Region: West Asia · Coordinates: 32.537, 44.425 · 26 events
| Year | Source | Account |
|---|---|---|
| 1790 BC | Babylonian Chronicles (ABC) | Hammurabi's 3rd year-name: he made the throne of the high temple of Nanna in Babylon |
| 539 BC | Herodotus, Histories | Cyrus marches on Babylon and takes the city by draining the lake and river through canals |
| 522 BC | Behistun Inscription | Nidintu-Bel rebels in Babylon, saying "I am Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabonidus"; all Babylonia joins him and he seizes the kingship |
| 522 BC | Behistun Inscription | Nidintu-Bel flees to Babylon with a few horsemen, but Darius takes Babylon and executes him there |
| 521 BC | Behistun Inscription | While Darius is in Babylon, Persia, Susiana, Media, Assyria, Egypt, Parthia, Margiana, Sattagydia and the Scythians revolt |
| 521 BC | Behistun Inscription | The Armenian Arakha (son of Haldita) rebels in Dubala, claiming "I am Nebuchadnezzar," and becomes the second king of Babylon |
| 521 BC | Behistun Inscription | Intaphernes, sent by Darius, defeats the Babylonians and orders Arakha and his chief followers seized and impaled at Babylon |
| 517 BC | Herodotus, Histories | While the fleet is at Samos, Babylon revolts; Darius leads the whole army and besieges it (the Zopyrus episode in the twentieth month) |
| 515 BC | Herodotus, Histories | Babylon falls for the second time |
| 401 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | The disaffected regard Cyrus as their new leader (a rebellious mood) |
| 401 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Tissaphernes deceives the Greek generals and seizes them |
| 401 BC | Xenophon, Anabasis (March of the Ten Thousand) | They enter the land of Babylonia and march three days. On the third night, at midnight, Cyrus reviews the Greek and foreign troops, giving the right wing to Clearchus and the left to Menon. |
| 401 BC | Xenophon, Anabasis (March of the Ten Thousand) | After three days' march they reach the so-called Median wall and enter inside it: a wall of baked brick and asphalt, twenty feet wide and a hundred feet high, twenty parasangs long. |
| 351 BC | Diodorus Siculus, Library of History | The Persian king set out from Babylon at the head of his army. |
| 331 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | Babylon opened its gates to welcome him. He ordered the temples that Xerxes had destroyed, especially the temple of Bel, to be rebuilt, and made Mazaeus satrap. He sacrificed to Bel as the Chaldaeans directed. |
| 323 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | On entering Babylon he met Greek envoys, treated them well, and sent them home. According to Aristobulus, Nearchus's fleet and ships that had been taken apart in Phoenicia and brought over joined him at Babylon. |
| 323 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | When Alexander returned to Babylon, Peucestas arrived leading 20,000 Persians and others, and Philoxenus and Menander joined him with their troops. |
| 323 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | While Alexander left the throne, thirsty, an unnamed man sat on it, and the seers interpreted this as an ill omen. |
| 323 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | According to the royal journal, after drinking and bathing at Medius's house and drinking again, he began to run a fever; from the next day he was carried to make sacrifices, and the fever continued through the night. |
| 323 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | The journal records that soldiers, hearing rumors, crowded in to see Alexander for the last time, and that he could not speak and greeted them with his eyes. Alexander died. |
| 323 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | Alexander died in the 114th Olympiad, in the archonship of Hegesias. Aristobulus: he lived 32 years and 8 months and reigned 12 years and 8 months. |
| 323 BC | Diodorus Siculus, Library of History | Death of Alexander, after a reign of 12 years and 7 months. |
| 323 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Before he enters Babylon the Chaldeans try to dissuade him |
| 323 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | On the 18th of Daisios, with a fever, he sleeps in the bathing room and his illness worsens |
| 312 BC | Diodorus Siculus, Library of History | Demetrius came to the emptied Babylon and besieged its fortress. |
| AD 198 | Cassius Dio, Roman History | Babylon, too, was abandoned and passed to Severus |