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[[File:Babylon-map.jpg|thumb|190px]]

[[File:Babylon-map.jpg|thumb|190px]]

The region between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates was the center of the [[Sumerian]] civilization before 3500 BC. The Sumerians built cities and irrigated their land. They had a legal system and even a form of postal service. They developed a form of writing called [[cuneiform]], based on wedge-shaped symbols made by pressing a stylus into tablets of wet clay, and a system of counting using base 60.  

The region between the rivers [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] was the center of the [[Sumerian]] civilization before 3500 BC. The Sumerians built cities and irrigated their land. They had a legal system and even a form of postal service. They developed a form of writing called [[cuneiform]], based on wedge-shaped symbols made by pressing a stylus into tablets of wet clay, and a system of counting using base 60.  

The Babylonians invaded Mesopotamia and defeated and replaced the Sumerian culture around 2000 BC, establishing their capital at Babylon around 1900BC. They adopted many Sumerian customs, such as cuneiform writing and mathematics using base 60.

The Babylonians invaded Mesopotamia and defeated and replaced the Sumerian culture around 2000 BC, establishing their capital at Babylon around 1900BC. They adopted many Sumerian customs, such as cuneiform writing and mathematics using base 60.

==The Chaldean race==

==The Chaldean race==

Noah was saved from the Great Flood by the Ark, together with his wife, his three sons and their wives.  His sons were named Shem, Ham and Japeth.  The bible relates the descedants of Shem, the elder brother of Japeth<ref>Genesis 10:21</ref>, as five sons: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram<ref>Genesis 10:22</ref>. Flavius Josephus relates the national genealogy of the children of Shem, or Semites:

Noah was saved from the [[Great Flood]] by the Ark, together with his wife, his three sons and their wives.  His sons were named Shem, Ham and Japeth.  The bible relates the descedants of [[Shem]], the elder brother of Japeth<ref>Genesis 10:21</ref>, as five sons: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud and Aram<ref>Genesis 10:22</ref>. [[Flavius Josephus]] relates the national genealogy of the children of Shem, or Semites:

:Shem...had five Sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. For ''Elam'' left behind him the ''Elamites'', the ancestors of the Persians. ''Ashur'' lived at the city Nineve; and named his subjects ''Assyrians'': who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others. ''Arphaxad'' named the ''Arphaxadites'', who are now called ''Chaldeans''. ''Aram'' had the ''Aramites''; which the Greeks call ''Syrians'': as ''Laud'' founded the ''Laudites'', which are now called ''Lydians''.<ref>Josephus, Flavius (c. 94 ''A.D.''). ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ed. Whiston, William (1737), translated by Siwart Havercamp (1726) in ''The Genuine Works of Flavius Josephus the Jewish Historian'' (London: W. Bowyer, 1737), book 1, ch. 6, sec. 4.</ref>

:Shem...had five Sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. For ''Elam'' left behind him the ''Elamites'', the ancestors of the Persians. ''Ashur'' lived at the city Nineve; and named his subjects ''[[Assyria]]ns'': who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others. ''Arphaxad'' named the ''Arphaxadites'', who are now called ''[[Chaldeans]]''. ''Aram'' had the ''Aramites''; which the Greeks call ''[[Syria]]ns'': as ''Laud'' founded the ''Laudites'', which are now called ''[[Lydia]]ns''.<ref>Josephus, Flavius (c. 94 ''A.D.''). ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ed. Whiston, William (1737), translated by Siwart Havercamp (1726) in ''The Genuine Works of Flavius Josephus the Jewish Historian'' (London: W. Bowyer, 1737), book 1, ch. 6, sec. 4.</ref>

==Nabopolassar==

==Nabopolassar==

==The Legend of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon==

==The Legend of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon==

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were terraces that may not have existed. They were described by Greek historians including Berossus and Diodorus Siculus, who apparently never saw them. There are no Babylonian records of them, even on tablets from the time of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] (604-562 BC), although there are tablets describing his palace, the city and the walls. The legend may have been spread by the soldiers of [[Alexander the Great]], who were impressed by the fertility and beauty of [[Mesopotamia]], and told stories about gardens and the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the [[Tower of Babel]] and [[ziggurats]]. These may have got mixed together and garbled to produce the fabled Hanging Gardens.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were terraces that may not have existed. They were described by Greek historians including Berossus and Diodorus Siculus, who apparently never saw them. There are no Babylonian records of them, even on tablets from the time of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] (604-562 BC), although there are tablets describing his palace, the city and the walls. The legend may have been spread by the soldiers of [[Alexander the Great]], who were impressed by the fertility and beauty of [[Mesopotamia]], and told stories about gardens and the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the [[Tower of Babel]] and [[ziggurats]]. These may have got mixed together and garbled to produce the fabled Hanging Gardens.