600-575BC in the Near East

Dragon brickwork from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon

This blog post will be looking at the years 600-575BC in the Near East, which for the purposes of this blog will include Kush and Lydia in the south and west, far over to the easternmost reaches of the Median Empire and to the Caucasus in the north. Occasionally there may be references to other regions, but the Greek world in particular will be dealt with in a separate post.

The sources for this blog will include as much primary sources as possible, particularly Neo-Babylonian chronicles and other cuneiform writings. Lydian and Median sources are so scant as to be almost non-existent, and those that do exist may in fact be forgeries. Egyptian and Kushite inscriptions will be used where possible, but there are not as many of these as we would like. The Hebrew Tanakh or Old Testament will be used where possible, but this has a very narrow focus and is not contemporary with the events that it describes. Also, the writers of the books of Kings, Chronicles, Jeremiah, etc. are not writing history as such and their writings have their own specific conventions. The source material that we shall see becoming ever more prevalent during this period, is the later writings of the Greeks. For better or for worse, shortly after the fall of Assyria, we begin to have fewer and fewer writings directly from the Mesopotamians.

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar
detailing the rebuilding of the Ebabbar
temple in Sippar

As always I feel it is important to note that I am not a professional historian. The facts and dates in this post should be treated with due caution and everything should be checked. There are certainly mistakes and errors in the sources and I may make mistakes in my interpretations of these sources. Mistakes are particularly likely to occur when dealing with years, as the Babylonian and Jewish years do not correspond exactly to our own. So, there is the possibility that I may have, for example, interpreted an event as happening in late 609 when it may in fact have been early 608. If the reader spots any errors such as this, please let me know in the comments and I will research it and correct it as soon as possible. Also, another thing that will affect dating for this period is whether the king counts the first year of their reign as the 1st year or the 0th year (counting from accession or from first full year). Even professional historians have differing opinions on the exact ordering of events at this time, so exact precision is not likely here.

It can be useful to give context to the period by describing what is happening elsewhere in the world at this time. In China, the Zhou Dynasty was continuing its long slow decline, while the feudal states such as Jin and Chu grew ever more important and waged wars between them for influence. In India, there were a number of powerful kingdoms, particular in the north along the Gangetic Plain. These kingdoms were known as the Mahajanapadas and included states such as Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Videha and Magadha. In India at this time a number of sects began to spring up that in certain cases had unusual interpretations of the accepted beliefs of the time and region, but this is a topic for another blog. To the west, in Greece, poets and tyrants flourished along with the beginnings of Greek science and philosophy. These will all be spoken of in later blogs, but this should give a rough idea of the state of the world at this point.

Gold coin of the Mermnad Dynasty of Lydia

When we begin our time period, we can see that the fall of the Assyrian Empire had left three powers, Media, Babylon and Lydia in its place and that these three, in combination with Egypt, now dominated the region. Each of these large kingdoms had strong rulers: Alyattes II in Lydia, Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon, Cyaxares in Media and Necho II in Egypt. Smaller kingdoms were dotted around the region, but were relatively insignificant in comparison to these three.

In the year 600 the Babylonians were rebuilding their army after suffering a defeat while attempting an invasion of Egypt the previous year. Their western client kingdom of Judah was in revolt and Babylonian rule west of the Euphrates was jeopardised. Necho II of Egypt seems to have tried to support the rebellion of the kingdom of Judah by attacking and capturing the city of Gaza, which was also an important trading post.

In Judah the prophet Habbakuk was probably active around this time and the book that bears his name may have been written around this time, however dates are not explicitly given in this work and it may be later. In Kush, to the south of Egypt, the king Anlamani died and was succeeded by his brother Aspelta.

Outlined tablet showing silhouette of
the Etemenanki

As for the Etemenanki — the ziggurat of Babylon, which had become very weak and had been allowed to collapse before my time — the god Marduk — my lord — commanded me to firmly secure its foundation on the surface of the netherworld and to have its summit rival the heavens. 
Nabopolassar 5, i 19

Around this time, the Etemenanki, the huge ziggurat in Babylon, was rebuilt. The reconstruction of this had begun under the Assyrian kings, but the revolt of Shamash-shuma-ukin had probably put a stop to it. Nabopolassar had begun to rebuild, it but the work was only completed under his son, Nebuchadnezzar II. The tower reached 91 metres and was one of the tallest structures on earth at the time. Some have speculated that this gigantic tower was the inspiration for the story of the Tower of Babel, but ziggurat towers were well known in the Near East. It is possible as well that its ruins were the inspiration for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but again, this is highly speculative.

In the sixth year [599/598] in the month of Kislimu the king of Akkad (Nebuchadnezzar) mustered his army and marched to the Hatti-land (west of the Euphrates River).  From the Hatti-land he sent out his companies, and scouring the desert they took much plunder from the Arabs, their possessions, animals and gods. In the month of Addaru the king returned to his own land.
Babylonian Chronicles ABC5 (Jerusalem Chronicle)

Around the year 599 the Babylonian army had been reorganised after the defeat near Egypt and was campaigning once more. The army marched west and probably quelled rebellions among the nomad tribes near the Jordan River. The tribes in question were probably the Kedarite Arabs, who had desert cities in Dumatha and Tayma. This campaign probably served to strengthen the kings of Moab and Edom who had acted as allies of Babylon against the rebellious kingdom of Judah.

Babylonian World Map from Sippar

Around this time the Ebabbar Temple, dedicated to the Sun God Shamash, in the sacred city of Sippar, was restored by Nebuchadnezzar. He left inscriptions describing his rebuilding of the temple and the city seems to have prospered under his rule. This is as good a place as any to mention the Babylonian map of the world that was discovered in Sippar and may come from this time period. Dates cannot be exact of course, but the map does date from this century. It appears to show a conceptual picture of a circular world, surrounded by mountains. The furthest places that it shows are Urartu and Susa, meaning that it shows a very limited picture of the world. But despite the fact that we are not sure of its exact use (the tablet itself is broken), we can be sure that this is the oldest map currently possessed by humanity. There are Greek maps that were supposedly made in this century as well, but they are not preserved in their original form.

Also made around this time are the Ketef Hinnom scrolls. These were little silver scrolls that were made in Jerusalem that were probably used as amulets. They are interesting in that they are the earliest known quotations from the Hebrew Bible and contain versions of the Priestly Blessing from the Book of Numbers. Similarly to the Babylonian map, the exact dating of these is unclear, but it is believed to be around this time, so I thought that I would mention them here.

One of the Ketef Hinnom scrolls

YHWH, keep you. Make shine, YHWH, His face upon you and grant you peace.
Ketef Hinnom KH2 Apotropaic Amulet text

In 598 the Babylonian army continued the campaign in the Levant and probably began to besiege Jerusalem, which was in revolt under the leadership of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim died however and was buried in the tombs of the kings while the siege was ongoing. Jehoiachin succeeded his father, but only reigned for a few months.

And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 
2 Kings 24:12,14-15 

In 597 the city was surrendered to the Babylonians, but this did not save the king. Jehoiachin was dethroned and sent away to Babylon, along with many high-ranking prisoners who were also deported. The city was plundered and the loot sent eastwards to Babylon with the train of captives. The corpse of the rebel king Jehoiakim was taken from its tomb and thrown outside the city to be eaten by the wild beasts. After all this Mattaniah, a son of Josiah, was placed on the throne and his name changed to Zedekiah. It was expected that Zedekiah would prove loyal, as Babylonian patience with Judah must have been wearing thin. One of those deported to Babylon was a young man from a priestly family known as Ezekiel.

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II

In the seventh year, the month of Kislîmu (February or March 597), the king of Akkad (Nebuchadnezzar) mustered his troops, marched to the Hatti-land, and besieged the city of Judah and on the second day of the month of Addaru he seized the city and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice, received its heavy tribute and sent to Babylon. 
Jerusalem Chronicle ABC 5 

In the year 596 Babylonian sources record that Elam, which had somehow managed to recover from the wars of the previous century, made some form of attack against Babylonia. The armies of Babylon returned from the west and fought a campaign against the Elamites that seems to have ended in an Elamite withdrawal. It is not clear if Nebuchadnezzar pursued the Elamites or invaded Elam himself, but some form of punitive action probably took place.

Partiall reconstructed ruins of Babylon

While there was still a distance of one day's march between them, the king of Elam was afraid and, panic falling on him, he returned to his own land.
Jerusalem Chronicle ABC5 

In 595 it seems that Sarduri IV of Urartu died and was succeeded by his brother Rusa IV. Urartu at this point seems to have been ruined; a shadow of its former self and this once mighty kingdom would fade out with barely a whimper in historical sources.

In this year there seems to have been a rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. This civil war was dealt with quite quickly and the rebellion was crushed. We know very little about who exactly was rebelling or what their motivations were.

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II

In the tenth year the king of Akkad (Nebuchadnezzar) was in his own land; from the month of Kislîmu to the month of Tebetu there was rebellion in Akkad. With arms he slew many of his own army. His own hand captured his enemy.
Jerusalem Chronicle ABC5 

Also in this year Necho II died and was succeeded by his son Psamtik II in Egypt. This is as good a time as any to remember the achievements of Necho II. He was the son of Psamtik, who was remembered by Herodotus as trying to discover the first language of man, in what may have been the first experiment recorded in history. Necho continued this tradition of boldness, both in his daring campaign that expanded Egyptian power briefly to the Euphrates and in the exploration and building projects he completed.

Necho II is supposed to have attempted to link the Red Sea to the Nile in the earliest version of the Suez Canal to have been attempted. This was a gigantic work and was truly a work of vision, but there were problems with it, namely that there is a considerable difference in water levels between the two bodies of water. There are no Egyptian inscriptions for this, but we know the story from Herodotus, who says that Necho II stopped construction after receiving an unfavourable oracle.

Necho II then appears to have commissioned an even more intriguing expedition. He hired Phoenician sailors, the greatest sailors of the ancient world, to set sail from the Red Sea and to attempt to circumnavigate Africa. According to Herodotus, who again, is our sole source for the story, the sailors did not return for a long time but did eventually arrive back in Egypt having sailed around the continent and coming back through the Straits of Gibraltar. This was an unprecedented feat and one that was not to be repeated to our knowledge until the Age of Exploration. The sailors told tales of the sun being in the wrong position, which led the Greeks, and perhaps the Egyptians, to discount the story. This however makes it much more plausible, as it suggests that the Phoenicians did in fact reach the southern hemisphere.

Earlier Assyrian relief of Phoenician sailors
on riverboats

For Libya shows clearly that it is bounded by the sea, except where it borders on Asia. Necos king of Egypt first discovered this and made it known. When he had finished digging the canal which leads from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent Phoenicians in ships, instructing them to sail on their return voyage past the Pillars of Heracles until they came into the northern sea and so to Egypt. So the Phoenicians set out from the Red Sea and sailed the southern sea; whenever autumn came they would put in and plant the land in whatever part of Libya they had reached, and there await the harvest; then, having gathered the crop, they sailed on, so that after two years had passed, it was in the third that they rounded the pillars of Heracles and came to Egypt. There they said (what some may believe, though I do not) that in sailing around Libya they had the sun on their right hand.
Herodotus, Histories: 4:42

Sadly for Necho II while he was a king of vision and energy, his projects nearly all failed. His armies lost to the Babylonians, the canal was not completed and the route around Africa was too long to be of practical use. He was a genius before his time perhaps.

