Neo Babylonian Empire

Neo-Babylonian Empire
626 BC539 BC
The Neo-Babylonian Empire

Capital Babylon
Languages Akkadian,
Aramaic
Government Monarchy
King
- 626605 BC Nabopolassar
- 556539 BC Nabonidus
Historical era Iron Age
- Independence
from Assyrian
Empire 626 BC
- Battle of Opis 539 BC
Today part of Iraq
Kuwait
Syria
Turkey
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Jordan
Iran
Neo-Babylonian Empire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Neo-Babylonian Empire was a period
of Mesopotamian history which began in 626
BC and ended in 539 BC.
[1]
During the
preceding three centuries, Babylonia had
been ruled by their fellow Akkadian
speakers and northern neighbours, Assyria.
Yet, a year after the death of the last strong
Assyrian ruler Assurbanipal in 627 BC,
Babylonia rebelled under Nabopolassar the
Chaldean. In alliance with the Medes, the
city of Nineveh was sacked in 612 BC, and
the seat of empire was again transferred to
Babylonia. This period witnessed a general
improvement in economic life and
agricultural production, and a great
ourishing of architectural projects, the arts
and science.
The Neo-Babylonian 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 domination over Babylon.
Contents
1 Historical background
1.1 Revival of old traditions
1.2 Cultural and economic life
2 Neo-Babylonian dynasty
2.1 Nabopolassar 626 BC 605
BC
2.2 Nebuchadnezzar II 604 BC
562 BC
2.3 Amel-Marduk 562 BC 560
BC
Neo-Babylonian Empire - Wikipedia, the free ency... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neo-Ba...
1 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
Lebanon
Palestinian
Authority
Israel
Cyprus
2.4 Neriglissar 560 BC 556 BC
2.5 Labashi-Marduk 556 BC
2.6 Nabonidus 556 BC 539 BC
3 Achaemenids and later rulers of
Babylon
3.1 Cyrus invades in 539 BC
3.2 End of Persian rule
4 See also
5 References
Historical background
Generally, Babylonia enjoyed a prominent status under the Assyrian rule. The
Assyrians had managed to maintain Babylonian loyalty through the Neo-Assyrian
period, whether through granting of increased privileges, or militarily.
Revival of old traditions
After Babylonia regained its independence, Neo-Babylonian rulers were deeply
conscious of the antiquity of their heritage, and pursued an arch-traditionalist
policy, reviving much of their ancient Sumero-Akkadian culture. Even though
Aramaic had become the everyday tongue, Akkadian was restored as the
language of administration and culture. Archaic expressions from 1,500 years
earlier were reintroduced in Akkadian inscriptions, along with words in the
now-long-unspoken Sumerian language. Neo-Babylonian cuneiform script was
also modied to make it look like the old 3rd-millennium BC script of Akkad.
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 Sargon the Great was found during construction work, a temple was
built for itand it was given oerings. The story is told of how Nebuchadnezzar,
in his eorts to restore the Temple at Sippar, had to make repeated excavations
until he found the foundation deposit of Naram-Suen, the discovery of which then
allowed him to rebuild the temple properly. Neo-Babylonians also revived the
ancient Sargonid practice of appointing a royal daughter to serve as priestess of
the moon-god Sin.
Cultural and economic life
We are much better informed about Mesopotamian culture and economic life
2 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
under the Neo-Babylonians than we are about the structure and mechanics of
imperial administration. It is clear that for Mesopotamia the Neo-Babylonian
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 ocials as a form of
pay. These estates were usually managed through local entrepreneurs, who took a
cut of the prots. Rural folk were bound to these estates, providing both labor and
rents to their landowners.
Urban life ourished under the Neo-Babylonians. Cities had local autonomy and
received special privileges from the kings. Centered on their temples; the cities
had their own law courts, and cases were often decided in assemblies. Temples
dominated urban social structure, just as they did the legal system, and a person's
social status and political rights were determined by where they stood in relation
to the religious hierarchy. Free laborers like craftsmen enjoyed high status, and a
sort of guild system came into existence that gave them collective bargaining
