The Babylonians traded food surpluses for raw materials like copper, gold, and wood, which they used to manufacture weapons, household objects, jewelry, and other items that could be traded.

This fertile region, stretching from Mesopotamia to the Levant and the Nile River is referred to as The Fertile Crescent. These crops were supplemented by herds of sheep and some cattle. Irrigation and dikes controlled the waters of the Euphrates River, providing bountiful harvests of grain, vegetables, and fruit in normal years. Illustration of the region known as the Fertile CrescentThe basic economy of Babylonia was typical for Mesopotamia at the time.

Descendants of the Amorites had restored control by 1027 BCE. The Kassites ruled Babylon for several centuries before being conquered by the Assyrians in 1155 BCE. The Kassites were neither Semitic nor Indo-European, and probably came from east of the Zagros Mountains. Within 20 years, new invaders called the Kassites had settled around Babylon, establishing a new dynasty. This catastrophe marked the end of the Old Empire. In 1595 BCE, the Hittites marched down the Euphrates and sacked Babylon, plundering the city and deposing the Amorite kings. Following Hammurabi’s death, his empire fell into gradual decline. He also pushed back the Elamites (east of Sumer) and the Assyrians (north of Akkad), culminating in the First Babylonian Empire. He defeated the rival Gutians in the Zagros Mountains to the northeast who had previously sacked Akkad. During those 42 years, Hammurabi extended the kingdom to encompass all of Sumer to the east and Akkad to the north. In 1792 BCE, Hammurabi, who ruled until 1750 BCE, inherited the small kingdom. View of the Euphrates River near the ruins of Babylon, IraqBabylonia was founded as a kingdom around 1900 BCE by Semitic Amorites that had overrun much of Canaan, Akkad, and Sumer one hundred years earlier.

Where was babylon located