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| Lions from the Processional Way in Babylon |
This blog post will be looking at the years 550-525BC 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 newly founded Persian 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. The writings of the later Babylonian priest Berossus (contemporary with Alexander) have been lost to us, but survive in quotations from other authors such as Josephus, so these will be used where possible. Lydian, Median and Persian sources are so scant as to be almost non-existent, and those that do exist may in fact be forgeries. Ancient Persian religious writings are interesting but provide no context and are difficult to date. Egyptian and Kushite inscriptions will be used where possible, but there are not as many of these as we would like and not many are translated and available to the layman.
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 Biblical books at this period are not writing history as such, and their writings have their own specific conventions that can be difficult to interpret. The majority of Hebrew writings are silent during this period anyway.
The most prevalent source materials for this period are later Greek writings, particularly the Histories of Herodotus. This is a great book but quite problematic as a source. For better or for worse, shortly after the fall of Assyria we begin to have fewer and fewer writings directly from the Mesopotamians. This means that, like it or not, we must rely heavily on Herodotus.
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Modern replica of a possible likeness
of Cyrus II from Pasargadae
(he probably didn't have wings though) |
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 539 when it may in fact have been early 538. 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 Qi and Chu grew ever more important and waged wars between them for influence. The Spring and Autumn Period was ending, as the wars between the little kingdoms became ever more violent. This flux of warfare would also stimulate the thinkers of China and much of Chinese philosophy is developed at this time.
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. The kingdom of Magadha became the strongest of these states and may have been ruled by a king called Bimbisara at this time. 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. The religions of Jainism and Buddhism emerged from this intellectual ferment and may have been already formed at this time, depending on the dates given. 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.
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Sphinx of Amasis in the
Captoline Museum |
At the beginning of this time period, in the year 550BC the international order had been disturbed. Astyages had invaded Persian territory hoping to crush the rebellion of his vassal Cyrus once and for all. Herodotus had earlier recounted that the Median general Harpagus had gone over to the Persians and now recounts that the Persians defeated the Medes. However the Babylonian chronicle of Nabonidus recounts that the Medes deserted Astyages and handed over their unpopular king to Cyrus. It’s unclear if Herodotus and the Babylonian writers are referring to the same event, but it would be better to trust the Babylonians here, as their account is written much closer to the events, although not without its own issues. The chronicle then recounts that Cyrus marched on the Median capital Ecbatana and looted it.
The sixth year: Astyages mustered his army and marched against Cyrus, king of Anshan, for conquest … The army rebelled against Astyages and he was taken prisoner. They handed him over to Cyrus. … Cyrus marched to Ecbatana, the royal city.
Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC7) written sometime after 538BC
Despite the looting of Ecbatana the Medes seem to have been treated well. Many Median aristocrats must have deserted to him, on the evidence of both Herodotus and the Babylonians, and these must have been rewarded. Cyrus had taken control of a much larger empire than his previous kingdom and had done so because he had been more popular than the previous monarch. To maintain his rule he would have to tread lightly and carefully. Cyrus goes down in history as a tolerant and just monarch who allowed his subjects every possible advantage and freedom. This was probably why he was so popular with the nobility of his enemies, but also was a wise policy considering the circumstances of his rule. Perhaps I am too cynical, but I cannot help but feel that Cyrus had no choice but to be tolerant.
The four kingdoms of Babylon, Media, Lydia and Egypt had coexisted for nearly half a century in relative peace and with some alliances between them. However, now the king of Media, Astyages, had been overthrown by a vassal named Cyrus II. As the other monarchs were personally linked through alliances to Astyages, this would have been a threat. In Egypt, the Pharaoh Amasis had conquered Cyprus and was engaged in building projects in Sais. In Lydia, King Croesus was famed for his wealth and had subdued the Greek states on the western coast of Asia Minor. In Babylon, King Nabonidus has abandoned his capital to pursue religious reform and campaign in the south-western deserts.
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Tayma Stela
dating to slightly after this
period but mentioning
Nabonidus' stay there |
It is not possible to say much of the year 549, save that the chronicle of the Babylonians known as the Nabonidus Chronicle records that Nabonidus was still in Tayma. While the king was in Tayma the prince and the army were in Akkad, meaning Babylonia. The prince referred to here is almost certainly the crown prince, Bel-shar-usur, better known to us today as Belshazzar, from the later writings of the Jews.
