The Empire of Hammurabi in 18th century BC saw Babylon as a small Mesopotamian kingdom. Hammurabi defeated his rivals to establish his kingdom based on the rule of law and famous for his astronomers and mathematicians.

Conflicts occurred in the 16th - 7th c. BC followed by a revival from 625 BC. The dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar in the 7th - 6th century BC reigned for more than forty years, giving Babylon its period of greatest fame.

Cyrus the Great from Persia turned towards Babylon in 540 to establish an unopposed rule. Babylon welcomed the Persians as liberators and Cyrus ensured that local religious customs continued to be observed. And so the mighty Mesopotamia became a Persian province. The 3rd century BC saw the end of Babylon and its final claim to fame came by accident when Alexander the Great died here in 323 BC. The Greek conquest closed the Babylonian chapter with Seleucus founding Seleucia as the capital city in 312 BC. This was followed by the founding of Ctesiphon city in the wake of early days of Islam in the region.