Ankhnesneferibre

When Psamtik II took the throne he instated his daughter Ankhnesneferibre as Divine Adoratrice of Amun in Thebes. This was in the year 595 or 594 depending on what is counted as the first year. This was an important position, in certain ways perhaps the second most important position in Egypt after the Pharaoh himself, so it was important to ensure that this post was held by someone loyal to the dynasty. Nitocris I adopted the princess to ensure that she would become God’s Wife on the death of Nitocris. Thus the Saite Dynasty further strengthened its hold on the southern part of Egypt.

Year 1, third month of the third season, day 29, under the majesty of Horus: Favourite of the Two Goddesses: Mighty of Arm; Golden Horus: Beautifying the Two Lands; King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Psamtik II, given life. On this day the king's-daughter, Ankhnesneferibre, arrived at Thebes. Her mother, the Divine Consort, Nitocris, who liveth, came forth to behold her beauty, and they went together to the House of Amon. 
Stela of Ankhnesneferibre 

In 594, after the rebellion was crushed in Babylon, the Babylonian army seems to have moved back to the western part of the empire to continue campaigning. There were continued tensions with the Egyptians who had raised a fleet of Phoenicians and Greeks and were attacking the Mediterranean coasts. The loyalty of Tyre and Sidon and other Phoenician cities to Babylon was very suspect as well. There are references to the Babylonians besieging Tyre around this time, but I have found that the dates are highly inconsistent, possibly because there was more than one siege.

Possibly as part of this western campaign Zedekiah king of Judah was summoned to Babylon and made the trip with several high ranking officers of his court. Presumably this was to show that he was still loyal to Nebuchadnezzar and that he was able to give the tribute that was required of him.

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II 

This is the message Jeremiah the prophet gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign. 
Jeremiah 51:59 

In 593 the Babylonians continued their campaigns in the Levant, but it is not clear against whom exactly. In this year the so-called Jerusalem Chronicle (because it refers to the capture of Jerusalem in 598/597) comes to an end and our main sources of Babylonian history grow silent. We have been spoiled by the Assyrian and Babylonian records from the reigns of Tiglath-Pileser III onwards, but from here the contemporary records become more fragmentary unfortunately.

Perhaps around this time, the passage simply says early in Zedekiah’s reign, there was a confrontation between Jeremiah and Hananiah, the prophets who were prominent in the pro-Babylonian and pro-Egyptian groups in Jerusalem. At this point there were a number of envoys from the surrounding kingdoms in Jerusalem; from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon. Why they were here is not exactly clear, but the most likely answer is that the kings of the region were plotting an uprising. Jeremiah made a yoke that he wore and proclaimed that everyone who wore the yoke of Babylon would live. Hananiah seized the yoke and broke it, saying that within two years the exiles would return. This was a blatant challenge to Jeremiah, as Jeremiah had previously proclaimed that the exile would last seventy years. Jeremiah then proclaimed that, in exchange for the yoke of wood that had been broken, the Babylonians would rule with a yoke of iron and prophesied Hananiah’s death.

Psamtik II

In 592 Psamtik II became worried about the power of Kush and launched an attack against the Kushite king Aspelta. His army moved downstream with boatloads of soldiers and mercenaries, including large contingents of Greeks and Carians as bronze-clad soldiers of fortune looking to make money in distant lands. The Greeks gazed in awe at the statues of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel and proceeded to do what tourists always do, and carve their names all over the ancient site. Some of their graffiti still survives, as they record who they are and who led them for all time.

When King Psammetichus came to Elephantine, this was written by those who sailed with Psammetichus the son of Theocles, and they came beyond Kerkis as far as the river permits. Those who spoke foreign tongues (the Greeks and Carians) were led by Potasimto, the Egyptians by Amasis. 
Graffito at Abu Simbel written in Greek 

The campaign against the Kushites was at least a partial success and Napata may have been ransacked forcing the Kushite capital to move south to Meroe. Psamtik II set up a victory stela but it is extremely formulaic and not overly detailed as to what exactly happened. It is clear that even after the capital was moved that the Kushites still controlled Napata and were generally buried nearby in the cemetery of Nuri.

Kushite royal tombs at Nuri, near Napata

The Nubians of every hill-country rose up against him, their hearts full of rage against him. His attack took place, and it was misery for the rebels. His majesty has done a fighter’s work. When the battle was joined the rebels turned their backs. The arrows did not stray from piercing them. The hand did not let loose. One waded in their blood as in water. Not one bound pair escaped of the 4,200 captives. A successful deed has been done!”
Psamtik II Victory Stela 

After the successful attack on Kush Psamtik II seems to have campaigned in the Levant as well to try and stir up revolt against the Babylonians, either in late 592 or in 591. Judah seems to have been in turmoil, with a pro-Egyptian party and a pro-Babylonian party. Jeremiah the prophet seems to have either led, or been important in, the pro-Babylonian party. The pro-Egyptian party was possibly led by a prophet called Hananiah, who may have died at this point.

The situation was complicated by the fact that there were probably supporters of the deposed king Jehoiachin who were keen to topple Zedekiah. The situation was complicated further still by the fact that many of the exiles in Babylon seem to have stayed in contact with the people in Jerusalem and the exiles had their own factions as well. It was into this maelstrom of politics and prophecy that Psamtik II entered with the Egyptian army. In either 592 or 591, Zedekiah of Judah succumbed to the pressure of the pro-Egyptian faction and Judah rose in rebellion against Babylon.

Ruins of the Temple of Amun in Meroe

Exiled faraway in Babylon, Ezekiel, who had been exiled along with those taken with Jehoiachin, began to prophesy. Ezekiel was of the group that could roughly be called pro-Babylonian. This is not to imply that they liked the Babylonians. Jeremiah and Ezekiel certainly did not like their conquerors, but they did counsel patience for those who had been taken into exile and submission for those who remained.

On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was on him. I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The centre of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. 
Ezekiel 1:2-6 

Lydian brooch decoration

Finally, around this time there is a strange tradition in later Judaism that suggests that Jeremiah hid the fire from the temple somewhere on Temple Mount and then separately hid the Ark of the Covenant somewhere on Mount Sinai. These are later traditions and almost certainly ahistorical but I found them interesting so I thought that I would make a mention of them. They are certainly intriguingly mysterious even if almost certainly untrue.

These same records also tell us that Jeremiah, acting under divine guidance, commanded the Tent of the Lord's Presence and the Covenant Box to follow him to the mountain where Moses had looked down on the land which God had promised our people. When Jeremiah got to the mountain, he found a huge cave and there he hid the Tent of the Lord's Presence, the Covenant Box, and the altar of incense. Then he sealed up the entrance.
2 Maccabees 2:4-5

In 591 some sources that I have come across suggest that Sadyattes of Lydia dies at this time and that Alyattes II succeeds. This might be true, but honestly the chronology of the Mermnad Dynasty of the Lydian kingdom is not well known. Not knowing which, if either, date is correct I have mentioned both: 619 and 591. The important thing is of course that Alyattes II follows Sadyattes on the throne of Lydia.

Ruins of city of Teishebaini

In 590 the city of Teishebaini in Urartu is sacked, probably by the Medes. War broke out between the Medes and the Lydians, presumably over the remnants of the Urartian kingdom, which at this point was probably no more than a few cities, if even that. At stake in the war between the mighty powers of Media and Lydia was where the border between them should lie. However, Herodotus records that the war was fought because Alyattes refused to give up refugees that had fled from Media. This is quite possible as well, as extraditions were quite important for ancient states.

Also around this time a prophet in Jerusalem named Obadiah spoke a short prophecy against Edom, a nearby kingdom to the south that was related to the kingdom of Judah and had previously been allied or tributary to the larger kingdom. When Nebuchadnezzar had attacked Jerusalem the Edomites had assisted in the loot and Obadiah prophesied the destruction of their kingdom as a result. It is not clear if this was the exact time of the vision and the writing, but the context certainly fits.

Psamtik II temple at Hibis

On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction
Obadiah 11-12

In the year 589 Psamtik II of Egypt died. He had been an energetic Pharaoh who had campaigned to the south and east. He had done major building works in Egypt, including the monumental temple at Hibis that still stands to this day. He was succeeded by Wahibre, better known by his Greek name Apries, but referred to by the Hebrews as Hophra.

The remains of an Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish
This may have been reused by the Babylonians

The Babylonian armies returned to the west of their empire to crush the revolt of Zedekiah. The army of Judah was nowhere near strong enough to meet the Babylonians in open battle, so they resorted to other tactics. Much of their army was set to defend the three main cities remaining in Judah: Jerusalem, Lachish and Azekah. Other contingents would be sent out to the hills to act as raiders and to send fire signals between the besieged cities. Other contingents would be sent out to the neighbouring kingdoms to assist in other revolts and a large contingent was probably sent to Egypt to join the forces of the Egyptians who would come to their aid. It is possible that the siege of Jerusalem was begun by the Babylonian forces in 589, although Nebuchadnezzar himself seems to have stayed near Riblah where he could conduct other operations against other cities simultaneously.

The commander of the army (of Judah) Konyahu son of Elnatan, has gone down to go to Egypt and he sent to commandeer Hodawyahu son of Ahiyahu and his men from here.
Lachish Letter 3

As a side note, it is possible that the book of Judith is meant to be set in this period, as it refers to a king called Nebuchadnezzar who invades Judah, but the references are hopelessly confused and do not really fit any actual historical period.

Painting of Judith and Holofernes
by Vincenzo Catena

Now in the twelfth year of his reign, Nabuchodonosor king of the Assyrians, who reigned in Ninive the great city, fought against Arphaxad and overcame him 
Judith 1:5 

In 588 the Babylonians continued the attack on the three cities, presumably after having first attacked and destroyed the remaining less well-fortified cities in the land of Judah. Through an accident of history we have a primary source for the siege of Lachish. A broken pot was used to write down messages that were received by the garrison of Lachish. The messages were probably sent by fire-signals from the hills, allowing the commanders to talk to each other despite being under siege, and then transcribed for reading before being discarded near the gates, where they were found in the 20th century by archaeologists. The messages talk about confidential documents, army contingents being sent to Egypt, prophets and discouraging news in Jerusalem, and a host of other interesting information.

The sieges do not seem to have lasted long, as almost immediately the Babylonians received word that Apries, king of Egypt, had sent his armies from Egypt to fight them. Possibly Apries had landed troops further north in Phoenicia rather than sending his army out across the northern coast of the Sinai. Whatever route was taken, the Babylonians withdrew their armies from Judah to meet this new threat.

When the Babylonian armies withdrew to face the Egyptians, Jeremiah, a prophet who had been vocal in counselling submission to Babylon, attempted to leave the city and was arrested as a likely defector to the enemy. The prophet was imprisoned, but not executed, as King Zedekiah still respected him.

Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. … But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
Jeremiah 37:5,13

Seal of Gedaliah son of Passhur

The Babylonian army soon returned, having dealt with the Egyptian army, and now Jeremiah’s continued prophecies about the city falling could not be stood any longer by the pro-Egyptian party who demanded his death. Even his enemies could not stand to put a prophet to death however and he was placed in a dry well to starve to death until he was rescued by Ebed-Melek the Kushite Considering the recent war between Egypt and Kush, Ebed-Melek is unlikely to have been pro-Egyptian. One of those who had thrown Jeremiah into the well was Gedaliah, the son of Passhur, whose seal was discovered in Jerusalem in 2008.