The year 548 probably saw the Lydian kingdom led by Croesus attacking the new empire of Persia. The Lydians and Medes had previously fought in 585 and as Astyages kingdom had been taken over, Croesus of Lydia may have decided to try and annex some of the lands between the two kingdoms. The Lydian king, who was the conqueror of Ionia, but who still respected Greek culture, sent an embassy to the Oracle at Delphi to enquire if he would be successful. The Oracle answered that if he attacked Persia a great empire would fall. Croesus took this for a good omen and made war upon the Persians.
Now, this story is in fact suspicious. There is good reason to think that such an ambiguous oracle would not be acted upon. So, did the Oracle in fact promise victory to Croesus and did this failure of the prophecy have to be explained away by later Greek writers, who paint Croesus as missing such an obvious clue? I’m not sure as to its truth, but this may be the most famous story of the Oracle of Delphi and I find it quite implausible.
When the Lydians came to the places where they were sent, they presented the offerings, and inquired of the oracles, in these words: “Croesus, king of Lydia and other nations, believing that here are the only true places of divination among men, endows you with such gifts as your wisdom deserves. And now he asks you whether he is to send an army against the Persians, and whether he is to add an army of allies.” Such was their inquiry; and the judgment given to Croesus by each of the two oracles was the same: namely, that if he should send an army against the Persians he would destroy a great empire.
Herodotus Histories 1:53, written around 440BC
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| Gold coin of Croesus |
In the year 547 the Lydian armies crossed the Halys River that had formed the border between the Median and Lydian kingdoms and attempted to defeat the Persians. The Lydian army attacked the city of Pteria and ravaged the territory near it. Cyrus had anticipated the threat and had his army nearby to counterattack. A fierce battle was fought between the two armies. Neither side gained the advantage, but the Lydians withdrew the following day, as the army of Cyrus was larger and had no supply line problems. Clearly the conquest of Persia was more difficult than Croesus had anticipated, so he determined to withdraw and gather larger forces to continue the conflict the next year. Messengers were sent to the Babylonian and Egyptian kingdoms, as well as to the allies of Croesus in the Greek world, particularly Sparta. Supposedly Croesus believed the campaigning season was over, that the battle honours had been equal and that Cyrus would never dare to attack him, so he retreated to his capital at Sardis and discharged his mercenaries.
The fighting was fierce, many on both sides fell, and at nightfall they disengaged with neither side victorious. The two sides contended thus.
Herodotus Histories 1:76, written around 440BC
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| Inscription of Nabonidus |
Also in the year 547 Adadgoppe (sometimes written as Adad-Guppi) of Harran died. She was the Queen Mother of Nabonidus, king of Babylon. She had been born around 549 and had supposedly seen 104 years of life (the overlapping of years may have led to some confusion in the count, her real age may have been 102 or 103). She was a remarkable woman, born during the Assyrian Empire she had served the god Sin in his temple at Harran and may have been taken to Babylon when Harran was destroyed by the Babylonians during the fall of the Assyrian Empire and the cult statue of Sin was taken to Babylon. Although she had probably arrived as a captive in Babylon, she had lived to see her child become an important functionary in the Babylonian court and eventually to become king. When her child became king she had the satisfaction of seeing the god that she had served restored to his temple in Harran and the temple itself rebuilt. The rebuilding of the temple was probably done before the year 546. She is often said to have written an autobiography, which was preserved in Harran on a stela, but it also refers to her death, meaning that it was in fact a piece of royal propaganda written after her death. It may well have reflected her views however.
From the time of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, until the ninth year of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, my son, my offspring, Sin, king of the gods, made me live one hundred and four good years in the awe which he set in my heart. I myself, the sight of my two eyes is sharp and my comprehension is excellent, my hands and feet are health and my words are well, chosen, food and drink agree with me, I am in good health and my heart is full. My descendants to the fourth generation, I have witnessed their existence and I am replete with extreme old age. Sin, king of the gods, you looked upon me with favour and you have made my days long, therefore let me entrust to you Nabonidus, king of Babylon, my son.
