Babylonia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient region in Mesopotamia located around the middle of the Tigris-Euphrates river system known for its early development of law, culture, and urban civilization
2. A historic kingdom centered in the fertile land between two rivers, notable for its contributions to writing, astronomy, and law codes
3. A prominent early civilization in southwest Asia characterized by influential cities, legal codes like Hammurabi’s, and rich cultural achievements

Etymology: Babylonia was the name the Greeks gave to the land that the Akkadians and Babylonians called Karduniash and that the Hebrew Bible calls Shinar, though the sources given here do not date that Greek usage. The core word is Babylon, the Greek form of the city's name, to which the Greek suffix "-ía" was attached. That suffix turns a city name into the name of a region or territory, so Babylonia literally means "the land of Babylon." The Latin "Babylōnia" was the direct route into English. The city itself was the centre of a region that the name later came to cover, and the term is therefore a regional label rather than a name the inhabitants themselves used. Its meaning shifted from a city to a broader territory and then to the civilization that flourished there, which is the sense modern readers recognise.

Synonyms: ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonian empire