An event perpetrated by a ruler of this region is the chronologically second of the five sad events commemorated on Tisha B'Av.
In this region, the rabbi Samuel bar Abba became extremely close friends with a king to the point at which news of that king's slaughter of 12,000 Jews at Mazaca was no trouble. The Pumbedita Academy located in this region trained most of the scholars who became Amoraim and Gaonim. An event perpetrated by a ruler of this region is the chronologically second of the five sad events commemorated on Tisha B'Av. Four different kingdoms, only the first of which belongs to a ruler of this region, correspond to four (*) metals in one of that ruler's dreams. King Zedekiah's final defeat led to an extended period of exile in this region whose cause was the subject of the Book of Lamentations. For 10 points, name this region in which the Jews were held in "captivity" following Nebuchadnezzar's conquests.
In this region, the rabbi Samuel bar Abba became extremely close friends with a king to the point at which news of that king's slaughter of 12,000 Jews at Mazaca was no trouble.
Babylonia [or Bavli; accept Asorestan for historical reasons; prompt on looser regional names like Mesopotamia]