Jeremiah spent the remainder of the siege under arrest, but not in threat of death, which shows the respect that prophets were given, even if their actual words were not followed. The pro-Egyptian and pro-Babylonian were not even the only factions and sub-groups in the besieged city, as there were followers of a conservative sect of Judaism, known as Recabites that had also fled for shelter there as well. It is a good reminder that just as there were profusions of sects in later stages of Judaism, that there were likely to have been a number of sects at this time as well.

Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
Jeremiah 34:6-7

When the Babylonians returned to the attack they launched simultaneous sieges against Azekah, Lachish and Jerusalem. It seems that first Azekah fell and then Lachish. Even with the strengthening of the cities and the fire-signal communications from the hills, there was no resisting the Babylonian armies.

Replica of one of the Lachish Letters

And may (my lord) be apprised that we are watching for the fire signals of Lachish according to all the signs which my lord has given, because we cannot see Azekah. 
Lachish Letters No 4. 

While Lachish and Azekah may have fallen quickly, Jerusalem seems to have held out for eighteen months, during which time the Babylonians built siege ramps and battered at the walls while inside the walls the people starved. Partway through the siege the people of Jerusalem decided to curry favour with their God by freeing their slaves, but seeing that the siege continued regardless, they re-enslaved them again. They were castigated for this by Jeremiah from his imprisonment. It’s not exactly clear when this happened, but if the siege was resumed in 588, then it is likely that the freeing and re-enslaving took place in 587. This is one of the few noted attempts at emancipation in the ancient world, despite the fact that it did not last.

So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again. 
Jeremiah 34:10-11 

In 586 Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. Possibly it was 587, as the sources have some ambiguity in them, but it was either one year or the other. The city wall was breached and the Babylonians entered the city, where the people by all accounts were starving. Zedekiah and his officials fled the city and made it as far as Jericho before being captured. Zedekiah was taken to face Nebuchadnezzar at his command centre in Riblah. Here the sons of Zedekiah and the nobles of Judah were executed, while Zedekiah was blinded and brought to Babylon. Most people who had survived the sieges of the cities were deported to Babylon, although country dwellers were allowed to stay. Jeremiah was allowed to stay, as the Babylonians had heard that he had counselled against the siege.

A new governor, Gedaliah, a minor member of the royal house, was appointed, but there were to be no more kings. The city walls, damaged from the siege, were now torn down. The palaces of the rebel kings of Judah were put to the torch and the great temple of YHWH in Jerusalem was burned. This act meant that Babylon would never be forgiven by the survivors of the siege and that the very name of Babylon would become synonymous with oppression and evil to this day. The temple, built by Solomon, was the most important temple in the religion of Judah and was the focal point of the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah. The destruction of this temple and the loss of the kings of the House of David would force a shift in the very nature of Judaism.

Computer generated reconstruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem

On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields. 
2 Kings 24:8-12 

Victory Stela of Psamtik II

I must apologise if readers of this blog have no interest in the history of Judaism. It is certainly very possible to have an interest in Egyptian or Babylonian history without being particularly interested in the fate of one small kingdom at the periphery of both empires. But I have found that, even though the sources are seldom contemporary, the sheer amount of sources about the history of Judah make it an interesting case. The description of the fall of Jerusalem given in Jeremiah is probably the best non-Greek account of a siege anywhere in the ancient world and gives us far more detail than the Babylonian sources. It is certainly fair to question that detail critically, but it is also important to note that it is there. Please also note that there are other interpretations of this data than the one that I have given, as the sources are full of detail, but not exhaustive enough to prevent interpretation.

While it might seem that the fall of Jerusalem is enough detail for one year, for the sake of completeness, it is worth noting that this year saw the death of Nitocris I, God’s Wife of Amun in Thebes. Her adopted daughter, the Divine Adoratrice Ankhnesneferibre, daughter of Psamtik II, became God’s Wife in her stead. It is worth remembering these powerful ladies, whose incomes and power were the equal of many kings and cities in the world at this time, even if they were technically priestesses rather than rulers.

In Year 4, fourth month of the third season, 8 day 4, of this king; went forth the Divine Votress, Nitocris, triumphant, to heaven. She joined the sun, the divine limbs mingling with him who made her. 
The Stela of Ankhenesneferibe 

Halys River, where the border was fixed between
the Medes and Lydians

In the year 585, on the 28th of May, the war between Lydia and Media came to a head. According to Herodotus they had been fighting for five years and had even fought a night battle. Night battles were very rare in the ancient world. It was possible for them to be done, but the difficulties of commanding an army in the darkness and certain religious scruples generally meant that armies only clashed during the day. The general reluctance to fight in darkness may have influenced the end of the war.

On that day, the 28th of May 585BC, the armies of the Lydians and Medes were fighting at the Halys River when the sky darkened and a total eclipse of the sun occurred. The two sides took this as an omen and made peace, fixing the border between them at the Halys River. The date is one of the very few absolutely fixed dates in this period of history, because of course this event can be correlated with the eclipse times. Supposedly the event was predicted by Thales of Miletus, making this date as good a date as any other for the birth of science in the West, but we’ll discuss this more in the Greek blog for this period.

NASA image showing the path of the eclipse
Source

After this, since Alyattes would not give up the Scythians to Cyaxares at his demand, there was war between the Lydians and the Medes for five years; each won many victories over the other, and once they fought a battle by night. They were still warring with equal success, when it happened, at an encounter which occurred in the sixth year, that during the battle the day was suddenly turned to night. Thales of Miletus had foretold this loss of daylight to the Ionians, fixing it within the year in which the change did indeed happen. So when the Lydians and Medes saw the day turned to night, they stopped fighting, and both were the more eager to make peace. 
Herodotus Histories 1:74:1-3 

Around this time Cyaxares, the king of the Medes who had destroyed Nineveh and transformed his tribe into one of the most powerful kingdoms of the world, probably died. The dates are a little unclear but whatever the exact date, after the battle of the Halys River and the peace with Lydia, Cyaxares dies and his son Astyages succeeded him.

The Medes occupied Erebuni, present-day Yerevan, and the peace with Lydia allowed them to take over fully the lands of Urartu. The last king of Urartu, Rusa IV, disappears completely from history. He is poorly attested anyway, with only a few seals and almost no inscriptions. He may not have died fighting a last stand, but may have been a vassal king of the Medes. Perhaps Rusa’s death was similar to Zedekiah’s, as the empires consolidated their peripheral holdings.

Seal of Rusa IV, last king of Urartu

Finally, despite the fact that Jerusalem was destroyed, the Egyptian fleet was still a threat along the coast and the Phoenician city-states were restless against the Babylonians. It seems that Nebuchadnezzar began a siege against Tyre at some point around this time but the exact times are not clear. The city of Tyre was almost impossible to besiege by land, as half of it was set on an island, which could be resupplied with ease by the Tyrian ships, making it almost impossible to starve and impossible to assault with battering rams, etc. It’s not clear how exactly the Babylonians attacked the city but for thirteen years, according to Josephus, they were encamped around it and at war with it.

In the years 584 no political events happened to my knowledge. However, the Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones was recorded by Ezekiel in Babylon around this time. This was a dramatic vision that spoke of the prophet seeing a valley full of bones that were eventually raised to life in a striking metaphor for the rebuilding of the nation.

Ezekiel's Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
Ezekiel 37:1-3

In 583 there is nothing that I can be certain happened in this year. It was however around this time that the Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Old Testament was written. This was a lament over the fall of Jerusalem. It is written in a highly stylised manner, but conveying great emotion. Tradition has ascribed it to Jeremiah and this is possible but uncertain. As there is no fixed date for it I thought I would mention it here.

Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless; our mothers are widows. We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. 
Lamentations 5: 1-7

Meanwhile, in Judah, which was now a Babylonian province, the Jewish governor Gedaliah had been trying to have the people return and to cultivate the land. The Babylonians appeared to rule with a fairly light hand and allowed those who had been scattered by the sieges and wars to return and farm the land, although rebuilding the Temple or the walls of Jerusalem would have been stopped immediately.

Stela of Apries of Egypt

When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom and all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them, they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit.
Jeremiah 40:11-12

Some of the contingents of soldiers that had been sent to other kingdoms seem to have wanted to continue the war, or possibly were jealous of the new governor. One of these, an army commander distantly related to the House of David, called Ishmael, had a meeting with Gedaliah and assassinated him before fleeing in fear of retribution. Ishmael seems to have been acting on behalf of the king of Ammon, with whom he was seeking refuge. Not only had Ishmael killed Gedaliah, but he had slaughtered the Babylonians who were with him and killed a great number of others as well. The remainder were taken captive and taken with Ishmael to the Ammonites.

In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land. Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there. 
Jeremiah 41:1-3

This had to have been an act of rebellion by the Ammonite King Ba’alis. While Ishmael and his soldiers might have viewed themselves as freedom fighters striking against collaborators it is hard not to see it as senseless violence years after a war was finished. The murder of Gedaliah is still remembered in Judaism and there is a Fast in his honour.

It’s hard to know what Ba’alis’ motivations were. It is hard to imagine that he thought he could defeat Babylon, but perhaps he hoped that the murder would be secret and could be blamed on the Jews. Little is known of him or of the fate of Ammon. Josephus suggests that Moab and Ammon was subsequently conquered by the Babylonians but they were already subject to Babylon. Perhaps Ba’alis was simply removed and another client king put in his place. As a historical aside, we are fortunate enough to have the seal of Ba’alis that was used to sign royal documents.

Seal of Ba'alis

Belonging to Ba'alis, King of Bnei Ammon
Seal of Ba’alis

The killing threw the remainder of the people of Judah into a panic. They assumed that they would be blamed for the murder and that they would be caught up in a war between Babylon and Ammon. This was not entirely groundless, as empires do not take kindly to their officials being assassinated. To escape from any Babylonian vengeance and against the strong opposition of Jeremiah, many of the remaining people fled from Judah down into Egypt, bringing Jeremiah with them.

So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD’s command to stay in the land of Judah. Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women, the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the LORD and went as far as Tahpanhes.
Jeremiah 43:4-7

Colossal statue of Aspelta of Kush

The Babylonians might have not retaliated against the remnant in the land, but fleeing to Egypt seemed to confirm their guilt so there may have been further deportations from the land in 581. The land of Judah by now must have been nearly depopulated.

In the year 580 Aspelta of Kush died and was succeeded by Aramatle-qo. Aspelta had been a strong ruler and while Psamtik II had forced him to move the capital to Meroe, he was still buried at Nuri, near the old capital of Napata. Kush was still a power to be reckoned with, even if it was no longer able to influence events in Egypt. There is however some slight evidence that Kush was embroiled in a power struggle between two lines of the royal family, which had been split with the takeover of Taharqa over a century before. The succession in Kush appears to have gone through the matrilineal line and there are a number of stelas of Aspelta that have been vandalised to excise not his name, but the names of his female ancestors. Aspelta himself may in fact have usurped the throne. He records that the people had searched for a new king, that the gods had been asked to confirm a new king and that the gods and people had approved of the choice. This may have been common practice but may also have been a usurper trying to legitimise his reign. Whatever the case, Aramatle-qo was the new king of Kush.

