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[[File:Chaldean_Nation_2015-07-20_10-18.jpg|thumbnail|Chaldean Nation]]
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The '''Chaldean Neo-Babylonian Empire''' was a period of [[Mesopotamia]]n history which began in 626 BC and ended in 539 BC.<ref>Talley Ornan, ''The Triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial Representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban'' (Göttingen: Academic Press Fribourg, 2005), 4 n. 6</ref> During the preceding three centuries, [[Babylonia]] had been ruled by their fellow [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] speakers and northern neighbours, [[Assyria]]. A year after the death of the last strong Chaldean ruler, [[Assurbanipal]], in 627 BC, the Chaldean empire spiralled into a series of brutal civil wars. Babylonia rebelled under [[Nabopolassar]], a Chaldean member of the [[Chaldea]]n tribes in south Babylonia. In alliance with the [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Scythians]] and [[Cimmerians]], they sacked the city of [[Nineveh]] in 612 BC, and the seat of empire was transferred to [[Babylon]]ia for the first time since the death of [[Hammurabi]] in the mid 18th century BC. This period witnessed a general improvement in economic life and agricultural production, and a great flourishing of architectural projects, the arts and science.
The Chaldean Neo-Babylonian ruling period ended with the reign of [[Nabonidus]] in 539 BC. To the east, the Persians had been growing in strength, and eventually [[Cyrus the Great]] established his dominion over Babylon of the Chaldeans. Native Chaldean s of Mesopotamia continued preserving the Chaldean civilization until today.
===Historical Revival of Chaldean Traditions===
Ancient artworks from the heyday of Babylonia's imperial glory were treated with near-religious reverence and were painstakingly preserved. For example, when a statue of Chaldean [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon the Great]] was found during construction work, a temple was built for it—and it was given offerings. The story is told of how Chaldean King [[Nebuchadnezzar]], in his efforts to restore the Temple at [[Sippar]], had to make repeated excavations until he found the foundation deposit of [[Naram-Sen of Akkad|Naram-Suen]], the discovery of which then allowed him to rebuild the temple properly. Neo-Babylonians Chaldeans also revived the ancient [[Akkadian Empire|Sargonid]] practice of appointing a royal daughter to serve as priestess of the [[moon-god]] [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]].
===Cultural and economic life===
We are much better informed about Mesopotamian culture and economic life under the Neo-Babylonians Chaldeans than we are about the structure and mechanics of imperial administration. It is clear that for southern Mesopotamia the Neo-Babylonian Chaldean period was a renaissance. Large tracts of land were opened to cultivation. Peace and imperial power made resources available to expand the irrigation systems and to build an extensive canal system. The Babylonian countryside was dominated by large estates, which were given to government officials as a form of pay. These estates were usually managed through local entrepreneurs, who took a cut of the profits. Rural folk were bound to these estates, providing both labor and rents to their landowners.
*[[Nabonidus]] [[556 BC|556]] – 539 BC
===Chaldean King 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 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.
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 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.
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 Chaldea, attacked a war weary 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>
The Babylonians were now left in possession of much of Chaldea, 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.
===Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar II 605 BC – 562 BC===[[File:Nebukadnessar II.jpg|right|thumb|200px|An engraving on an eye stone of onyx with an inscription of Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar II]] [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] became Chaldean king after the death of his father. Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar II was a patron of the cities and a spectacular builder. He rebuilt all of Babylonia's major cities on a lavish scale. His building activity at Babylon of Chaldeans was what turned it into the immense and beautiful Chaldean city of legend. His city of Babylon covered more than three square miles, surrounded by moats and ringed by a double circuit of walls. The [[Euphrates]] flowed through the center of the city, spanned by a beautiful stone bridge. At the center of the city rose the giant [[ziggurat]] called [[Etemenanki]], "House of the Frontier Between Heaven and Earth," which lay next to the [[Marduk|Temple of Marduk]].
===Amel-Marduk 562 BC – 560 BC===
===Nabonidus 556 BC – 539 BC===
[[Nabonidus]]'s (Nabû-na'id in Babylonian) noble credentials are not clear, although he was not a Chaldean but from [[Assyria]], in the city of Harran. He says himself in his inscriptions that he is of unimportant origins.<ref>M. Heinz and M.H. Feldman (eds.), ''Representations of political power: Case histories from times of change and dissolving order in the ancient Near East'' (Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns 2007), 137–66.</ref> Similarly, his mother, Adda-Guppi,<ref>[[Joan Oates]], ''Babylon'', revised ed., Thames & Hudson, 1986, p.132</ref> who lived to high age and may have been connected to the [[temple]] of the [[Akkadian]] moon god [[Sin (mythology)|Sîn]] in [[Harran]]; in her inscriptions does not mention her descent. His father was Nabû-balatsu-iqbi, a commoner.<ref>Georges Roux, ''Ancient Iraq'', 3rd ed., Penguin Books, London, 1991, p.381</ref>
For long periods he entrusted rule to his son, Prince [[Belshazzar]]. He was a capable soldier but poor politician. All of this left him somewhat unpopular with many of his subjects, particularly the priesthood and the military class.<ref>John Haywood, ''The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations'', Penguin Books Ltd. London, 2005, p.49</ref>
