<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article contains special characters . Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols . </Td> </Tr> <P> Babylon (𒆍 𒀭 𒊏 𒆠KAN. DIĜIR. RA Akkadian: Bābili (m); Aramaic: בבל, Babel; Arabic: بَابِل ‎, Bābil; Hebrew: בָּבֶל ‎, Bavel; Classical Syriac: ܒܒܠ ‎, Bāwēl) was a key kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia from the 18th to 6th centuries BC . The city was built on the Euphrates river and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods . Babylon was originally a small Akkadian town dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BC . </P> <P> The town became part of a small independent city - state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in the nineteenth century BC . After the Amorite king Hammurabi created a short - lived empire in the 18th century BC, he built Babylon up into a major city and declared himself its king, and southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as its holy city . The empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu - iluna and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination . After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the short lived Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC . The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, although a number of scholars believe these were actually in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh . After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires . </P> <P> It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770--c. 1670 BC, and again between c. 612--c. 320 BC . It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000 . Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares (2,200 acres). </P>

Who made the city of babylon the center of an empire