Babylon

One of the oldest and most celebrated cities in the world, the ancient capital of the Babylonio-Chaldean empire, was situated in an extensive plain on the Euphrates, about 60 miles south of Bagdad. The modern town of Hillah is supposed to occupy a portion of its site. About 588 B.C. , Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, captured Jerusalem, burned the great temple of Solomon, and carried away the Jews as captives to Babylon. Cyrus besieged Babylon, took it by stratagem in 538, and put to death the king Belshazzar, after which the kingdom of Babylon ceased to exist. The city was occupied by Darius in 518, and taken by Alexander the Great in 331. Alexander having selected it as the capital of his empire, died there in 323 B.C.