The Persian conquest of Babylonia
Different accounts of the fall of Babylon survive. According to the Cyrus Cylinder, the people opened their gates for Cyrus and greeted him as their liberator. Isaiah 40-55 prophesied that the Persians would carry off Babylonian women and cultic statues. Herodotus said that Cyrus defeated the Babylonians outside their city, after which a siege began. When this took too long, Cyrus diverted the Euphrates, so that his troops could march into the city through the river bed.[1] Xenophon had a similar view, but he did not mention the battle.[2] Finally, Berossus claimed that Cyrus beat the Babylonian army, but this time, Nabonidus was supposed to have fled to nearby Borsippa. There he hid, while Cyrus took Babylon and demolished its outer walls. When Cyrus turned towards Borsippa, Nabonidus soon surrendered.[3]
- ↑ Herodotus, Histories 1.188-191
- ↑ Xenophon, Cyropaedia 7.5.1-36
- ↑ From the Babyloniaca: Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 680F9a = Flavius Josephus, Against Apion 1.149-153.