Whether the gardens did exist is a matter of dispute. Nebuchadnezzar is also credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) which he is said to have had built for his homesick wife Amyitis. The Ishtar Gate survives today in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including rebuilding the Etemenanki and the construction of the Ishtar Gate, the most spectacular of eight that ringed the perimeter of Babylon. It was under the rule of king Nebuchadnezzar (605 BC-562 BC) that Babylon had become one of the most splendid cities of the ancient world. With the recovery of Babylonian independence under Nabopolassar a new era of architectural activity set in, and his son Nebuchadnezzar made Babylon one of the wonders of the ancient world. On the fall of Nineveh (612 BC) Babylon had thrown off the Assyrian yoke, and became the capital of the growing Babylonian empire. In the subsequent overthrow of the Assyrian empire the Babylonians saw another example of divine vengeance. Assur-bani-pal (or Assurbanipal) purified the city and celebrated a 'service of reconciliation', but did not venture to 'take the hands' of Bel.

Once again Babylon was besieged by the Assyrians and starved into surrender. On his death Babylonia was left to his elder son Shamash-shum-ukin, who eventually headed a revolt against his brother Assur-bani-pal of Assyria. This act shocked the religious conscience of Mesopotamia the subsequent murder of Sennacherib was held to be an expiation of it, and his successor Esarhaddon hastened to rebuild the old city, to receive there his crown, and make it his residence during part of the year. In 689 BC its walls, temples and palaces were razed to the ground and the rubbish thrown into the Arakhtu, the canal which bordered the earlier Babylon on the south. It rebelled against the Assyrian rule under Mushezib-Marduk and again under Shamash-shum-ukin but was besieged and taken over by Sennacherib and Assurbanipal (Kandalanu) again.Дuring the reign of Sennacherib, Babylon underwent a constant state of revolt, which was only suppressed by the complete destruction of the capital. Babylon gradually grew in extent and grandeur, but in process of time it became subject to Assyria.

The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, divided in equal parts among its left and right banks with steep embankments built to contain the riverвЂ™s seasonal floods. For centuries it was just another provincial town, until it became the capital of Hammurabi's empire (18th century BC) From this time onward it continued to be the capital of Babylonia.

Over the years its power and population waned. The earliest mention of Babylon is in a dated tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad (24th century BC short chr.), who made it the capital of his empire. This Semitic word is a translation of the Sumerian Kadmirra. The name is the Greek form of Babel, which is derived in turn from the Semitic form bab-Illu, meaning 'The Gate of God'. It was the capital city of Babylonia in Mesopotamia (in contemporary Iraq, about 70 mi/110 km south of Baghdad).

Babylon is the later name given to Babel which means Confusion.

Where was babylon located