs.uga.edu/BL1620xB7/) and the Fight between Bel and the Dragon, as told by Assyrian Tablets from Nineveh, 1921
To the south of this in a great crescent was a new Chaldean Empire, the Second BabylonianEmpire, which rose to a very great degree of wealth and power under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar the Great (the Nebuchadnezzar of the Bible).
Cambyses went mad and was accidentally killed, and was presently succeeded by Darius the Mede, Darius I, the son of Hystaspes, one of the chief councillors of Cyrus.
The Persian Empire of Darius I, the first of the new Aryan empires in the seat of the old civilizations, was the greatest empire the world had hitherto seen.
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