This book investigates the role of anthropomorphic figurines as agents of cross–cultural identity production and social negotiation in Hellenistic Babylonia. Babylonia, in the southern region of the modern-day country of Iraq (see Map), was conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. This event began the so-called Hellenistic period, a time marked by widespread migrations of Macedonian and Greek peoples (often referred to together as “Greeks”) into the already ancient and culturally diverse cities of the Ancient Near Eastern region. Babylonians, other Mesopotamians, Persians, West Semitic peoples, and, eventually, Parthians also participated in these communities. Both material culture and textual records from Hellenistic Babylonia reveal a complex society defined and pervaded by cross-cultural interaction. The end date of the Hellenistic period is less fixed.