After the demise of the Sumerian city of Ur around 2000 BC, Babylon rose from modest origins to become the leading power in Mesopotamia. Its influence fluctuated over the next 1500 years. In 539 BC, the Babylonian empire fell to King Cyrus and became part of the Persian empire. Babylonians were renowned for their mathematical and medical skills, some of which were passed down through the Hellenistic world to the Greeks and Romans.