power. This period witnessed a general improvement in economic life, agricultural
production, and a signicant increase in architectural projects, the arts and
science.
Neo-Babylonian dynasty
Dynasty XI of Babylon (Neo-Babylonian)
Nabu-apla-usur 626 605 BC
Nabu-kudurri-usur II 605 562 BC
Amel-Marduk 562 560 BC
Neriglissar 560 556 BC
Labai-Marduk 556 BC
Nabonidus 556 539 BC
Nabopolassar 626 BC 605 BC
After the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, the Assyrian Empire began to
disintegrate, riven by internal strife. An Assyrian general, Sin-shum-lishir,
revolted and seized Babylon, but was promptly ousted by the Assyrian Army loyal
to king Ashur-etil-ilani. Babylon was then taken by another son of Ashurbanipal
Sin-shar-ishkun, who proclaimed himself king. His rule did not last long however,
and Babylon revolted with the help of the Chaldean tribe (Bit Kaldu), led by
Nabopolassar. Nabopolassar seized the throne, and the Neo-Babylonian dynasty
was born. Nabopolassar was able to spend the next three years undisturbed,
consolidating power in Babylon itself, due to the brutal civil war between the
3 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
The Ishtar Gate of Babylon as
reconstructed in the
Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Assyrian king Ashur-etil-ilani and his brother
Sin-shar-ishkun in southern Mesopotamia.
However in 623 BC, Sin-shar-ishkun killed his
brother the king, in battle at Nippur, seized the
throne of Assyria, and then set about retaking
Babylon from Nabopolassar. Nabopolassar resisted
repeated attacks by Assyria over the next seven
years, and by 616 BC, he was still in control of
southern Mesopotamia. Assyria, still riven with
internal strife, had by this time lost control of its
colonies, which had taken advantage of the various
upheavals to free themselves.
Nabopolassar marched his army into Assyria
proper in 616 BC and attempted to besiege Assur
and Arrapha, but was defeated on this occasion.
Nabopolassar made alliances with other former
subjects of Assyria, the Medes, Persians, Elamites
and Scythians.
In 615 and 614 BC attacks were made on Assur and Arrapha and both fell. During
613 BC the Assyrians seem to have rallied and repelled Babylonian and Median
attacks. However in 612 BC Nabopolassar and the Median king Cyaxares led a
coalition of forces including Babylonians, Medes, Scythians and Cimmerians in an
attack on Nineveh, and after a bitter three-month siege, it nally fell. Babylon
retained control of Assyria and its northern and western colonies.
An Assyrian general, Ashur-uballit II, became king of Assyria, and set up a new
capital at Harran. Nabopolassar and his allies besieged Ashur-uballit II at Harran
in 608 BC and took it; Ashur-uballit II disappeared after this.
The Egyptians under Pharaoh Necho II had invaded the near east in 609 BC in a
belated attempt to help their former Assyrian 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
probably the remnants of the Assyrian army) from Syria, Asia Minor, northern
Arabia and Israel. Nebuchadnezzar proved to be a capable and energetic military
leader, and the Egyptians and their allies were nally defeated at the battle of
Carchemish in 605 BC.
Nebuchadnezzar II 604 BC 562 BC
Nebuchadnezzar II became king after the death of his father.
4 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
An engraving on an eye
stone of onyx with an
inscription of
Nebuchadnezzar II
Nebuchadnezzar 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 was what turned it into the immense and
beautiful 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 owed 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 Temple of Marduk.
A capable leader, Nabuchadnezzar II, conducted
successful military campaigns in Syria and Phoenicia,
forcing tribute from Damascus, Tyre and Sidon. He
conducted numerous campaigns in Asia Minor, in the
"land of the Hatti". Like the Assyrians, the Babylonians had to campaign yearly in
order to control their colonies.
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 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, thousands of Jews were deported to Babylon and Solomon's Temple was
razed to the ground.
Nebuchadnezzar fought the Pharaohs Psammetichus II and Apries throughout his
reign, and during the reign of Pharaoh Amasis in 568 BC it is speculated that he