Seal of Cyrus I of Anshan

Also around this time, Cyrus I, the ruler of Persia and king of Anshan, died. The Persians at this point were a tribal people who were tributary to the Medes and controlled a small amount of territory to the east of Elam. Cyrus I probably had a brother called Ariaramnes who was a lesser chieftain among the people but subordinate to the main regnal line. Cambyses I, son of the deceased Cyrus, became the new king of the Persians.

There is not much that can be said for the years 579-575 so I will mention a few things that were prominent around that time but cannot be exactly dated. Firstly, the house of Egibi. These were a family in Babylonia who became extremely wealthy from commercial activities. They bought land and slaves and financed certain aspects of the Neo-Babylonian military. They gave loans for people to buy and sell and facilitated trade. They gave their slaves considerable leeway to carry out their own businesses and were the dominant force in commercial activities at this time. They are sometimes referred to as bankers but this is an overstatement. While they did give loans at 20% interest they were not primarily a banking establishment, although they were the closest thing to it at that time. Some older scholarly literature refers to them as Jewish, but it is almost certain that the Egibi family were Babylonian rather than Jewish. They would dominate trade for over a century, from about 600-480 and now seemed as good a time as any to mention them.

Another thing that is worth talking about is the literature that was being created by the exiled Jews in Babylonia. Lament songs were created that kept alive Jewish culture and have inspired works up until the present day. While many of the Psalms predate this and many postdate it I thought that 137th Psalm was a good example of them and thought that I would mention it here.

By the Waters of Babylon
Painting by Arthur Hacker

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 
Psalm 137:1-5 

Lastly, around this time Nebuchadnezzar was doubtless expanding his empire and strengthening the frontiers, but we have no documentation of this. The Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Babylonian sources are all silent for these years, insofar as I can tell. However, we do know that Nebuchadnezzar embarked on a huge building program to make Babylon the strongest and most beautiful city in the world. To this end he surrounded Babylon with a vast system of walls, possibly the largest that had yet been built on earth and great ceremonial gates. The walls were listed in the first list of the wonders of the world. The greatest of the gates was the Ishtar Gate, which was connected to the processional way that the kings and statues of the gods would follow on state occasions.

The gate itself was a huge affair of blue glazed bricks, adorned with lions, bulls and dragons. Nebuchadnezzar had an inscription carved to highlight his great creation and this is the quintessential artefact of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The gate survived relatively intact throughout the millennia and sections of it can be seen in the Louvre and in Istanbul. The majority of it however was shipped over to Berlin and a nearly full reconstruction can be seen in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the faithful prince appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest of princely princes, beloved of Nabu, of prudent counsel, who has learned to embrace wisdom, who fathomed their divine being and reveres their majesty, the untiring governor, who always takes to heart the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well-being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the firstborn son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon. Both gate entrances of Imgur-Ellil and Nemetti-Ellil —following the filling of the street from Babylon—had become increasingly lower. Therefore, I pulled down these gates and laid their foundations at the water-table with asphalt and bricks and had them made of bricks with blue stone on which wonderful bulls and dragons were depicted. I covered their roofs by laying majestic cedars length-wise over them. I hung doors of cedar adorned with bronze at all the gate openings. I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that people might gaze on them in wonder. 
Ishtar Gate dedication 

This brings the period to close. The kingdoms of Urartu and Judah are no more. Lydia, Media, Babylon and Egypt are still the strongest powers in the region. The twenty-five year period has seen exploration, great building projects, the rise of commercial entreprises, competing prophets, great literature, murders, fire signals codes, and eclipses. This is an interesting time in history.

Myself standing in front of the
reconstructed Ishtar Gate

Primary Sources:
Sardis Expedition
Jerusalem Chronicle ABC5
Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscriptions
Egyptians Texts
2 Kings
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
2 Chronicles

Secondary Sources:
The Enemy Within: Internecine Conflict in the Second Kingdom of Kush

Related Blog Posts:
625-600BC in the Near East
600-575BC in Greece
575-550BC in the Near East

625-600BC in the Near East

Assyrian wall relief

This blog post will be looking at the years 625BC to 600BC in the Near East, which for the purposes of this blog, extends from Kush in the south, Lydia in the west, to Urartu and Iran in the north and east. Occasionally other regions may be mentioned, but the Greek world during this period will be written about in another post.

As always, the sources must be mentioned. The Assyrian records, which have been the main historical record for the preceding century, become scarce and then silent, for reasons that will become clear. These can however be replaced with the Babylonian chronicles, which become quite thorough and detailed around this time. They do however have some gaps nonetheless. They are written in very sparse prose that has certainly omitted crucial details, and while they are less biased than the Assyrian annals, the writers still have their own opinions. 

There are some Egyptian and Kushite records of the time, but these are not easily available. Occasional Urartian and Elamite documents exist, but these are so fragmentary and isolated that they can seldom even fully provide names of rulers. The writings of Herodotus shed some light on this period, but must, as always, be used with caution, as Herodotus is writing at a later date and without a full understanding of what he documents. Other Greek writers such as Xenophon and Diodorus Siculus may be used, but these must be treated with extreme caution. Berossus, a Babylonian writer contemporary with Alexander the Great, has some writings that deal with this time period, but his work only survives in quoted excerpts from a lost summary of his work. 

Assyrian Lamassu 

The Hebrew Biblical writers shed some light on the period and the books of Kings, Chronicles, Jeremiah and possibly some of the other prophetic writings may be examined here. However, as always, while these texts are historical, they are not history and the preoccupations of the contemporary historian will not often match the preoccupations of the scribes who wrote these documents. Lastly we have some Talmudic writings and Armenian legends that may prove interesting, but will be treated with extreme caution, as they are much, much later. They also tend to be full of details that, while perhaps possible, seem rather unlikely. But we will mention them in their place. 

I must reiterate that I am not a professional historian, or any other type of historian for that matter. There are certainly mistakes and errors in the sources and I may make mistakes in my interpretations of these sources. Mistakes are particularly likely to occur when dealing with years, as the Babylonian/Assyrian/Jewish years do not correspond exactly to our own. So, there is the possibility that I may have, for example, interpreted an event as happening in late 609 when it may in fact have been early 608. If the reader spots any errors such as this, please let me know in the comments and I will research it and correct it as soon as possible. Even professional historians have differing opinions on the exact ordering of events at this time, so exact precision is not likely here.

Pottery vessel from Jin state in China

To give context to the period I feel it would be useful to mention what else was happening in the world. In China, the ineffectual Zhou Dynasty was headed by King Xiang of Zhou, but the most powerful man in China had been Duke Wen of Jin. Duke Wen had been succeeded by Duke Xiang, who tried to cement the power of the central Jin state against the southern and western states of Chu and Qin. In India, there were a number of powerful kingdoms, such as Kuru, Panchala, Kosala and Videha, which were establishing themselves across the northern Indian plains, particularly along the Ganges River. These states would later be known as the Mahajanapadas, but not much can be said about them here. In Greece, the city-states continued to develop, in some cases having autocratic rulers known as “Tyrants”, but also seeing further formalisation of hoplite warfare. Literature in Greece continued to expand, with a number of poets extant and even the beginnings of Greek philosophy and science. This is a very loose summary of some of the events elsewhere in the world between 625-600BC. 

Assyrian ritual bath in Pergamon Museum Berlin

In the Near East, in the year 625BC, Sinsharishkun was king of Assyria. Some scholars believe that Ashur-etil-ilani was still ruling, but I have addressed this chronology in my previous post and I believe that Ashur-etil-ilani had actually died in 627, as well as the usurper Sin-shumi-lisir. Sinsharishkun’s position was rather precarious, as Nabopolassar had launched a rebellion in Babylon the year previously and had successfully broken away from the Assyrian empire. In Babylon Nabopolassar, a Chaldean who probably was previously been an allied general of the Assyrians, had broken free of the Assyrian yoke, but was locked in a war with Sinsharishkun. To the west, in Lydia, Ardys II was king of Lydia and engaged in war with barbarian steppe tribes and in wars with the Greek city states along the western coast of what is now Turkey. These tribes were part of a loose tribal grouping that included the Medes in what is now Iran. The Medes were probably under the rule of Cyaxares at this time, although this cannot be said for certain. 

In Urartu, Rusa III was the king, but not much is known of his reign apart from some inscriptions at Armavir and Rusahinili. In Egypt, Psammetichus I, or Psamtik I depending on how the spelling is done, was the Pharaoh. He had stopped acknowledging Assyrian rule, despite having been put in power by the Assyrians, but he still seems to have maintained an alliance of some sort with the Assyrian kings. To the south of Egypt, in Kush, Senkamanisken was Pharaoh of Kush. He was probably a grandson of Tantamani, who had fought Ashurbanipal in the 660’s. In Judah, King Josiah reigned from Jerusalem and was in the early stages of a religious reform. Other rulers and states were in the region at this time, but these are the main ones who will feature in this blog. It should be mentioned that there was a powerful kingdom called Saba in what is now present-day Yemen, but the sources for this region at this time are not easy to find or interpret so this may be left for a later blog. 

Assyrian wall relief

I, Sinsharishkun, great king, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria…

Inscription of Sinsharishkun (Inscription 1)

In 625 Sin-sharru-usur was probably Limmu of Assyria, although, as noted in the previous blog, the Limmu lists become uncertain after 649. All further mentions of Limmus in the blog will be equally tentative. Even some of the previous ones are speculative. 

Around this time Cyaxares became king of the tribes of the Medes, but the dating of this is uncertain. In April of 625 the chronicles record that a panic fell upon Babylon, which must have been due to the approach of the army of Sinsharishkun. The gods of Sippar and Shapazzu were withdrawn into Babylon to protect them from the invaders and the Babylonian Akitu festival may have been disrupted at this time due to the warfare. On the 14th of May 625 the Assyrians captured Raqmat and looted it. I am unsure exactly where Raqmat was, but it must have been close enough to Babylon to force Nabopolassar to try and retake it. On the 30th of July 625 the armies of Babylon marched to Raqmat but had to withdraw when the Assyrian army approached.

On the ninth day of the month Abu Nabopolassar and his army marched to Raqmat. He did battle against Raqmat but did not capture the city. Instead, the army of Assyria arrived so he retreated before them and withdrew.

Early Years of Nabopolassar (Babylonian Chronicle ABC2) 

In 624 Kanunaiu was the Limmu of Assyria. In the month Ululu, around August/September, the Assyrian army moved towards Banitu Canal, which was near Nippur. Nippur was a regional rival to Babylon, had an ancient temple that was older than any in Babylon and was the main Assyrian base in the region. The Assyrian army must have been trying to reinforce their garrisons and strengthen them against the Babylonian/Chaldean uprising of Nabopolassar. The armies of Babylon and Assyria clashed, but the engagement was indecisive. In Lydia, Ardys II died (probably) and his son Sadyattes became king of Lydia. 

