Hillah

Hillah (Arabic: ٱلْحِلَّة al-Ḥillah), also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq. On the Hilla branch of the Euphrates River, it is 100 km (62 mi) south of Baghdad. The population was estimated to be about 455,700 in 2018. It is the capital of Babylon Province and is situated in a predominantly agricultural region which is extensively irrigated with water provided by the Hilla canal, producing a wide range of crops, fruit and textiles. Its name may be derived from the word "beauty" in Arabic. The river runs in the middle of the town, and it is surrounded by date palm trees and other forms of arid vegetation, reducing the harmful effects of dust and desert wind.

The city is located adjacent to the ancient city of Babylon, and close to the ancient cities of Borsippa and Kish. It was once a major centre of Islamic scholarship and education. The tomb of the Abrahamic prophet Ezekiel is reputed to be located in a nearby village, Al Kifl. It became a major administrative centre in Ottoman Iraq, and later Mandatory Iraq. In the 19th century, the Hilla branch of the Euphrates started to silt up and much agricultural land was lost to drought, but this process was reversed by the construction of the Hindiya Barrage in 1911–1913, which diverted water from the deeper Hindiya branch of the Euphrates into the Hilla canal. It saw heavy fighting in 1920 during an uprising against the British, when 300 men of the Manchester Regiment were defeated in the city.^{[citation needed]}

Hillah is located near the ruins of ancient Babylon. It is likely that Babylon was founded in the third millennium BC and rose to prominence over the next thousand years. By the 18th century BC the city was the centre of the empire of Hammurabi. Various empires controlled Babylon over the following centuries. Babylon briefly regained independence during the Neo-Babylonian empire towards the end of the 7th century BC, most notably under the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar II, but came under Persian occupation in the 6th century BC.

The name "Babylon" translates to "Gate of the God." Following the fall of the Sumerians, Babylon emerged as the center of the Babylonian Empire, established by King Hammurabi around 2100 BCE. The empire spanned from the Persian Gulf in the south to the Tigris River in the north. Hammurabi's rule lasted 43 years, during which the Babylonian civilization flourished, marking his reign as a golden age. Among Babylon's wonders were the Hanging Gardens, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, constructed by the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar II.

The city featured eight gates, with the grandest being the massive Ishtar Gate, and housed the Temple of Marduk within its walls, located in the great religious festival area outside the city. Ancient sources refer to Babylon by various names, including "Babylonia," meaning the land of Babylon, as well as "Mesopotamia" and "the land of the two rivers."

The ruins of Babylon have suffered greatly due to looting and destructive policies. Parts of Nebuchadnezzar's palace and some of the old city walls still remain. Saddam Hussein commissioned a restoration of ancient Babylon on part of the site. A modern palace was restored on Nebuchadnezzar ancient palace. A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate is displayed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

In the 10th century, the town of Al Jami'ayn was founded on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. The location of that town is in modern-day Hillah now. In 1101 AD a new town was founded near Al Jami'ayn. Bricks were taken from Babylon to build houses and so Hillah expanded. During the 18th century, the town became an administrative centre in the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, the flow in the al-Hillah stream decreased, and that led to worsening conditions for agriculture, which affected them greatly. To solve the problem, al-Hindiya Barrage was built.

According to some researchers, based on eyewitness accounts, the area where Hillah was established was not devoid of military and civilian construction for habitation. Instead, it was previously home to a city known as Al-Jamain. An eyewitness, who died about a century and a half before the founding of Hillah by Sadqa, described it as a small platform surrounded by a very fertile settlement. This description aligns with information from Ibn Hawqal, who lived in the 4th century AH (10th century CE), noting that the land of Al-Jamain stretched along both banks of the Hillah River. This area included the site of the ancient city of Nile, which was settled by the Banu Mazid tribe around 405 AH (1014 CE).