I seem to remember biblical references to babylonian gods like Nergal. So i wonder, what kind of influence did Babylonian culture have on Ancient Hebrew life, especially considering that they were forced to live in Babylon?
Tricky question, for three reasons:
Our primary source on the subject of Israelite culture and religion is the Bible, which, we can fairly say, has an agenda that doesn't lend itself to admitting to outside influences.
Scholars can't agree about what Israelite religion looked like before the Babylonian Exile. Old Testament/Hebrew Bible scholars divide into camps regarding how much of the Jewish Bible existed, and in what form, before the Jews returned from Babylon in the second temple period.
The answer to that question determines the baseline for comparison to post-exilic Judaism. E.g., was second temple Judaism an attempt to redefine pre-exilic Judaism of an attempt to return to it? Were the scribes trying to recover their traditions or justify their current practices?