The “autobiography” of Adad-Guppi, probably written around 546BC
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Later battle standard of the Persians
It may have been adopted by Cyrus |
In the year 546 Cyrus showed his initiative and made a sudden attack into Lydia. The Lydian armies were mostly dispersed and Herodotus reports that only the core of Croesus’ army was available to face the Persian invasion. The Lydian cavalry was feared and apparently the Persians countered the charge of the Lydian cavalry by deploying camels, whose unfamiliar scent and appearance apparently disrupted the cavalry. After a hard-fought battle on the plains of Thymbra, before the city of Sardis, the Lydians were defeated and Croesus and his bodyguard were reduced to defending the high citadel of Sardis.
Such was his command. The reason for his posting the camels to face the cavalry was this: horses fear camels and can endure neither the sight nor the smell of them; this then was the intention of his manoeuver, that Croesus' cavalry, on which the Lydian relied to distinguish himself, might be of no use. So when battle was joined, as soon as the horses smelled and saw the camels they turned to flight, and all Croesus' hope was lost. Nevertheless the Lydians were no cowards; when they saw what was happening, they leaped from their horses and fought the Persians on foot. Many of both armies fell; at length the Lydians were routed and driven within their city wall, where they were besieged by the Persians.
Herodotus Histories 1:80, written around 440BC
Croesus’ situation was desperate but not hopeless, for the citadel of Sardis was strong and his allies many. If his allies could muster their troops and come to his aid, Croesus and his kingdom might yet be saved. However, apparently one section of the citadel was left almost unguarded due to the steep nature of the rock face. A Persian soldier saw a Lydian soldier drop his helmet and climb down what had been thought to have been an impregnable rock face. Later Persian soldiers climbed the rock face and took the citadel by surprise and by storm. According to Herodotus the siege had only last fourteen days, which was far too soon for any of his allies to have reached Croesus. It is not clear that they would have come anyway.
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| The rock of the citadel of Sardis |
Then, when all the others were stopped, a certain Mardian called Hyroeades attempted to mount by a part of the acropolis where no guard had been set, since no one feared that it could be taken by an attack made here. For here the height on which the acropolis stood is sheer and unlikely to be assaulted; … The height was sheer and defied attack. It is on the side of the city which faces towards Tmolus. The day before, then, Hyroeades, this Mardian, had seen one of the Lydians come down by this part of the acropolis after a helmet that had fallen down, and fetch it; he took note of this and considered it. And now he climbed up himself, and other Persians after him. Many ascended, and thus Sardis was taken and all the city sacked.
Herodotus Histories 1:84, written around 440BC
Now Herodotus records that Croesus was captured by Cyrus’ army and was placed on a huge pyre to be burned alive. Herodotus records that Croesus was saved from the burning because Croesus wailed aloud about how Solon was right and that no man could be called happy until his life had been lived to its end. Cyrus then pardoned the defeated king and kept him as an advisor. But Herodotus is writing around the year 440BC, around a hundred years after the fall of Sardis. However Bacchylides, writing perhaps about 470BC, refers to Croesus as having tried to burn himself to death but the flames were extinguished by rain sent by Zeus. Croesus was then rescued and taken away to live in a mythical land to the far north by Apollo in recognition for his piety and devotion to the oracle at Delphi. The Greeks must have felt misgivings about the death of a king that was obviously pious. Perhaps they mitigated the downfall of the king by giving him a rescue from his fate? Herodotus in particular seems to have spent time at Delphi and received much of his knowledge from the priests of Delphi, who would have wished to exonerate their god and his Oracle. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Oracle of Delphi and the god Apollo had betrayed the king of Lydia.
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| Greek vase showing the pyre of Croesus |
Croesus had no intention of waiting any longer for the tears of slavery. He had a pyre built before his bronze-walled courtyard, and he mounted the pyre with his dear wife and his daughters with beautiful hair; … His daughters cried out, and threw their arms out towards their mother; for death is most hateful to mortals when it is right before their eyes. But when the flashing force of terrible fire began to shoot through the wood, Zeus set a dark rain-cloud over it, and began to quench the golden flame. Nothing is unbelievable which is brought about by the gods' ambition. Then Apollo, born on Delos, brought the old man to live among the Hyperboreans, along with his slender-ankled daughters, because of his piety, since of all mortals he sent the greatest gifts to holy Pytho.
