巴比伦尼亚(Babylonia)
亚洲西南部幼发拉底河谷的古代文化地区。这一地区原来分成两个部分，一是东南部的苏美，一是西北部的阿卡德，西元前2000年以後首次被阿莫里特人征服，由於汉摩拉比，巴比伦尼亚成为一个强盛的帝国。但他死後，帝国也随之衰落。来自东部山区的喀西特人掌握政权，建立一个延续四百年的王朝。埃兰征服巴比伦尼亚（约西元前1157年）後，随着一连串战争後建立了新的王朝，其中最杰出的国王是尼布甲尼撒一世（Nebuchadnezzar I，约西元前1124～西元前1103年在位）。在他之後发生了亚述、阿拉米（参阅Aramaeans）和加尔底亚为争夺巴比伦尼亚展开一场三角斗争。从西元前9世纪起到西元前7世纪下半叶亚述帝国灭亡止，统治巴比伦尼亚的多半为亚述国王。西元前7世纪至西元前6世纪时，加尔底亚人尼布甲尼撒二世创造了巴比伦尼亚最辉煌也是最後一个鼎盛的时期，他征服了叙利亚和巴勒斯坦，还重建首都巴比伦。西元前539年波斯居鲁士大帝和西元前331年亚历山大大帝先後占领巴比伦尼亚。这个地区後来逐渐被放弃。
English version：
Babylonia
Ancient country, Euphrates River valley, South Asia. The area was divided into Sumer (in the southeast) and Akkad (northwest) when the first Babylonian line of Amorites took power after 2000 BC, largely because of Hammurabi (c. 1790-1750). The empire declined after his death; the Kassites from the east eventually assumed power (c. 1595) and established a dynasty that lasted 400 years. After Elam conquered Babylonia (c. 1157 BC), a series of wars established a new Babylonian dynasty whose outstanding member was Nebuchadnezzar I (r. 1124?-1103 BC). Following his rule, a three-way struggle developed among Assyria, Aram (see Aramaeans), and Chaldea. The Assyrians ruled the area most frequently in the 9th-7th century BC. In the 7th-6th century BC the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar II instituted the last and greatest period of Babylonian supremacy, conquering Syria and Palestine and rebuilding Babylon, the capital city. Conquered in 539 BC by the Persian Cyrus the Great, and in 331 BC by Alexander the Great, the area was later gradually abandoned.
