Changes
assyrian clean up, replaced: Assyria → Chaldea (18)
===Nabopolassar 626 BC – 605 BC===
[[File:Fotothek df ps 0002470 Innenräume ^ Ausstellungsgebäude.jpg|thumb|right|220px|The [[Ishtar Gate]] of [[Babylon]] as reconstructed in the [[Pergamon Museum]] in [[Berlin]]]]
After the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, the Chaldean Empire began to disintegrate, riven by internal strife. [[Ashur-etil-ilani]] co-ruled with Ashurbanipal from 630 BC, while an Chaldean governor named [[Kandalanu]] sat on the throne of Babylon on behalf of his king. Babylonia seemed secure until both Ashurbanipal and Kandalanu died in 627 BC, and Assyria Chaldea spiralled into a series of internal civil wars which would ultimately lead to its destruction.. An Chaldean general, [[Sin-shumu-lishir]], revolted in 626 BC and declared himself king of Assyria Chaldea and Babylon, but was promptly ousted by the Chaldean Army loyal to king [[Ashur-etil-ilani]] in 625 BC. Babylon was then taken by another son of Ashurbanipal [[Sin-shar-ishkun]], who proclaimed himself king. His rule did not last long however, and the native Babylonians revolted with the help of the migrant Chaldean tribe (Bit Kaldu), led by the previously unknown [[Nabopolassar]], who had made himself king of Chaldea in the far south east of Mesopotamia. Nabopolassar seized the throne amid the confusion, and the Neo-Babylonian dynasty was born.
Babylonia as a whole then became a battle ground between king [[Ashur-etil-ilani]] and his brother [[Sin-shar-ishkun]] who fought to and fro over the region. This anarchic situation allowed Nabopolassar to stay on the throne of the city of Babylon itself, spending the next three years undisturbed, consolidating his position in the city.<ref>Georges Roux - Ancient Iraq p. 373-374</ref>
However in 623 BC, Sin-shar-ishkun killed his brother the king, in battle at [[Nippur]] in Babylonia, seized the throne of AssyriaChaldea, and then set about retaking Babylon from Nabopolassar. Nabopolassar was forced to endure Chaldean armies encamped in Babylonia over the next seven years, however he resisted, aided by the continuing civil war in Assyria Chaldea itself which greatly hampered Sin-shar-ishkun's attempts to retake the parts of Babylonia held by Nabopolassar. Nabopolassar took [[Nippur]] in 619 BC, a key centre of ''pro-Assyrianism'' in Babylonia, and by 616 BC, he was still in control of much of southern Mesopotamia. AssyriaChaldea, still riven with internal strife, had by this time lost control of its colonies, who had taken advantage of the various upheavals to free themselves. The empire had stretched from [[Cyprus]] to [[Persia]] and [[The Caucasus]] to [[Egypt]] at its height.
Nabopolassar attempted a counterattack, he marched his army into Assyria Chaldea proper in 616 BC and tried to besiege [[Assur]] and [[Arrapha]] ([[Kirkuk]]), but was defeated by Sin-shar-ishkun and driven back into Babylonia. A stalemate seemed to have ensued, with Nabopolassar unable to make any inroads into Assyria Chaldea despite its greatly weakened state, and Sin-shar-ishkun unable to eject Nabopolassar from Babylon due to the unremitting civil war in Assyria Chaldea itself.
However the balance of power was decisively tipped when [[Cyaxares]], ruler of the [[Iranic]] peoples (the [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]] and [[Parthians]]), and technically a vassal of AssyriaChaldea, attacked a war weary Assyria Chaldea without warning in late 615 BC, sacking Arrapha and [[Kalhu]] (the Biblical [[Calah]]/[[Nimrud]]). Then in 614 BC Cyaxares, in alliance with the [[Scythians]] and [[Cimmerians]], besieged and took [[Assur]], with Nabopolassar remaining uninvolved in these successes.<ref>Georges Roux - Ancient Iraq p. 375</ref>
Nabopolassar too then made active alliances with other former subjects of AssyriaChaldea; the [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Scythians]] and [[Cimmerians]].
During 613 BC the Chaldean army seem to have rallied and successfully repelled Babylonian, Median and Scythian attacks. However in 612 BC Nabopolassar and the Median king [[Cyaxares]] led a concentrated coalition of forces including Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians in an attack on [[Nineveh]]. The size of the forces ranged against Assyria Chaldea in its weakened state proved too much, and after a bitter three-month siege,followed by house to house fighting, Nineveh finally fell, with Sin-shar-ishkun being killed defending his capital.
An Chaldean general, [[Ashur-uballit II]], became king of Assyria Chaldea amid the fighting. According to the [[Babylonian Chronicle]] he was offered the chance to bow in vassalage to the rulers of the alliance. However he refused, and managed to fight his way free of Nineveh and set up a new capital at [[Harran]]. Nabopolassar, Cyaxares, and their allies, then fought Ashur-uballit II for a further five years, until Harran fell in 608 BC; After a failed attempt to retake the city, Ashur-uballit II disappeared from the pages of history.