may have set foot in Egypt itself.
By 572 Nebuchadnezzar was in full control of Babylonia, Assyria, Phoenicia,
Israel, Philistinia, northern Arabia and parts of Asia Minor.
Amel-Marduk 562 BC 560 BC
Amel-Marduk was the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II. He reigned only
two years (562 560 BC). According to the Biblical Book of Kings, he pardoned
and released Jehoiachin, king of Judah, who had been a prisoner in Babylon for
thirty-seven years. Allegedly because Amel-Marduk tried to modify his father's
policies, he was murdered by Neriglissar, his brother-in-law.
Neriglissar 560 BC 556 BC
5 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
Babylonian wall relief in the
Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Neriglissar appears to have been a more stable
ruler, conducting a number of public works,
restoring temples etc.
He conducted successful military campaigns
against Cilicia, which had threatened Babylonian
interests. Neriglissar however reigned for only
four years, being succeeded by the youthful
Labashi-Marduk. It is unclear if Neriglissar was
himself a member of the Chaldean tribe, or a
native of the city of Babylon.
Labashi-Marduk 556 BC
Labashi-Marduk was a king of Babylon (556 BC),
and son of Neriglissar. Labashi-Marduk succeeded
his father when still only a boy, after the latter's
four-year reign. He was murdered in a conspiracy
only nine months after his inauguration.
[citation needed]
Nabonidus was consequently chosen
as the new king.
Nabonidus 556 BC 539 BC
Nabonidus's (Nab-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.
[2]
Similarly, his mother,
Adda-Guppi,
[3]
who lived to high age and may have been connected to the temple
of the Akkadian moon god Sn in Harran; in her inscriptions does not mention her
descent. His father was Nab-balatsu-iqbi, a commoner.
[4]
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.
[5]
The Marduk priesthood hated Nabonidus because of his suppression of Marduk's
cult and his elevation of the cult of the moon-god Sin.
[6][7]
Cyrus portrayed
himself as the savior, chosen by Marduk to restore order and justice.
[8]
To the east, the Persians had been growing in strength, and Cyrus the Great was
very popular in Babylon itself, in contrast to Nabonidus.
[9][10]
A sense of Nabonidus's religiously-based negative image survives in Jewish
6 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
literature, in Josephus, for example.
[11]
Though in thinking about that image, we
should bear in mind that the Jews initially greeted the Persians as liberators.
Cyrus sent the Jewish exiles back to Israel from the Babylonian Captivity.
[12]
Although the Jews never rebelled against the Persian occupation,
[13]
they were
restive under the period of Darius I consolidating his rule,
[14]
and under
Artaxerxes I of Persia,
[15][16]
without taking up arms, or reprisals being exacted
from the Persian government.
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 rst three or four hundred
years after their arrival they were largely subject to the Neo Assyrian Empire and
paid tribute to Assyrian kings. After the death of Ashurbanipal they began to
assert themselves, and Media had played a major part in the fall of Assyria.
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 Iranic peoples, as well as the pre-Iranian Elamites and
Gutians.
Cyrus invades in 539 BC
In 539 BC Cyrus invaded Babylonia. Nabonidus sent his son Belshazzar to head
o the huge Persian army, however, already massively outnumbered, Belshazzar
was betrayed by Gobryas, Governor of Assyria, who switched his forces over to
the Persian side. The Babylonian forces were overwhelmed at the battle of Opis.
Nabonidus ed to Borsippa, and on 12 October, after Cyrus' engineers had
diverted the waters of the Euphrates, "the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon
without ghting." Belshazzar in Xenophon is reported to have been killed, but his
account is not held to be reliable here.
[17]
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
7 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
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
disaected 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 rst 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 oce by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth
assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon."
