Babylon, Babylonians Definition
Hebrew Babel. Capital city of Mesopotamia, located on the Euphrates River and neighbor to Assyria. Considered at the time of the prophet Jeremiah to be the greatest and most beautiful city of the Near East. An enormous political and economic power that held great influence over the Israelites. In 586 BC, the Babylonians took the children of Israel into an exile that would last 70 years. The return from this exile established a people to whom Jesus would be born and a kingdom in the land of Israel.
