Hillah

Al-Hillah also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq at the Hilla department of the Euphrates River, a hundred km 62 mi south of Baghdad. The population is estimated at 364,700 in 1998. It is the capital of Babylon Province and is positioned adjoining to the historic metropolis of Babylon, and near the historic cities of Borsippa and Kish. It is located in a predominantly agricultural region which is significantly irrigated with water supplied by means of the Hilla canal, producing a wide variety of vegetation, fruit and textiles. Its name can be derived from the phrase "splendor" in Arabic. The river runs exactly inside the middle of the metropolis, and it is surrounded by using date palm bushes and different forms of plant life improving the weather and lowering the harmful impact of dust and the wasteland winds. The city was once a prime center of Islamic scholarship and training.

The tomb of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel is reputed to be placed in a close-by village, Al Kifl. It have become a first-rate administrative centre throughout the rule of thumb of the Ottoman and British Empires. In the nineteenth century, the Hilla department of the Euphrates commenced to silt up and much agricultural land turned into misplaced to drought, however this method became reversed by using the construction of the Hindiya Barrage in 1911–1913, which diverted water from the deeper Hindiya branch of the Euphrates into the Hilla canal.