Bacchylides Ode 3, written shortly after 468BC
In Assyrian and Babylonian history we hear of kings such as Shamash-shuma-ukin and Sinsharishkun who had probably burned themselves to death with their possessions when their cities fell. To fall captive into the hands of another king was a dreadful fate and one who had wielded supreme power would often prefer to taste death at their own hand than to face it from another. The Babylonian chronicle of Nabonidus has a tantalising entry for this year. It refers to the Persians crossing the Tigris in the land of Assyria and marching west to attack an unknown land and its king.
This is almost certainly the kingdom of Lydia but the document is damaged so we cannot know the name of the land. If this is not Lydia then perhaps it may mean that the fall of Lydia may have taken place later, perhaps a decade later. This lacuna has generated a scholarly debate,
which is summarised here. It is good to remember that, even for the major events of the world, our understanding may be entirely mistaken and that we are reliant on the most fragmentary of sources. But for the purposes of this blog, it is probable that in 546 Sardis and the kingdom of Lydia had fallen and the last king of Lydia was probably dead. Also in the year 546 we should note that the Persians may have taken over the island of Cyprus. The fact that they were able to cross the Tigris below Arbela means that the Persians were able to march through what had once been Babylonian territory with near impunity.
In the month Nisanu, Cyrus, king of Parsu, mustered his army and crossed the Tigris below Arbela. In the month Ajaru, he marched to the land of [...] He killed its king, took his possessions, and stationed his own garrison there …
Nabonidus Chronicle ABC7, written sometime after 538BC
In the year 546, as soon as Cyrus had left Tabalus as governor of Sardis and returned to his kingdom. Here Cyrus probably ordered the construction of a new capital city at Pasargadae. The vast wealth of the Lydian treasury doubtless helped to finance the construction, which was done on a lavish scale in a hybrid style.
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| Inscription of Nabonidus |
In 546 a revolt among the Lydians broke out led by a Lydian named Pactyes, who may have been from the royal house but who controlled gold collection. His revolt managed to besiege Sardis itself before the Persians beat it back. Pactyes then fled to the Greek city states on the coast, who refused to surrender the rebel. The cities of Cyme, Mytilene and Chios each held the suppliant for some time before the Persian commander Mazares bribed the Chians to hand over the prisoner for execution.
Aside from the city of Miletus, which had made a treaty with Cyrus, the Ionian cities had taken part in the Lydian War and now were forced to submit to Persian rule as a consequence. The Persians first attacked Priene, Magnesia and then Phocaea. Phocaea was fortified with a large wall that had been paid for by their trade with Tartessos in Spain. However they dared not to face the Persian assault, but instead abandoned the city and set sail for the western Mediterranean where they had a variety of adventures that mainly involved piracy. The nearby city of Teos was also abandoned by the inhabitants, who fled to Abdera in Thrace.
The Chians, then, surrendered Pactyes, and afterwards Mazares led his army against those who had helped to besiege Tabalus, and he enslaved the people of Priene, and overran the plain of the Maeandrus, giving it to his army to pillage and Magnesia likewise. Immediately after this he died of an illness.
Herodotus Histories 1:161, written around 440BC
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| Pillar of Nabonidus |
Meanwhile Harpagus had taken over command from Mazares and vigorously attacked the coastal Greek city-states. The city-state of Cnidus was at the end of the long peninsula, which the inhabitants attempted to cut through while Harpagus was attacking other cities. The Delphic Oracle apparently told them that they should cease the attempt and that
“If Zeus had wanted an island, he would have made an island”. Considering that the some other priests of Apollo had counselled that the Lydian rebel Pactyes should be handed over to the Persians and that this advice to the people of Cnidus would doom their city, it seems almost as if the oracles were cooperating with the Persian conquest. But this is later speculation and paranoia.
Many of them were at this work; and seeing that the workers were injured when breaking stones more often and less naturally than usual, some in other ways, but most in the eyes, the Cnidians sent envoys to Delphi to inquire what it was that opposed them. Then, as they themselves say, the priestess gave them this answer in iambic verse: ““Do not wall or trench the isthmus: Zeus would have given you an island, if he had wanted to.” At this answer from the priestess, the Cnidians stopped their digging, and when Harpagus came against them with his army they surrendered to him without resistance.
Herodotus Histories 1:174, written around 440BC
According to Herodotus, during the Persian conquest of Lydia the Spartans had sent a penteconter (fifty-oared) ship to Cyrus to tell him that he should not harm any Greek states,
“because the Spartans would not tolerate it”. This embassy prompted Cyrus to ask in return
“Who are the Spartans?” While the story is an interesting one I doubt that the story happened.
