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Babylon

Where Is Babylon? The city of Babylon was located about 50 miles south of Baghdad along the Euphrates River in present‑day Iraq. It was founded around 2300 B.C. by the ancient Akkadian‑speaking people of southern Mesopotamia. Babylon became a major military power under Amorite king Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. After Hammurabi […]

Persian Empire

Cyrus the Great The Persian Empire started as a collection of semi‑nomadic tribes who raised sheep, goats and cattle on the Iranian plateau. Cyrus the Great—the leader of one such tribe—began to defeat nearby kingdoms, including Media, Lydia and Babylon, joining them under one rule. He founded the first Persian Empire, also known as the […]

Petra

Where Is Petra? Petra is located about 150 miles south of both Jerusalem and Amman, the capital of Jordan, and about midway between Damascus, Syria, and the Red Sea, making it ideally suited as a hub of commerce in the area. The site is considered significant by historians and archeologists alike because of its beautiful […]

Palmyra

Palmyra: A History Located more than 100 miles northeast of Damascus, the present‑day capital of Syria, Palmyra began during the Stone Age as a small settlement near an oasis in the desert. The area was surrounded by fertile soil and date palm trees, fed by a series of springs originating at the al‑Qubur wadi (Arabic […]