Babylon declared war VERY early on me - in like 2500 BC. I got lucky with my defending warrior beating two attacking ones, and then poprushed an archer to clean up their warriors. They gave up two techs for peace.
Built a granary in Paris after the first two settlers, and used that for all settler production. I was building a settler every 6 turns from there right up until AD times.
Got to Republic as soon as I could in 390 BC, and built up for a long time. Settled the western island and built the Forbidden Palace there, in a location that would also cover Babylon's big cities. Middle Ages came in 925 BC and Industrial in 740 AD.
Babylon declared war in 910 AD, just as I had 20 cavalry available to blitz them and the rail net complete. Conquered seven Babylonian cities in about twenty turns, before they MPPed with India so I settled for peace. Golden Age began in 910 AD by a Musketeer; used for Factory and Hospital production. Built dozens of cheap swordsmen to garrison the Babylon cities and prevent culture flips.
Wonders: got Colossus, Leonardo's, Bach's, Copernicus, Adam Smith's, and of course ToE and Hoover. Thanks to some LONG prebuilding, Hoover came in 1050 AD. Conquered the Pyramids and another wonder or two from Babylon as well.