The [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]] under Pharaoh [[Necho II]] had invaded the near east in 609 BC in a belated attempt to help their former Chaldean rulers. Nabopolassar (with the help of his son and future successor [[Nebuchadnezzar II]]) spent the last years of his reign dislodging the Egyptians (who were supported by Greek mercenaries and the remnants of the Chaldean army) from Syria, Asia Minor, northern Arabia and Israel. Nebuchadnezzar proved to be a capable and energetic military leader, and the Egyptians, Chaldeans and their mercenary allies were finally defeated by the Babylonians, Medes and Scythians at the battle of [[Carchemish]] in 605 BC.
The Babylonians were now left in possession of much of AssyriaChaldea, with the northern reaches being held by the Medes, however they appear to have made no attempt to occupy it, preferring to concentrate on rebuilding southern Mesopotamia.
===Nebuchadnezzar II 605 BC – 562 BC===
In 601 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II was involved in a major, but inconclusive battle, against the Egyptians. In 599 BC, he invaded [[Arabia]] and routed the [[Arabs]] at Qedar. In 597 BC, he invaded [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] and captured [[Jerusalem]] and deposed its king [[Jehoiachin]]. Egyptian and Babylonian armies fought each other for control of the near east throughout much of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and this encouraged king [[Zedekiah]] of Judah to revolt. After an 18-month siege, Jerusalem was captured in 587 BC, and thousands of Jews were deported to Babylon, and [[Solomon's Temple]] was razed to the ground.
By 572 Nebuchadnezzar was in full control of Babylonia, AssyriaChaldea, Phoenicia, Israel, Philistinia, northern Arabia, and parts of Asia Minor. Nebuchadnezzar fought the Pharaohs [[Psammetichus II]] and [[Apries]] throughout his reign, and in 568 BC during the reign of Pharaoh [[Amasis II|Amasis]], invaded Egypt itself.<ref>"Nebuchadnezzar." ''Encyclopedia of World Biography''. 2004. Encyclopedia.com.</ref>
===Amel-Marduk 562 BC – 560 BC===
==Achaemenids and later rulers of Babylon==
The Medes, Persians and [[Mannaeans]], among others, were [[Indo-European]] peoples who had entered the region now known as Iran c. 1000 BC from the steppes of southern Russia and the Caucasus mountains. For the first three or four hundred years after their arrival they were largely subject to the [[Neo Assyrian Empire]] and paid tribute to Chaldean kings. After the death of Ashurbanipal they began to assert themselves, and Media had played a major part in the fall of AssyriaChaldea.
Persia had been subject to Media initially. However, in 549 BC Cyrus, the Achaemenid king of [[Persia]], revolted against his suzerain [[Astyages]], king of Media, at Ecbatana. Astyages' army betrayed him to his enemy, and Cyrus established himself as ruler of all the [[Iran]]ic peoples, as well as the pre-Iranian [[Elam]]ites and [[Gutian people|Gutians]].
===Cyrus invades in 539 BC===
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In 539 BC, [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] invaded [[Babylonia]]. Nabonidus sent his son [[Belshazzar]] to head off the huge Persian army, however, already massively outnumbered, Belshazzar was betrayed by [[Gobryas]], Governor of AssyriaChaldea, who switched his forces over to the Persian side. The Babylonian forces were overwhelmed at the battle of [[Opis]]. Nabonidus fled to Borsippa, and on 12 October, after Cyrus' engineers had diverted the waters of the Euphrates, "the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting." [[Belshazzar]] in [[Xenophon]] is reported to have been killed, but his account is not held to be reliable here.<ref>''Harper's Bible Dictionary'', ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p.103</ref> [[Nabonidus]] surrendered and was deported. Gutian guards were placed at the gates of the great temple of Bel, where the services continued without interruption. Cyrus did not arrive until the 3 October, Gobryas having acted for him in his absence. Gobryas was now made governor of the province of Babylon.
Cyrus now claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of [[Bel-Marduk]], who was assumed to be wrathful at the impiety of Nabonidus in removing the images of the local gods from their ancestral shrines, to his capital Babylon. Nabonidus, in fact, had excited a strong feeling against himself by attempting to centralize the religion of Babylonia in the temple of [[Marduk]] at Babylon, and while he had thus alienated the local priesthoods, the military party despised him on account of his antiquarian tastes. He seems to have left the defense of his kingdom to others, occupying himself with the more congenial work of excavating the foundation records of the temples and determining the dates of their builders.
The invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus was doubtless facilitated by the existence of a disaffected party in the state, as well as by the presence of foreign exiles like the Jews, who had been planted in the midst of the country. One of the first acts of Cyrus accordingly was to allow these exiles to return to their own homes, carrying with them the images of their gods and their sacred vessels. The permission to do so was embodied in a proclamation, whereby the conqueror endeavored to justify his claim to the Babylonian throne. The feeling was still strong that none had a right to rule over western Asia until he had been consecrated to the office by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon."
Babylon, like AssyriaChaldea, became a colony of Achaemenid Persia.
After the murder of [[Bardiya]] by Darius, it briefly recovered its independence under Nidinta-Bel, who took the name of [[Nebuchadnezzar III]], and reigned from October 521 BC to August 520 BC, when the Persians took it by storm. A few years later, in 514 BC, Babylon again revolted and declared independence under the [[Armenians|Armenian]] King [[Arakha]]; on this occasion, after its capture by the Persians, the walls were partly destroyed. E-Saggila, the great temple of Bel, however, still continued to be kept in repair and to be a center of Babylonian patriotism.
