Babylon

Babylon was an ancient city-state in Mesopotamia, fifty-five miles south of modern-day Baghdad, Iraq. It was located by the river Euphrates, which flows through modern Iraq. Babylon was the successor state to the world's first civilization, Sumer, and was responsible for various inventions as well as artistic and scientific advances, including the development of mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. It also produced the first epic literature in history, Gilgamesh. Babylon is believed to formerly be the biblical city of Babel, which is said to be the birthplace of all languages.

In the 6th century BC, it was conquered by Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire. It was then subsequently conquered by Alexander the Great but later fell into ruin due to civil war. Babylon was a province of the Persian Empire for nearly 900 years but was slowly abandoned over the centuries. By the time the Arabs conquered it in the 7th century AD, Babylon had long been abandoned and was in ruins. In the 8th century, the Arabs built Baghdad, the capital of their Islamic Empire, near the ruins of Babylon.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Trilogy

In the Sands of Time trilogy, Babylon is the fictional capital of the Persian empire, ruled by King Sharaman. Though not visited in the trilogy's first two chapters, Babylon is the primary setting of the final chapter, The Two Thrones.