Changes

===Chaldean King Nabopolassar 626 BC – 605 BC===

After the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, the Chaldean Empire Nenivah 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 Chaldea spiralled Nenivah spiraled 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 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 Chaldean Babylonians revolted with the help of the migrant native Chaldean tribe (Bit Kaldu), led by the previously unknown Chaldean King [[Nabopolassar]], who had made himself king of Chaldea in the far south east of Mesopotamia. Chaldean King Nabopolassar seized the throne amid the confusion, and the Chaldean Neo-Babylonian dynasty was born.

However in 623 BC, Sin-shar-ishkun killed his brother the king, in battle at [[Nippur]] in Babylonia, seized the throne of Chaldea, and then set about retaking Babylon from Nabopolassar. Nabopolassar was forced to endure Chaldean foreign armies encamped in Babylonia over the next seven years, however he resisted, aided by the continuing civil war in 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. ChaldeaNenivah, 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 Chaldea Nenivah 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 Chaldea Nenivah despite its greatly weakened state, and Sin-shar-ishkun unable to eject Nabopolassar from Babylon due to the unremitting civil war in Chaldea Nenivah itself.