Assyrian wall relief

They did battle against Nabopolassar but achieved nothing

Early Years of Nabopolassar (Babylonian Chronicle ABC2) 

In 623 Asshur-matu-taqqin was the Limmu of Assyria. The rebellion against the Assyrians spread, with the vital city of Der, a key fortress city on the border of Elam, rebelling against the Assyrian king Sinsharishkun. Possibly as part of this rebellion, an Assyrian general called Itti-ili rose up against Sinsharishkun. On the 15th of Tashritu (15th of November) Itti-ili attacked Nippur, which was the main Assyrian base in Babylonia. For all those who know the story of the next few decades it is important to remember that the outcome of these wars was not inevitable. In some ways Sinsharishkun was probably the most powerful man in the world, even with the constant rebellions from every direction. The situation resembled the accession of Sargon II, with Babylonia lost to rebellion and the western provinces in outright revolt. It took Sargon around a decade to bring the empire fully under control once more and there was no reason to suppose that Sinsharishkun would be unable to do the same. 

Sinsharishkun marched against the rebel Itti-ili, seems to have defeated him, recaptured Der, stabilised the garrison at Nippur and plundered Uruk. But rather than following up on his victory and attacking Nabopolassar, who seems to have hidden elsewhere, Sinsharishkun immediately returned with his army towards Nineveh. Babylon itself may have been abandoned by Nabopolassar at this time, but the Assyrians were unable to finish the war. The Babylonian chronicle describing these campaigns is damaged at this point, but it seems as if there was yet another rebellion in the Assyrian heartlands. The Assyrians would not be defeated from without, before they had destroyed themselves from within. 

Sinsharishkun pursued Itti-ili, ravaged Uruk, and set up a garrison at Nippur. He went up from beyond the Euphrates and set out toward Assyria. He ravaged [?] and set out for Nineveh. … Who had come to do battle against him … When they saw him they bowed down before him ... The rebel king … One hundred days …

Early Years of Nabopolassar (Babylonian Chronicle ABC2) 

In 622 Daddi was Limmu of Assyria. The Babylonian chronicles fall silent for a number of years at this point and there are no corresponding Assyrian records to fill in the silence. We know that Sinsharishkun remained on the throne so it is probable that whatever revolt happened in Assyria was quelled by Sinsharishkun. But this crushing of the rebellion may have taken a number of years and other campaigns may have happened at this time. We do know that Sinsharishkun was still undertaking building projects at this time, including renovations of the temple of Nabu at Nimrud during this year. 

Assyrian wall relief

I re-laid its foundations and the temple … I built and completed that temple. Its grand designs… eponymy of Daddi the treasurer.

Inscription of Sinsharishkun, written 622 (Inscription 19)

Around this time, the leadership of the Iranian steppe tribes was being consolidated by Cyaxares. The Cimmerians and Scythians that had been mentioned by Herodotus, and the Umman-manda mentioned by the Assyrians (who may have been Scythians), seem to be either destroyed or coalesced under the leadership of Cyaxares and the Medes.

Herodotus tells that Cyaxares destroyed the Scythians by inviting them to a great banquet and slaying them all while they were drunk; thus eliminating all threats to his rule. However, this story is only recorded in Herodotus. No mention of it is found in any other source of the period (in fact a lot of the details about the steppe tribes come purely from Herodotus). It is possible that the banquet happened, but that it was to do something else. The Medes and Scythians were nominally tributary to the Assyrians, whose supremacy Cyaxares seems determined to overturn. Perhaps the banquet story was a memory of a purge of all the pro-Assyrian nobility of the Scythians and Medes? Without better sources we shall never know. If it did in fact happen, it may have happened around this time, but might have also been at any stage in the 620’s or the early 610’s. 

Most of them were entertained and made drunk and then slain by Cyaxares and the Medes: so thus the Medes took back their empire and all that they had formerly possessed

Herodotus, Histories, 1.106

In Judah, King Josiah was engaging in a religious reform around this time. This reform was probably begun at a slightly earlier date, as the book of Chronicles records that this began around 632/630. Both dates are probably correct in certain ways. The events being described are extensive reforms of the entire religious apparatus of the state, rebuilding of large structures in the city and campaigns to enlarge the state of Judah. These doubtless took a number of years and could be described with equal truth as happening at various points. The reforms were three-fold. Firstly, the religious practices of earlier rulers, including his grandfather Manasseh, were overturned. Josiah may have been trying to reinstate the practices of the time of Hezekiah, his great-grandfather and mirrored his policies. The Asherah poles and statues of other gods were destroyed. Various sanctuaries around Judah were also demolished and the main temple in Jerusalem was rededicated purely to the God of Israel. 

He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molech. He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

2 Kings 23:10-11

Assyrian wall relief

Secondly, Josiah took the opportunity of Assyrian weakness to assert his independence in the absence of the Assyrian armies. While the religious reforms were underway he marched north to Bethel and destroyed the sanctuaries there. Bethel was an ancient religious centre; even its name means “The House of God” and it had had a temple to the gods of the northern kingdom there since the time of Jeroboam I. Josiah destroyed the temple and desecrated it so that it could not be rebuilt, even burning human bones on the altars, which would have been seen as a terrible desecration. Interestingly the temple at Bethel (like the temple further north at Dan) may have actually been a temple to Yahweh, the god of Israel, but it was seen as idolatrous by the reformers and destroyed. 

Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

2 Kings 23:15-17

The third part of the reform was the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. This was a very large structure that had stood since the time of the united kingdom of Israel and was dedicated to the God of Israel. It had been restored by earlier kings of Judah, such as Joash, but was in need of repair at this time. Josiah gathered money to restore the structure and rededicated the entire structure. While the temple was being rebuilt, the priests found a lost book, which was then taken to Josiah. This book may have been the book of Deuteronomy and it described the laws of God and the punishments for those who failed to obey them. This further spurred on the reform, as the king and the priests tried to make the state follow these regulations. Some have supposed that the book was a forgery from this time period. I don’t think that there is sufficient evidence to say this, but it is clear that, if the book was previously unknown, that the Pentateuch in its current form could not have been common knowledge at the time of Josiah. 

Modern drawing of Josiah
hearing the scroll read to him

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

2 Kings 22:11-13

The books of Kings and Chronicles record that Josiah and the priests inquired about the newfound book from a prophetess called Huldah. The prophet Jeremiah had begun to prophesy some years earlier, but may not have been known to the court at this time. Later Talmudic sources suggest that King Josiah asked Huldah rather than Josiah because Huldah was more likely to be merciful, but there is no evidence of this. Huldah did not spare the king’s feelings. She prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed, but that it would not come in Josiah’s lifetime. 

Tell the man who sent you to me: “This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.”

2 Kings 22:15-17

If this prophecy was given to the king it may not have been shared as common knowledge or universally accepted; or perhaps it may have been taken as a prophecy for the far future. Josiah pressed on with his reforms and dedicated the rebuilt temple, reading the newfound Book of the Law to the people. This year also saw Josiah bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and reinstate it in the Temple. It is not clear where it was before this. Perhaps it had been removed by an earlier king such as Manasseh. This is, to my knowledge, the last definite mention of where the Ark was, in the Hebrew scripture. It also makes the plot of the first Indiana Jones movie somewhat less plausible than it already is. There are later traditions that the Ark was hidden away so that it could not be taken to Babylon and also traditions from various peoples and groups around the world who claim to have it or to have once had it. But it seems clear from context that the Ark was becoming less important in the actual practice of Judaism and it is no longer mentioned. 

Model of Judah's fortress at Megiddo

He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the LORD: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.”

2 Chronicles 35:3

Also in the year 622, it is recorded that Josiah held a large Passover celebration, with people assembled from all of his expanded kingdom. It was said by the writer of Chronicles to have been the largest Passover celebration of any of the kings of Israel, although this may be hyperbole. It would seem that celebrating the Passover may have been rather unusual, as it is mentioned in the sources, whereas if it had been celebrated every year it would have been commonplace and not worthy of record. The celebration of the Passover is also interesting, as the last king to have celebrated the festival lavishly was Hezekiah, showing yet another instance of Josiah emulating his great-grandfather. 

Assyrian relief

The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 35:18

In some ways the Biblical narrative of this time period is somewhat independent of the other historical sources of the time. Egyptian, Assyrian and Babylonian sources all tell us nothing of this, nor do the Hebrew writers have much interest in the events happening outside Jerusalem. But despite being an interesting perspective on the region the very fact that the accounts are in parallel shows us that the Assyrian empire in the west was effectively absent at this time, confirming our suspicions. The behaviour of Josiah shown in Kings and Chronicles also leads us to believe that Josiah was modelling his behaviour on Hezekiah’s, who had tried to win independence from Assyria by befriending Babylon. It is very likely that Josiah pursued a similar course, which would explain certain later developments in the story. 

In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.

Jeremiah 3:16

Inscription of Senkamisken

In 621 the limmu for this year seems to be even more uncertain than for other years. The Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Hebrew, etc. records all seem silent for this year, so this is as convenient a place as any to mention that around this time Susa was once again occupied and that a king or kings tried to rule again in Elam. While we have some inscriptions that are possibly from this period there are no certain dates and we cannot even give the names of the kings with certainty. The strength of the Elamite nationalism is extraordinary, in that they would once again try to resist their enemies after the devastation of the previous decades. But resist is indeed what they tried to do. 

In 620 Sa’ilu was Limmu of Assyria and the other records of the time are scant indeed. Herodotus records that Sadyattes of Lydia began a war against Ionia around this time, but this may have happened during previous years. In Kush, Senkamanisken of Kush died and Anlamani succeeded him as Pharaoh of Kush, ruling from the city of Napata. In this year Sinsharishkun probably restored or began to restore a temple of Nabu in Asshur. Nabopolassar seems to have captured Sippar, the sacred city of Shamash the sun god, and a strategic location preventing the Assyrians from striking directly at Babylon. The main Assyrian garrison in Babylonia, at Nippur, was besieged around this time, but our evidence for this is rather indirect. 

Lydian royal tombs:
Picture from here

In 619 Mannu-ki-ahhe was Limmu of Assyria. In Lydia Sadyattes probably died around this time and his son, Alyattes II succeeded him. Alyattes II was the most powerful of the Lydian kings and it is a great pity that this period is not better studied or known, as he was a powerful king indeed, but there is little that can be said.

He continued the wars against the Greek city states of Ionia that his father Sadyattes had begun. It was around the time of his reign that coinage began to be first used. Interestingly, coinage appears to have had a parallel and unrelated development in China around this time as well. In the west, it is not clear if the Greeks or the Lydians were the first to coin precious metals, but it was probably the Lydians, with the Greeks following suit shortly thereafter. The coins of the Lydians were of electrum, a mixture of gold and silver, which they minted in great quantities. The symbol on the obverse of the coin was a lion, the symbol of the ruling Mermnad dynasty. Occasionally this included a sun symbol or a bull that was attacked by the lion. The reverse was a punch mark used in the stamping of the coin. If this is indeed a Lydian invention it was their greatest invention and certainly helped to change the world. 

Lydian coinage

The next two years, 618 and 617, saw Nabu-sakip and Asshur-remanni as the respective Limmu’s for the Assyrian empire. With the Babylonian chronicles silent, there is not much more that can be said for these two years, but during this time it should be presumed that the war between Sinsharishkun of Assyria and Nabopolassar of Babylon continued.

During this time Uruk seems to have been under siege by the Assyrians and Babylonians at various points. As merchants were supposed to date their contracts by the name and regnal year of the king, and as it was very unclear which king would triumph, the merchants of Uruk conveniently label their documents around this time as “the x years of the siege”. This prudently avoided acknowledging whoever might prove to be the loser in the struggle for Mesopotamia. This also suggests that the outcome was very much in doubt, even to those closer to Babylon. Around this time Nippur, the main Assyrian fortress in Babylonia, fell to Nabopolassar after a prolonged siege. 

