Babylon was one of the most beautiful cities in the world in the time of King Nebuchadnezzar, in the 6th century BC. Its hanging gardens were later regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. These gardens were built round a square based pyramid, rising in steps up to a point. The steps, or platforms, were planted with trees and flowers, so that the building appeared to be completely covered, like an overgrown hillside full of colour and greenery. Water was drawn up from the nearby River Euphrates and stored in a tank at the top of the building, so that the plants could be kept constantly moist. It was said that the gardens were built at the request of the Queen, who was bored with the flat plains of Mesopotamia and longed for rich hills and her homeland.

Babylon first rose to prominence in the late Bronze Age, around the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E., when it was occupied by people known as the Ammonites. A series of strong Ammonite kings including King Hammurabi, famous for compiling the world’s first legal code, enabled Babylon to eclipse the Sumerian capital, as the region’s most powerful city. Although Babylon declined after Hammurabi’s death, its importance as the capital of southern Mesopotamia, now known as Babylonia, would linger for millennia.