ancient empire in SW Asia, in the lower valley of the Tigris & Euphrates rivers: it flourished c. 2100-689 and again, as Chaldea or “New Babylonia,” c. 625-538
See Babylonia in American Heritage Dictionary 4
(băbˌə-lōˈnē-ə, -lōnˈyə)
An ancient empire of Mesopotamia in the Euphrates River valley. It flourished under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II but declined after 562 B.C. and fell to the Persians in 539.