In 616 Bel-ahu-usur was Limmu of Assyria. In this year another Babylonian chronicle begins, which gives details of the ongoing war between Assyria and Babylon. The war seems to have been stalemated for some years, with Sinsharishkun able to work on the restoration or reconstruction of various temples in Asshur and Nineveh at this time. In other words the war was serious, but not an existential threat to Assyria. This seems to change in this year, probably because of the fall of Nippur, and as far as I can tell, there was no more building work undertaken by Sinsharishkun after 616. While it might seem strange to have building work and large-scale wars undertaken simultaneously this was not unusual for the Assyrian empire, which existed in a near constant state of war, even at the best of times. 

View of the plains of Megiddo from the citadel

In this year Nabopolassar marched up the Euphrates to try and detach the region south of Harran from the Assyrian Empire. The people of the region paid tribute and did not attempt to resist. Sinsharishkun had not been idle. The few allies yet loyal to Assyria had been called to battle. The Manneans, an Iranian kingdom near Urartu, were summoned and Psammetichus of Egypt sent troops. The case of Egypt is strange, as they had rebelled against Assyria, but remained allies with them. The behaviour of these Pharaohs seems very strange indeed. The Egyptian contingent would have marched along the Via Maris, the trade route by the sea that snaked inland near the Valley of Jezreel and passed near the northern Israelite town of Megiddo across the hills and towards Damascus. Josiah had recently tried to establish his power in this region and the passing of Egyptian troops would have been noted.

A part of the Assyrian army met the Chaldeans near Gablini on the Euphrates on the 12th of Abu (the 4th of July) and the Chaldeans were victorious. The gods of the nearby cities of Mane, Sahiri and Bali-hu were captured and sent to Babylon and the Chaldeans deported a number of people. However this was not an outright victory, as later, in the month of Tashritu (September/October) the Assyrians arrived in force with their full army and the Chaldeans withdrew before them, possibly abandoning Gablini. 

Reconstructed Walls of Nineveh

In the month Tashritu the army of Egypt and the army of Assyria went after the king of Akkad (Nabopolassar) as far as Gablini but they did not overtake the king of Babylonia. So they withdrew.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

The Chaldeans had redeployed their troops to the east of Mesopotamia and attacked Arraphu (near present-day Kirkuk). A battle was fought at Madanu outside the city and the Babylonian chronicles record a major Chaldean/Babylonian victory over the Assyrians. It seems that in this year the city of Nimrud was sacked, probably by the Medes under their king Cyaxares. The Medes would have seen the problems that the Assyrians were having with internal and Babylonian rebellions and seem to have attacked in this year, although as yet, Cyaxares and Nabopolassar were probably acting independently. 

The army of Babylonia inflicted a major defeat upon the Assyrian army and drove them back to the Zab River. They captured their chariots and horses and plundered them extensively.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

In 615 Sin-alik-pani was Limmu of Assyria. The Babylonians/Chaldeans marched up the Tigris River and attacked Asshur, the founding city of Assyria itself. They laid siege to the city around April or May and unsuccessfully tried to take it. A month later the Assyrian army under Sinsharishkun arrived at the city and pushed the Babylonians back to Takrita’in (modern Tikrit) further down the Tigris. The Babylonians retreated into the fortress and Sinsharishkun tried to besiege it for ten days. But the Babylonians sallied out of the fortress and defeated the Assyrians, forcing them to withdraw. Rather than continue the attack the Assyrians withdrew, as the Medes were threatening the eastern frontier. In the month Arahsamna (around October/November) the Medes attacked Arraphu and probably captured it, although the text is broken at this point. The constant pressure from both Nabopolassar and Cyaxares allowed the Assyrians no time to regroup and now the very core of the Assyrian empire was threatened. 

The king of Assyria mustered his army, pushed the king of Akkad (Nabopolassar) back from Asshur and marched after him as far as Takrita'in, a city on the bank of the Tigris.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

In 614 Pasi was Limmu of the Assyrian empire. No movements of the Assyrian or Babylonian armies are recorded, perhaps worn out from the rapid attacks of the previous year. Around July or August the Medes took the initiative and captured Tarbisu, which was a city very close to Nineveh itself, before marching south along the Tigris and laying siege to Asshur, which had survived a month long siege the previous year. Perhaps the walls were damaged from the previous siege. The Babylonians heard that the city was under siege and marched towards the embattled city. But before the Babylonians could reach Asshur, the Medes took the city. Even though the Assyrians were the enemy, the Babylonians were somewhat awestruck when the city fell and recorded it in grim tones. The Medes plundered the city and in the ruins, Cyaxares of Media and Nabopolassar of Babylon met and formed an alliance against Sinsharishkun of Assyria. Possibly Amytis, the daughter of Cyaxares, married the son of Nabopolassar to cement the alliance, but I am unsure if this actually happened. 

Drawing of an Assyrian relief showing the
capture of a city

They (the Medes) went along the Tigris and encamped against Asshur. They did battle against the city and destroyed it. They inflicted a terrible defeat upon a great people...

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

The Assyrians were now in a very dangerous position. Their armies had been the terror of the region for centuries, but they had very few actual allies. If their armies were gone, their state was lost. At the height of their power they had been able to field armies possibly numbering up to a quarter of a million men. Now those numbers had been whittled away in the numerous civil wars after the time of Ashurbanipal. The constant fighting against the Medes and Babylonians had also taken their toll on their numbers. Their best generals had been lost fighting on both sides of the rebellions. Now they could no longer count on weight of numbers to decide victory. 

This too the saying of Phocylides: The law-abiding town, though small and set on a lofty rock, outranks foolish Nineveh.

Phocylides, Greek poet writing c. 530BC quoted by Dio Chrysostom

The Babylonians may well have had Assyrian soldiers and generals in their armies, as most Assyrian troops would have chosen to submit rather than face death, and the large Assyrian garrison at Nippur may have switched sides rather than fight to the death. Thus the Babylonian armies would have known all the tactics of the Assyrians and now probably outnumbered them. The unreliable Scythian allies of the Assyrians fought with the same tactics as the Medes, so no strategic advantage could be gained there. Finally, Sinsharishkun had come to the throne in dubious circumstances, meaning that even his Assyrian troops probably had limited loyalty to the crown. 

“I am against you” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots in smoke and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

Nahum 2:13

In 613 Nabu-tapputi-alik was Limmu of the Assyrians. The region south of Harran now revolted against Babylon and the Babylonians marched along the Euphrates to attack Rahi-ilu, which was on an island in the Euphrates. On the 11th of May, using siege engines brought from both sides of the river, and possibly building a pontoon bridge, Nabopolassar attacked the city and captured it shortly thereafter. The Assyrians were still a force to be reckoned with however, as their army arrived on the scene while the Babylonians were looting it and the Babylonians were forced to retreat.  

Reconstructed Gateway at Nineveh

He did battle against the city and captured it. The king of Assyria and his army came down and the king of Akkad (Nabopolassar) and his army went home.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

There is a strange and unusual document that may be from this time. A later Babylonian cuneiform tablet, from the Hellenistic era, claims to be a copy of a letter from Sinsharishkun to Nabopolassar. It seems that Sinsharishkun believed that the war was nearly lost and that he was imploring Nabopolassar to break his alliance with the Medes and instead ally with Sinsharishkun. In return Assyria would acknowledge the supremacy of Babylon. The letter is very fragmentary and full of strange literary allusions. If real, it would probably have been sent after the Assyrians had forced back the Babylonians from the Euphrates River, south of Harran, as this would have given Sinsharishkun some bargaining power. It was an interesting proposal, as the Babylonians and Assyrians were weakened from over a decade of warfare, while the Medes were not. The possibility that the Iranian horse tribes might turn on the Babylonians was a real one. 

The weak man … the partridge, which wishes to share a nest with a falcon.

Letter of Sinsharishkun to Nabopolassar (possibly written in 613, and possibly referring here to a subordinate position in an alliance with Babylon)

But the letter may not be genuine at all, but may simply be a Babylonian literary forgery. But if it is real it is a startling insight into the mind of a man who was once the most powerful man in the world, but who was now in fear of his life. There are fragments of other letters from Nabopolassar who may have entered into correspondence. If this correspondence was real, it was not take seriously by Nabopolassar, who had no intention of breaking his alliance with Cyaxares.  

Cuneiform letter of Sinsharishkun
to Nabopolassar

Letter of Sinsharishkun, king of Assyria, which … he wrote to Nabopolassar his lord.

Letter of Sinsharishkun to Nabopolassar (possibly written in 613, these are the closing lines and may be from the copyist, rather than the letter itself)

In 612 Marduk-remanni was Limmu of Assyria. The Babylonians and Medes set their armies in motion and in the month Simanu (May/June) the armies joined forces, possibly at Opis on the Tigris River. Marching up the river at speed, possibly transporting troops on boats, past the ruins of the destroyed city of Asshur, the armies reached Nineveh. The siege of Nineveh began towards the end of the month of Simanu. Nineveh was the largest city in the world at the time and was fortified with a double layer of walls, protected on two sides by the Tigris and Khosr rivers and defended by what was left of the formidable armies of Assyria. 

The king of Akkad (Nabopolassar) and his army crossed the Tigris; Cyaxares had to cross the Radanu, and they marched along the bank of the Tigris. In the month Simanu, the Nth day, they encamped against Nineveh.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

Sinsharishkun was in the city and it was defended fiercely. The Babylonians and Medes assaulted the city for three months, until finally, in the month of Abu (July/August), the city fell to the attackers. There was fierce fighting in the streets and the defenders were slaughtered. Sinsharishkun died at this time, either by suicide or in battle. He was not captured by the attackers. A remnant of the Assyrian army, possibly led by a general named Ashur-uballit, may have fought its way out of the falling city and escaped to the north and west, but this is unclear. 

Fall of Nineveh, painting by John Martin

The shields of the soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of juniper are brandished. The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lighting. 

Nahum 2:4-5

The city that had dominated the region was put to the torch and the libraries of Ashurbanipal burned. The palaces and temples were looted and accumulated plunder of centuries was taken by the Medes and Babylonians. At least one high Assyrian official submitted to the Babylonians during the capture, probably fearing the Medes more than the Babylonians. There have been some tablets found containing treaties where the Medes were forced to submit to the Assyrians, and these have been found smashed. Perhaps this was done deliberately by the Medes when the city fell; perhaps it is a mere accident of history. 

On the Nth day of the month Abu they inflicted a major defeat upon a great people. At that time Sinsharishkun, king of Assyria, died. They carried off the vast treasure of the city and the temple and turned the city into a ruin heap

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

Skeleton from Nineveh
Picture taken from here

The brutality of the siege was even found by archaeology, where the skeletons of twelve archers and a horse were found preserved underneath a gate they had defended. Arrowheads and spearheads were found by the scene and the fact that the bodies were undisturbed suggests that the gatehouse collapsed upon the corpses shortly after the fighting, perhaps because of siege rams or fire. The multiple wounds on the bones testify to the ferocity of the fighting. 

Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses

Nahum 3:1-3

I should take a moment to discuss a story often told about the fall of Nineveh, that it was taken after a flood had destroyed some of the walls. The Hebrew book of Nahum is often quoted to back up this assertion. The book of Nahum was a Hebrew text that described the fall of Nineveh. It was probably intended as prophecy, but if it was not prophecy it may have been written shortly after the fall of Nineveh (as the state of Judah very swiftly had new enemies to write about and these are not mentioned in Nahum), as a triumphant poem over the destruction of a great enemy. Either way, it was probably written nearly contemporarily with the events it describes. There are some phrases that might be construed as depicting a flood, but are more likely to just be poetic imagery, e.g. “The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses” or “Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away”. Both of these are more likely to be poetic imagery, as the rulers of the Near East often describe “devastating a city like the Flood” to indicate the destruction done. 

Ford Madox Brown's painting of the
Dream of Sardanapalus

The rebels, encouraged by their advantages, pressed the siege, but were foiled by the strength of the walls from harming the defenders, for in those days, artillery, defences for sappers, or battering-rams had not been invented. Moreover, there was great abundance of all provisions for those in the city, as the king had attended to this beforehand. Consequently the siege dragged on for two years, assaults were continually made upon the walls, and the occupants were cut off from egress to the country, but in the third year, a succession of heavy downpours swelled the Euphrates, flooded part of the city, and cast down the wall to a length of 20 stades. 

Diod. II 27: 1–3 (written around 60BC) 

A much later source, Diodorus Siculus describes the fall of Nineveh but his account contains so many errors that I feel his account should be treated cautiously, as his probable source (Ctesias) was also unreliable. He records that Nineveh fell after a siege of three years and that the river flooded at the end of the siege, washing away the walls, at which point the king killed himself. This account errs in the names of the river, the king and the duration of the siege. Also, the city had flood defences that were in place to prevent flood damage. Even if such a section of the wall was destroyed by either the rivers Khosr or Tigris, the walls of Nineveh were a double circumvallation. So, supposing a large flood, manmade or natural, washed away a large section of the first wall, the second, much higher, wall would still stand in the path of the attackers. The key here seems to be the name Sardanapalus. 

Eugene Delacroix's painting of the
Death of Sardanapalus

Thereupon the king realized that the oracle had been fulfilled, and that the river had manifestly declared war upon the city. Despairing of his fate, but resolved not to fall into the hands of his enemies, he prepared a gigantic pyre in the royal precincts, heaped up all his gold and silver and his kingly raiment as well upon it, shut up his concubines and eunuchs in the chamber he had made in the midst of the pyre, and burnt himself and the palace together with all of them. The rebels, hearing of the end of Sardanapallus, burst into the city where the wall was down and captured it, then arrayed Arbakes in the royal robe, saluted him king, and invested him with supreme authority.

Diod. II 27: 1–3 (written around 60BC) 

Sardanapalus was the supposed last king of the Assyrians. The Greek memories of the Assyrian Empire were extremely confused. Only the names of Sardanapalus and Semiramis are remembered in later tradition. Sardanapalus is a portmanteau of the names Sargon and Ashurbanipal. His supposed campaigns in Cilicia appear to be a folk memory of the campaigns of Sennacherib. As the last king in Nineveh he is probably taken from Sinsharishkun, but his death in the flames of a burning palace sounds suspiciously like the death of Shamash-shuma-ukin when Babylon fell to the Assyrians. So, what seems to have happened is that later Greek legends lumped every tradition about the later Assyrian empire and ascribed it all to Sardanapalus. Diodorus’ account of the fall of Nineveh is probably a similar conglomeration of different memories, rather than an actual account of the siege. The fiery suicide of Sinsharishkun may have some more truth to it however, as it is also mentioned in the Babyloniaca of Berossus, but Berossus may be simply copying Ctesias in this matter.

Sarakos (Sinsharishkun), dismayed at his attack, burned himself together with his palace

Berossus’ Babyloniaca

The city of Nineveh was looted for several weeks after its fall. If any remaining Scythian allies of the Assyrians had not already switched sides, by this point they had joined the Medes under Cyaxares. The king of Urartu, Rusa III, may have been part of the alliance and sent some troops. A much later Armenian writer called Movses Khorenatsi mentions that an Armenian king called Paruyr Skayordi took part in the destruction of Nineveh, so this may be a memory of the Urartian king Rusa III. Alternatively, it may simply be a later invention. 

Assyrian wall relief

Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!

Nahum 2:9

The Medes left Nineveh in Ululu, about a month after the city had fallen, returning to their Iranian homelands laden with plunder. Nabopolassar continued the campaign, with his generals attacking the city Nasibina (classical Nisibis/modern Nusaybin) and the land of Rusapu in southern Turkey. More plunder was taken back to Nabopolassar at Nineveh. Presumably this was an attempt to stop any surviving Assyrian generals in the north-western provinces from regrouping and trying to reform the Assyrian empire after its cataclysmic defeat. The Assyrians had been hated for their vicious policies of conquest and terror and the news of their destruction must have been heard with joy and stupefaction across much of the Near East. 

King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?

Nahum 3:18-19

The Assyrians seem to have tried to reform the empire from the city of Harran, which was slightly further west than Nasibina. It held the temple of the moon god Sin and the previous Assyrian kings had gone there to hear prophecies of their future. The new king was Ashur-uballit II and with Harran as his base and a plea to Pharaoh Psammetichus for troops, he attempted to re-forge the empire that had been lost. 

Tell of Sultantepe near Harran

On the … of the month … Ashur-uballit ascended to the throne in Harran to rule Assyria. 

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

In 611 Nabu-mar-sharri-usur was Limmu of what remained of Assyria. Nabopolassar returned to Assyria to continue plundering and to quell any attempted Assyrian recovery. In the month of Arahsamna (around October/November) Nabopolassar attacked Ruggulitu, the location of which I am unsure of. Within a month it was taken and the defenders annihilated. Nabopolassar returned to Babylon. At this point Nabopolassar appears to have been getting older and struggled to lead campaigns personally, but it was vital for the Babylonians to crush the Assyrians once and for all. 

He did battle against the city and on the twenty-eighth day of the month Arahsamnu he captured it. He did not leave a single man alive.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

In 610 Nabu-sharru-usur was the Limmu of what remained of Assyria. In Egypt Psammetichus I died and his son Necho II became Pharaoh of Egypt. Around April or May the Babylonian army once more assembled and marched towards Assyria, campaigning there until around October or November. In the month of Arahsamna the Babylonians marched to Harran and besieged it. Ashur-uballit II, not wanting to get caught in the city, fled the city with his field army and his Egyptian allies, hoping for Egyptian reinforcements to try and retake the city. Ashur-uballit II crossed the Euphrates River, heading southwest, probably at Carchemish, which was held by an Egyptian garrison. If this was Ashur-uballit’s plan he was disappointed, as the death of Psammetichus and coronation of his son would have delayed the main Egyptian army, which was now desperately needed by the last Assyrian remnants. 

Assyrian wall relief

The Babylonians took the city of Harran and looted the city and the temple of Sin. The aging Nabopolassar left his field army in the region and returned to Babylon, while the forces of the Medes also withdrew. Presumably they had been summoned to help wipe out the last bastion of the Assyrians. 

The king of Akkad (Nabopolassar) reached Harran, fought a battle, and captured the city. He carried off the vast booty of the city and the temple. 

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

In 609 Gargamisaiu was the Limmu of the remnants of the Assyrian empire. Gargamisaiu is not a name but means merely “The Carchemishite”, presumably because the Egyptian-held city of Carchemish was all that remained of the Assyrian Empire. Early in the year Necho II of Egypt led a large army from Egypt towards Carchemish on the Euphrates River to try and support Ashur-uballit II against the triumphant Babylonians who had recently captured Harran. Josiah of Judah had tried to extend the kingdom of Judah to include all the territories held by the old northern kingdom of Israel and the fastest route for the Egyptians led through this newly conquered territory. If Josiah had followed the precedent of Hezekiah he would have pursued a hostile policy against Assyria and fostered friendly relations with Babylon. It seems that this was the case.

Gateway of Megiddo

Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

2 Chronicles 35:20-21

Necho II saw that Josiah had mustered his armies against him and requested free passage, making the argument that the Egyptians had no quarrel with the kingdom of Judah, that time was of the essence and that his army was marching elsewhere. But Josiah would have been wary of any attempt to save the Assyrian army on the Euphrates and sent his army into battle near the city of Megiddo. In a small aside, while Josiah is nowhere referenced in other histories, it does seem as if Herodotus records a memory of this battle where he refers to Necho fighting the inhabitants of Syria at a place called Magdolos, which does seem very likely to have been Megiddo, particularly as it was placed south of Kadesh by Herodotus. 

Necho also engaged in a pitched battle at Magdolos with the Syrians…

Herodotus Histories 2:159

The battle was a terrible defeat for Josiah and he lost both his army and his life in the battle. Josiah’s attempt to rebuild the united kingdom of Israel had failed and this was the last time that a king of Judah was able to lead an army in the field. Necho II had no time to stop and consolidate the kingdom of Judah under his rule but marched northwards instead. In Jerusalem, Josiah was mourned, with the prophet Jeremiah writing a lament for the fallen king. The Crown Prince Shallum, who was not the eldest son of Josiah, but who may have been groomed for the succession, changed his name to Jehoahaz and took the throne in Jerusalem. 

Francesco Conti's Renaissance painting of the
Death of Josiah

Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo. Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am badly wounded.” So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

2 Chronicles 35:22-24

Around June/July the combined Assyrian and Egyptian army under Ashur-uballit II and Necho II marched across the Euphrates towards Harran, capturing a city held by the Babylonians. This was to be the last Assyrian victory however. The Assyrians and Egyptians laid siege to Harran for over a month before the approach of the aged Nabopolassar and the full Babylonian army forced them to retreat back to Carchemish. There was no battle in the field, but this is the last that we hear of Ashur-uballit II. He may have survived and continued fighting in later battles with the Egyptian army, but he was a king without a kingdom and history records him no more. The Assyrian Empire, heavily centralised around the capital in their homeland, could not be revived once the capital was lost. The Assyrian people did however survive and their history since then has been a deeply tragic one. Like the empire, in this year the Assyrian limmu dating system comes to an end. 609 was the year of the Gargamisaiu, the Carchemishite, and because the Assyrian Empire will never rise again, from a certain point of view, it will be the year of the Carchemishite forever. 

Ruins of Harran

When they had defeated it they encamped against Harran. Until the month Ululu they did battle against the city but achieved nothing. The king of Akkad went to help his army but did not join battle.

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC3)

With the Egyptian army forced back to the Euphrates, the Babylonians pushed north and east towards the edges of Urartu. Possibly there were further pockets of Assyrian resistance in the mountains bordering the northern edge of Assyria. If so, it is likely that the Medes would have been attacking these and the Babylonian forces of Nabopolassar would have tried to support their allies in crushing these remains. Excavations in Assyria have shown that there was some continuity in Assyrian administration, meaning that the officials who did not resist were formed into a replacement bureaucracy that functioned for the Babylonians as they had for the previous Assyrian kingdom. 

Assyrian relief of a wounded lioness

Your guards are like locusts, your officials like swarms of locusts that settle in the walls on a cold day – but when the sun appears they fly away, and no one knows where.

Nahum 3:17

Necho II set up his court at Riblah, near the city of Hamath, where he sent troops to Jerusalem and dethroned the new king Jehoahaz, who had reigned for only three months. Jehoahaz was taken prisoner and later sent to Egypt in chains, where he died in exile. 

