Choose wisely. Connect locally.Add your business 
Hillah is the capital of Babil Governorate in central Iraq, a city on the Hilla branch of the Euphrates about 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, and it is famous as the gateway to the ruins of ancient Babylon, which lie just north of the city centre.
Babylon rose to power under Hammurabi in the 18th century BC and reached its height under Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC, when the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and great palaces and temples were built; its Walls and Hanging Gardens were counted among the Seven Wonders. Hillah grew up beside the ruins and later became a centre of Islamic learning. In the 1980s Saddam Hussein rebuilt parts of Babylon and raised a palace above it, and in 2019 UNESCO listed the site as a World Heritage Site.
Visitors come for the Ishtar Gate replica, the Lion of Babylon, the rebuilt Southern Palace, the Temple of Ninmah and the Greek theatre, then travel out to the ziggurat of Borsippa, the mounds of Kish and Ezekiel's Tomb at al-Kifl, before returning to the palm-lined river in Hillah.
Babylon is the ruined capital of ancient Babylonia on the northern edge of Hillah, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad. The city of Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II was one of the great ancient cities, and its walls and mounds, partly rebuilt in the 1980s, became a World Heritage Site in 2019.
The Replica of the Ishtar Gate stands at the entrance to ancient Babylon near Hillah, a copy of the great gate that Nebuchadnezzar II built around 569 BC, with blue tiles, dragons and bulls. The original front gate, dug out by Robert Koldewey in 1904 to 1914, is in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
The Processional Way in Babylon near Hillah is the ceremonial street that ran from the temple of Marduk through the Ishtar Gate to the Akitu temple. Its high brick walls still carry raised reliefs of dragons and aurochs from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, and parts of its original paving survive.
The Lion of Babylon is a black basalt statue standing among the ruins of Babylon near Hillah, showing a lion standing over a fallen man. About 2 metres long and weighing some 7 tonnes, it was recorded in 1817 by the traveller Claudius Rich, and some scholars think it may be Hittite work.
The Southern Palace of Babylon near Hillah was a palace of Nebuchadnezzar II standing beside the Ishtar Gate inside the city walls. It was rebuilt on its ruins in the 1980s under Saddam Hussein, with 250 rooms, five courtyards and a 30-metre entrance arch, and its tall brick walls now dominate it.
The Temple of Ninmah in Babylon near Hillah stands just east of the Ishtar Gate and was dedicated to the mother goddess Ninmah. Founded by Shamash-shum-ukin and renewed by Nebuchadnezzar II, its mud-brick walls surround a large courtyard, and it was rebuilt by Iraqi archaeologists in modern times.
The Greek Theatre of Babylon near Hillah is one of the easternmost theatres of its kind, perhaps first built in the time of Alexander the Great. Made mostly of mud brick, it had nine stairways up its seating, was repaired in the 2nd century AD, and has been restored and used again in modern times.
Saddam Hussein's Palace in Babylon near Hillah was built in the late 1980s on an artificial hill overlooking the ancient ruins. Its stone halls mix modern design with Babylonian motifs, and after 2003 it was used by US forces before being left empty; turning it into a museum has been considered.
Borsippa, known today as Birs Nimrud, is an ancient city about 18 kilometres south-west of Babylon near Hillah, sacred to the god Nabu. The ruined ziggurat of his temple still rises some 52 metres above the flat plain, and later Arabic tradition linked it with the biblical Tower of Babel.
Kish is an ancient city about 12 kilometres east of Babylon near Hillah, its ruins now known as Tell al-Uhaymir. Settled from the Ubaid period, it was named in the Sumerian King List as the first city to have kings after the flood, and the worn mounds of its ziggurat still rise over the plain.
Ezekiel's Tomb is a mausoleum in al-Kifl near Hillah, beside the Nukhailah Mosque, revered by Jews as the resting place of the prophet Ezekiel. Long the most important Jewish site in Mesopotamia, it is honoured by Muslims as the tomb of Dhul-Kifl, and the complex has been rebuilt since 2003.
The Shatt al-Hillah is the Hilla branch of the Euphrates, flowing through the middle of Hillah between banks of date palms. It waters the farms of the region, and when it silted up in the 19th century the Hindiya Barrage was built upstream in 1911 to 1913 to send water back into it.
Been to Al Hillah? Add your best shots to the gallery.
Log in to add photosPhoto: Maj. Mike Feeney, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Photo: Hussein A. Al-shammary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Hamody al-iraqi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Sarm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Mohamm3dfadil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Maj. Mike Feeney, U.S. Army, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Hamody al-iraqi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Safa.daneshvar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Hamody al-iraqi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Sarm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: ZaidAiraq, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Hamody al-iraqi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David Stanley, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: جعفر عقيل مهدي, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Hamody al-iraqi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Sarm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Al-Hamza Ahmad, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Al-Hamza Ahmad, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Safa.daneshvar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Esmaeel Afser, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Hamody al-iraqi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Marjon Verburg, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: MohammadHuzam, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Ali sabah aziz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Ali sabah aziz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Farhadmirza, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David Stanley, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: David Stanly, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: احمد منذر, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
