Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the minor administrative town of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded from the small provincial town that it had originally been during the Akkadian Empire (2335-2154 BC) during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, becoming a major capital city. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "Māt Akkadī" "the country of Akkad" in the Akkadian language. It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, as well as Elam to the east, in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi (fl. c. 1792 – 1752 BC middle chronology, or c. 1696 – 1654 BC, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire; however, the Babylonian empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted back to a small kingdom. 

The Babylonian state, like Assyria to the north, retained the written Akkadian language for official use (the language of its native populace), despite its Northwest Semitic-speaking Amorite founders and Kassite successors, who spoke a language isolate, not being native Mesopotamians. It retained the Sumerian language for religious use (as did Assyria), but already by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earlier Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in Babylonian and Assyrian culture, and the region would remain an important cultural center, even under its protracted periods of outside rule. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What is this article about?
2. What state is discussed in this article?
3. 
Q2:
1. Where is the Babylonian state located?
2. What is the locationg of the Babylonian state?
3. 
Q3:
1. When was a small Amorite-ruled state created?
2. What year was an Amorite-ruled state created?
3. 
Q4:
1. What did the Amorite-ruled state contain?
2. What was contained within the Amorite-ruled state?
3. 
Q5:
1. Did Babylon stay small forever?
2. Was Babylon always small city?
3. 
Q6:
1. When did Babylon start increasing in size?
2. When did the size of Babylon increase?
3. 
Q7:
1. What is the name of the person who ruled Babylon during the middle of the 18th century?
2. Babylon was ruled by which person in the middle of the 18th century?
3. 
Q8:
1. What type of city did Babylon become under the rule of Hammurabi?
2. Babylon became what type of city while it was ruled by Hammurabi?
3. 
Q9:
1. What language was spoken in Babylon?
2. What is the name of the language that was spoken in Babylon?
3. 
Q10:
1. What did the Akkadians call their language in Akkadian?
2. How does one say Akkadian language in that language?
3. 
Q11:
1. What does the word Akkadi mean?
2. What is the meaning of Akkadi?
3. 
