The Ancient Near East has an exceptionally long history: Babylonia, as a ‘nation’ rose and fell and rose again over the centuries. The fertile land, with its rich harvests and wealthy cities, offered an irresistible target for warlike peoples from surrounding areas, including the Assyrians, to the north. The rise of the Assyrians, a militaristic people, eventually controlled lands from the Mediterranean to the Zagros Mountains and sacked the old city of Babylon itself. Babylon also had an extensive empire, including the state of Judah: Jerusalem is stormed, its temple is razed to the ground and Jewish captives are carried off the Babylon.

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