country pumbedita
Exilarch ( Hebrew :   " Rosh Galut ", Aramaic :   " Reysh Galuta " or " Resh Galvata " lit . " head of the exile ", Arabic :   " Raas al - Galut ", Greek :  " Aechmalotarches " lit . " leader of the captives ") refers to the leaders of the Diaspora Jewish community in ___MASK70___ following the deportation of King Jeconiah and his court into Babylonian exile after the first fall of ___MASK50___ in 597 BCE and augmented after the further deportations following the destruction of the kingdom of Judah in 587 BCE . The people in exile were called " golah " or " galut ". Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of ___MASK13___ . The population of Baghdad , , is approximately 7 . 216 . 040 making it the largest city in ___MASK13___ , the second largest city in the Arab world ( after Cairo , Egypt ), and the second largest city in Western Asia ( after Tehran , Iran ). Mesopotamia ("[ land ] between rivers "; from Ancient Armenian  ( Mijagetq ); " bild ar - rfidayn " " miyn rodn "; " Beth Nahrain " " land of rivers ") is a name for the area of the Tigris  Euphrates river system , in modern days roughly corresponding to most of ___MASK13___ plus Kuwait , the eastern parts of Syria , Southeastern Turkey , and regions along the Turkish - Syrian and Iran  ___MASK13___ borders . The Euphrates ( Sumerian : : " Buranuna ", : " Purattu ", : " al - Furt ", : " Prt ", : " Yeprat ", : " Perat ", ) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia . Together with the Tigris , it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia . Originating in eastern ___MASK12___ , the Euphrates flows through ___MASK22___ and ___MASK13___ to join the Tigris in the Shatt al - Arab , which empties into the Persian Gulf . ___MASK50___ , is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea . One of the oldest cities in the world , ___MASK50___ was named as "" Urusalima "" on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets , probably meaning " City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity , during the early Canaanite period ( approximately 2400 BCE ). During the Israelite period , significant construction activity in ___MASK50___ began in the 9th century BCE ( Iron Age II ), and in the 8th century the city developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah . It is considered a holy city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism , Christianity and Islam . Pumbedita ( sometimes Pumbeditha , Pumpedita , or Pumbedisa ; Aramaic :   ) was the name of a city in ancient Babylonia close to the modern - day city of Fallujah . The city had a large Jewish population and was famed for its Talmudic academy scholarship that , together with the city of Sura , gave rise to the Babylonian Talmud . The academy there was founded by ___MASK64___ ben Ezekiel in the late third century . The academy was established after the destruction of the academy of Nehardea . Nehardea , being the capital city , was destroyed during the Persian - Palmyrian war . Ur ( Sumerian : " Urim "; Sumerian Cuneiform : or ; Akkadian : " Uru ") was an important Sumerian city - state in ancient Mesopotamia , located at the site of modern Tell el - Muqayyar in south ___MASK13___ ' s Dhi Qar Governorate . Although Ur was once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf , the coastline has shifted and the city is now well inland , south of the Euphrates on its right bank , 16 kilometres ( 9 . 9 mi ) from Nasiriyah . The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient Semitic - speaking empire of Mesopotamia , centered in the city of Akkad and its surrounding region , also called Akkad in ancient Mesopotamia and Accad in the Bible ( Genesis 10 : 10 ). The empire united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule . The Akkadian Empire controlled Mesopotamia ( modern ___MASK13___ , Kuwait , northeast Syria and southeast Turkey ), the Levant ( modern Syria and Lebanon ), and eastern and southern parts of Anatolia ( modern Turkey ) and Iran , sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan ( modern Bahrain and Oman ) in the Arabian Peninsula . Fallujah ("" ) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar , located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates . Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries . Nehardea or Nehardeah (" river of knowledge ") was a city of Babylonia , situated at or near the junction of the Euphrates with the Nahr Malka ( also known as Nâr Sharri , Ar - Malcha , Nahr el - Malik , and King ' s Canal ), one of the earliest centers of Babylonian Judaism . As the seat of the exilarch it traced its origin back to King Jehoiachin . According to Sherira Gaon ( Letter of Sherira Gaon , in Neubauer , " M . J . C ." i . 26 ), Jehoiachin and his coexilarchs built a synagogue at Nehardea , for the foundation of which they used earth and stones which they had brought , in accordance with the words of Psalms 102 : 15 , from ___MASK50___ ( comp . a similar statement in regard to the founding of the Jewish neighbourhood in the Persian city of Ispahan , in " Monatsschrift ," 1873 , pp . 129 , 181 ). For this reason it was called ' The Synagogue that Slid and Settled '. This was the synagogue called " Shaf we - Yatib ," to which there are several references dating from the third and fourth centuries ( R . H . 24b ; Avodah Zarah 43b ; Niddah 13a ), and which Abaye asserts ( Meg . 29a ) was the seat of the Shekhinah in Babylonia . The Aaronic portion of the Jewish population of Nehardea was said to be descended from the slaves of Pashur ben Immer , the contemporary of King Jehoiachin ( Kiddushin 70b ). Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian - speaking state and cultural area based in central - southern Mesopotamia ( present - day ___MASK13___ ). A small Amorite - ruled state emerged in 1894 BC , which contained at this time the minor city of Babylon . Babylon greatly expanded 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 " Mt Akkad " " 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 . 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 . ___MASK13___ (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of ___MASK13___ ('; ') is a country in Western Asia , bordered by Turkey to the north , Iran to the east , Kuwait to the southeast , Saudi Arabia to the south , Jordan to the southwest , and Syria to the west . The capital , and largest city , is Baghdad . The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds ; others include Assyrians , Turkmen , Shabakis , Yazidis , Armenians , Mandeans , Circassians , and Kawliya . Around 95 % of the country ' s 36 million citizens are Muslims , with Christianity , Yarsan , Yezidism , and Mandeanism also present . The official languages of ___MASK13___ are Arabic and Kurdish . ___MASK70___ ( or ; Aramaic :  , " Babel ", , " Bavel ", , " Bbil ") was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers . The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks , with steep embankments to contain the river ' s seasonal floods . ___MASK70___ was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c . 2300 BC . Hammurabi ( c . 1810 BC - 1750 BC ) was the sixth king of the First Babylonian Dynasty , reigning from 1792 BC to 1750 BC ( according to the Middle Chronology ). He was preceded by his father , Sin - Muballit , who abdicated due to failing health . He extended ___MASK70___ ' s control throughout Mesopotamia through military campaigns . Hammurabi is known for the Code of Hammurabi , one of the earliest surviving codes of law in recorded history . The name " Hammurabi " derives from the Amorite term " Ammurpi " (" the kinsman is a healer "), itself from " Ammu " (" paternal kinsman ") and " Rpi " (" healer ").