Pharaoh Necho put him (Jehoahaz) in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

2 Kings 23:33

Another of Josiah’s sons, Eliakim, was placed on the throne of Judah and a heavy tribute was placed on the kingdom. Eliakim changed his name to Jehoiakim, which was very similar to his previous name, but possibly seen as having more dignity. Jehoiakim is viewed as being a bad king in the Biblical books of Kings and Chronicles, prophesied against in the book of Jeremiah, and in the later Talmudic sources he is described in an unbelievably bad light. He is supposed to have not only reverted all the religious reforms of his father, but to have slept with his mother and tried to make a replacement sun to show that he did not need God. At least some of the Talmudic attacks on Jehoiakim are probably unjustified later writings about a king who was in a difficult situation and who would prove spectacularly unsuccessful at handling it. There is the possibility that Jehoiakim made his son Jehoiachin co-regent around this time, despite his youth, but possibly placing him under the tutelage of Jehoiakim’s brother Zedekiah. 

Jehoiakim burnt the Torah; …He dishonoured his mother. His mother remonstrated with him: “Have you then taken any pleasure in the place from whence you came?” He replied: “Do I do this for any other purpose than to provoke my Creator!” When Jehoiakim came, he said, “My predecessors knew not how to anger him: do we need Him for anything but his light? But we have Parvaim gold, which we can use for light; let him take His light!”

Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin 103b

Lydian coinage

In 608 the Babylonian army mustered in August/September and marched up the Tigris to fight in the mountains bordering Urartu, possibly quelling any remaining Assyrian rebels and assisting the Medes in subduing their portion of the region. After burning cities in the mountains of Bit-Hanunya the Babylonians returned around the month of December. Urartu at this point was a subject kingdom to the Medes. In the west Alyattes II of Lydia began to conquer all of Anatolia, filling the power vacuum caused by the collapse of the Assyrian empire. 

In the year 607 there were further campaigns in the mountains near Urartu. There now appear to have been two Babylonian field armies, one led by Nabopolassar and the other by his crown prince Nabu-kudurri-usur. Nabu-kudurri-usur is better known to history as Nebuchadnezzar II or just Nebuchadnezzar. The two armies marched towards the mountains of the north, attacking Biranati near Urartu, around the month of May/June. Nabopolassar returned to Babylon a month later, leaving Nebuchadnezzar to finish the siege and finish the subjugation of the Urartian hinterlands. The army of Nebuchadnezzar then returned to Babylon around August/September before marching westwards and capturing the city Kimuhu (the later region of Commagene) on the upper waters of the Euphrates. Nebuchadnezzar may have been threatening to outflank the Egyptians who were further south. The city was attacked around November and fell about a month later. 

Depiction of Assyrians attacking a city

If you search for the year 607BC online you will sometimes see this given as the year the Babylonians took Jerusalem. This is almost certainly incorrect, as it contradicts a great number of other dates that are well established. There is a religious group that believes the year 1914AD and the number 2520 to be prophetically important and thus try to count backwards from this to establish the date of the fall of Jerusalem. It is a minor point and not really relevant here, but I did find that this incorrect timeline was showing up a lot when I checked stuff out online and thought people should be aware of it. There is a full discussion of this date here. 

https://corior.blogspot.ie/2006/02/part-2-discussion-of-historical.html#other

In the year 606 the Egyptians counterattacked and attacked Kimuhu, capturing it after a siege of four months. In the month of September/October Nabopolassar marched his armies northwest along the banks of the Euphrates to try and threaten the southern flank of Necho’s new empire. Switching from one bank of the river to the other the Babylonians captured the smaller cities of Shunadiri, Elammu and Dahammu before returning to Babylon in November/December. Nabopolassar’s health was failing and this was to be his last campaign. Nabopolassar had left the armies in place, presumably under the command of Nebuchadnezzar or one of his generals. The Egyptian army stationed at Carchemish counterattacked and pushed the Babylonians back along the river, forcing a retreat.

In 605 Nabopolassar was too weak to campaign, but with the hinterlands under their control and the Median alliance with Cyaxares securing their eastern flank, the Babylonians decided to confront the Egyptians head on. Nebuchadnezzar led the army to Carchemish where they crossed the River Euphrates unopposed. At Carchemish the Babylonian army won a massive victory and the Egyptian army was crushed. The remains of the Egyptians and any Assyrians that might still have been fighting alongside them, retreated to Riblah, near Hamath. The Babylonians were aware of the Egyptian base there and followed them at their heels, winning another victory against the survivors of the rout and scattering them a second time. 

They fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat and beat them to non-existence. As for the rest of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat so quickly that no weapon had reached them, in the district of Hamath the Babylonian troops overtook and defeated them so that not a single man escaped to his own country.

Babylonian Jerusalem Chronicle (ABC5)

It is unclear if Necho II was with his army at the time, but if he was, he managed to escape the carnage. The short-lived Levantine empire of Necho II was over and all the land from the Euphrates to Egypt lay open for the Babylonians. For all that it failed, it should be remembered that Necho’s campaign on the Euphrates was possibly the most sustained Egyptian power projection in the history of Egypt to date. Even in the glory days of Tuthmosis III of the New Kingdom there tended only to be swift campaigns before the Pharaoh would return to Egypt. 

Nebuchadnezzar probably received the submission of the local rulers at this time. Having seen that Jehoiakim of Judah had been put on the throne by the Egyptians, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem (which probably surrendered immediately) and placed Jehoiakim in chains for deportation. But despite the Egyptian collapse at Carchemish and Riblah, there was a temporary delay in the Babylonian assault and Jehoiakim was not to be deported. 

On the 15th of August Nabopolassar died; the rebel general who had helped to destroy the most powerful kingdom in the world and set up another to rival it in its place. Upon hearing this news, Nebuchadnezzar abandoned the campaign in the west and returned swiftly to Babylon, leaving Jehoiakim as king in Jerusalem, but deporting a small number of high-ranking officials and looting some of the sacred vessels of the temple. By September Nebuchadnezzar had returned to Babylon and on the 7th of September he was crowned king of Babylon. 

Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II

For twenty-one years Nabopolassar had been king of Babylon, when on the 8th of Abu he went to his destiny

Babylonian Jerusalem Chronicle (ABC5)

In 604 Nebuchadnezzar returned to the Levant with his armies and generals and continued the conquest of the region. Ashkelon, one of the Philistine cities of the coast, resisted. Possibly it was garrisoned with Egyptian troops. Ashkelon was besieged by the Babylonians. While Ashkelon was under siege the other kings of the region were invited to submit to the conquerors, who had taken up the mantle of the old Assyrian Empire. Jehoiakim of Judah and the kings of Ammon, Moab, Edom and the other small states in the region submitted to the new order. 

During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years.

2 Kings 24:1

It is recorded in the book of Jeremiah 36 that the prophet Jeremiah, who was deeply against the Egyptian alliance, sent a scroll to King Jehoiakim, to denounce him. The king listened to the scroll and then burned it, prompting Jeremiah to denounce the king further and proclaim that Babylon would destroy the city. The tensions within the kingdom of Judah were growing, with a pro-Egyptian party and a pro-Babylonian party, which may have been led or at least influenced by the prophet Jeremiah. These two groups would try and influence the kings, but the pro-Egyptian party seems to have had more influence. The incident of the scroll burning, which is a good example of the tension in Jerusalem, probably took place around 604. 

Cuneiform text

In early 603 Ashkelon fell and was plundered and burnt, with the garrison and Philistine inhabitants taken into exile. The Babylonians continued consolidating their power in the region, levying tribute and gathering soldiers. Meanwhile Necho II had retreated to Egypt and was gathering a new army to face the Babylonian threat. The Babylonians continued to campaign in the Levant, but not much is known of their exact movements at this time. 

Gaza will shave her head in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. You remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves? “Alas, sword of the Lord, how long till you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still.” But how can it rest when the Lord has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast?

Jeremiah 47:5-7

In 601 Nebuchadnezzar made an attempt to break Necho’s army and invade Egypt. Necho II made a stand at the edge of Egypt itself and managed to defeat the Babylonians. It does not seem to have been a total defeat, but Nebuchadnezzar was forced to retreat and he returned to Babylon with much of his army. Seeing the chaos in the region and probably under instructions from Necho, Jehoiakim of Judah decided to revolt against Babylon. The Babylonians did not respond immediately, as they were gathering their strength for the next battle with Egypt. But the other kingdoms that bordered Judah would have seen this switch of allegiance as open season for attacking and raiding Judah, which had no real field armies left after the disaster at Megiddo. 

Inscription of Necho II

In open battle they smote the breast of each other and inflicted great havoc on each other. The king of Akkad turned back with his troops and returned to Babylon.

Babylonian Jerusalem Chronicle (ABC5)

In the year 600 the Babylonians were rebuilding their army and preparing to reassert their dominance in the Levant. Meanwhile Necho II seems to have tried to support the rebellion of Judah by attacking the city of Gaza and capturing it. 

In Judah the prophet Habbakuk was probably active around this time and the book that bears his name may have been written around this time, however dates are not explicitly given in this work and it may be later. In Kush, to the south of Egypt, the king Anlamani died and was succeeded by his brother Aspelta. 

As for the Etemenanki — the ziggurat of Babylon, which had become very weak and had been allowed to collapse before my time — the god Marduk — my lord — commanded me to firmly secure its foundation on the surface of the netherworld and to have its summit rival the heavens. 

Nabopolassar 5, i 19

Inscription of Anlamani

Finally, around this time, there was the rebuilding of the Etemenanki, the huge ziggurat in Babylon. The reconstruction of this had begun under the Assyrian kings but the revolt of Shamash-shuma-ukin had probably put a stop to it. Nabopolassar had begun to rebuild it, but the work was only completed under his son, Nebuchadnezzar II. The tower reached 91 metres and was one of the tallest structures on earth at the time, although still nowhere near the heights of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Some have speculated that this gigantic tower was the inspiration for the story of the Tower of Babel, but ziggurat towers were well known in the Near East, so I am sceptical of this. It is possible as well that its ruins were part of the inspiration for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but again this is highly speculative. 

Thus the period ends, with the empire of Assyria destroyed and three new powers, Media, Babylon and Lydia, taking its place. Each kingdom was led by strong rulers, with Cyaxares, Nebuchadnezzar II and Alyattes II being the strongest rulers that each of these kingdoms would have. Egypt was also very strong at this point, with a vigorous and capable Pharaoh Necho at its head but militarily it wasn’t a match for Babylon. Assyria had been the dominant power in the region for centuries and with its sudden collapse, new changes might soon appear in the region. 

Leonard Woolley and T.E. Lawrence at
the excavation of Carchemish

Primary Sources:

Limmu Lists

Sardis Expedition

Accession of Sinsharishkun

Inscriptions of Sinsharishkun

Akitu Chronicle ABC 16

Early Years of Nabopolassar Chronicle ABC2

Fall of Nineveh Chronicle ABC3

Late Years of Nabopolassar ABC4

Jerusalem Chronicle ABC5

Letter of Sinsharishkun to Ashurbanipal

Babyloniaca of Berossus

Secondary Sources:

Fall of Nineveh and the Flood of Diodorus Siculus

Skeletons from the Fall of Nineveh

Archaeology of Elam

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