Ancient city, Babylonia .
Located southwest of Babylon (near modern Al-Ḥillah, Iraq), its proximity to that capital helped it become an important religious centre. Hammurabi built or rebuilt the temple at Borsippa, dedicating it to the deity Marduk . During the reign of Nebuchadrezzar II , the city reached its greatest prosperity. Borsippa was destroyed by Xerxes I in the early 5th century BC and never fully recovered.