Babylon, like Assyria, became a colony of Achaemenid Persia.
After the murder of Bardiya by Darius, it briey 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
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.
End of Persian rule
Babylon remained a major city until Alexander the Great destroyed the
Achaemenid Empire in 332 BC. After his death, Babylon passed to the Seleucid
Empire, and a new capital named Seleucia was built on the Tigris about 40 miles
north of Babylon (10 miles south of Baghdad). Upon the founding of Seleucia,
Seleucus I Nicator ordered the population of Babylon to be deported to Seleucia,
and the old city fell into slow decline. The city of Babylon continued to survive
until the 2nd or 3rd century AD. An adjacent town developed which is today the
city of Hillah in Babylon Province, Iraq.
Babylonia remained under the control of the Parthians, and later, Sassanians until
about 640 AD, when it was conquered by the Islamic Rashidun Caliphate. It
continued to have its own culture and people, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and
who continued to refer to their country as Babylon (Babeli) or Erech (Iraq). Some
examples of their cultural products are often found in the Mandaean religion, and
the religion of the Babylonian prophet Mani. From the 1st and 2nd centuries AD
the Assyrians and Babylonians began to adopt Christianity, and the province of
Babylon became a seat of a bishopric of the Church of the East until the 17th
8 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
century. Neo-Aramaic-speakers exist today as a small minority only in northern
Iraq (Assyria). Despite being the minority, the Assyrians remained Christians and
many were killed as a result. Arabic had become the main language in Babylonia
by the 9th century, when the region was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.
See also
Babylon
List of Kings of Babylon
Cylinder of Nabonidus
References
^ Talley Ornan, The Triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial Representation of Deities in
Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban (Gttingen: Academic Press Fribourg,
2005), 4 n. 6
1.
^ 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), 13766.
2.
^ Joan Oates, Babylon, revised ed., Thames & Hudson, 1986, p.132 3.
^ Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, 3rd ed., Penguin Books, London, 1991, p.381 4.
^ John Haywood, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Civilizations, Penguin Books
Ltd. London, 2005, p.49
5.
^ A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1948, p.38 6.
^ Joan Oates, Babylon, revised ed., Thames & Hudson, 1986, p.133 7.
^ Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, 3rd ed., Penguin Books, London, 1991, p.382 8.
^ Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, 3rd ed., Penguin Books, London, 1991, p.381-382 9.
^ Joan Oates, Babylon, revised ed., Thames & Hudson, 1986, p.134-135 10.
^ Josephus, The New Complete Works, translated by William Whiston, Kregel
Publications, 1999, "Antiquites" Book 10:11, p.354
11.
^ Isaiah 45 | Biblegateway.com (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage
/?search=Isaiah%2045&version=NIV)
12.
^ John Bright, A History of Israel, The Westminster Press-Philadelphia, 1959,
p.342-396
13.
^ John Bright, A History of Israel, The Westminster Press-Philadelphia, 1959,
p.351-354
14.
^ John Bright, A History of Israel, The Westminster Press-Philadelphia, 1959, p.361 15.
^ Josephus, The New Complete Works, translated by William Whiston, Kregel 16.
9 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04
Publications, 1999, "Antiquites" Book 11:6, p.374
^ Harper's Bible Dictionary, ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco,
1985, p.103
17.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neo-
Babylonian_Empire&oldid=598056623"
Categories: Former monarchies Former countries in the Middle East
States and territories established in 626 BC Babylonia Ancient history of Iraq
History of Kuwait Fertile Crescent
This page was last modied on 4 March 2014 at 03:58.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.
10 of 10 2014-05-09 21:04

Neo Babylonian Empire

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Neo Babylonian Empire

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Neo-Babylonian Empire

The Neo-Babylonian Empire

You might also like