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When did Babylon first become a major city in Mesopotamia?
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Babylon
A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate at the ruins of Babylon, near modern Al-Ḥillah, Iraq.
By Mesopotamian standards, Babylon’s development as a major city was relatively late, with no historical mention of it existing before the 23rd century BCE.1
Following the fall of the 3rd dynasty of Ur, where it had served as a provincial center, Babylon became the nucleus of a small kingdom established in 1894 BCE by the Amorite king Sumuabum. Its rise to significant political prominence occurred around 1850 BCE. The city’s status as a major power was solidified under the sixth Amorite ruler, Hammurabi (reigned c. 1792–1750 BCE), who conquered surrounding city-states and established Babylon as the capital of a kingdom encompassing all of southern Mesopotamia and parts of Assyria.12