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| Inscription of Nabonidus |
But the Lacedaemonians, though they had rejected their envoys, did nevertheless send men in a ship of fifty oars to see (as I suppose) the situation with Cyrus and Ionia. These, after coming to Phocaea, sent Lacrines, who was the most esteemed among them, to Sardis, to repeat there to Cyrus a proclamation of the Lacedaemonians, that he was to harm no city on Greek territory, or else the Lacedaemonians would punish him. When the herald had proclaimed this, Cyrus is said to have asked the Greeks who were present who and how many in number these Lacedaemonians were who made this declaration.
Herodotus Histories 1:152-153, written around 440BC
The conquest of Ionia probably continued over a number of year, but from around 545 onwards the Greek city-states on the western coast of Asia Minor were to be subject to the Persians, with many of the island states near the coast also submitting before the Persian power. However, while these cities were the most cultured and wealthy cities in the Greek world, they were not the main focus of Cyrus. His kingdom had now grown immensely and he set about curbing the Iranian tribes to the east. The next three or four years probably saw campaigns in the east with the possible founding of the city of Cyropolis (the City of Cyrus, as it was known in Greek), as early as 544. The site of Cyropolis is probably what is now the city of Khujand in northern Tajikistan, on the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) River.
In the year 543 Nabonidus probably returned from Tayma to Babylon. The Persian Empire had now conquered his allies, the Lydians, and his own nobility and priesthood seem to have been angry at him for neglecting the city and omitting its rituals. War with Persia must have been inevitable and perhaps he planned to coordinate the war from Babylon.
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| Pyramids at Nuri in the royal burial grounds of Kush |
In the year 542 Malonaqen of Kush probably died and was buried at the royal cemetery at Nuri. Analmaye succeeded, but there is little that I know of the kings of the Kushites at this time, which is sad. There is probably much history to be learned, but sadly there are not many resources online for it. For the year 541 I cannot find any record of events for that year, save that the Persian Empire under Cyrus was probably finishing the conquest of the Iranian tribes to the east.
In the year 540 war was declared between Persia and Babylon, if indeed the two states had not already been at war for some years previous. In the west, around this time, Harpagus the Mede, one of the generals of Cyrus, was fighting the Lycians, on the southwest coast of what is now Turkey. He had already brought the Ionians and Carians under Persian rule and expected an easy victory against the Lycians. But the Lycians of the city of Xanthos rallied out of their city to attack the Persians, and when they were beaten, they destroyed their city and committed mass suicide rather than submit to conquest. With this tragic victory the western seaboard of Asia Minor was brought nearly entirely under Persian rule.
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| Nabonidus |
The Pedaseans were at length taken, and when Harpagus led his army into the plain of Xanthus, the Lycians came out to meet him, and showed themselves courageous fighting few against many; but being beaten and driven into the city, they gathered their wives and children and goods and servants into the acropolis, and then set the whole acropolis on fire.
Herodotus Histories 1:176, written around 440BC
Around this time the Carthaginians allied with the Etruscans to fight the exiled Phocean Greeks near Alalia. The result was a Pyrrhic victory for the Greeks, but a strategic victory for Carthage and her allies, as the Greeks retreated shortly after and Carthage's hold on Sardinia was secured.
In 539 Nabonidus prepared for the coming invasion by gathering the cult-statues of most of the gods of Babylonia to the city of Babylon itself. This may have been intended as a protective measure, to stop the Persians from capturing the statues and bringing them away as booty. Alternatively it may have just been as part of a festival that he wanted to celebrate. However, it may have showed defeatism, in that it assumed that the Persians would capture the outer cities of the empire and the priesthood seems to have interpreted this as yet another act of impiety.
An account known as the Verse Account of Nabonidus recounts tales of a king who was nearly mad, inscribing stelas with imaginary victories over Cyrus, with fawning courtiers such as Zeriya and Rimut crouching around Nabonidus and confirming his every word, as the illiterate king misunderstood oracles and signs. According to this account the impious king even attempted to turn the shrine of Marduk into a shrine for the god Sin. But this is a piece of pro-Persian propaganda written after Nabonidus was defeated.
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The author by the Ishtar Gate in the
Pergamon Museum Berlin |
It was he who once stood up in the assembly to praise himself, saying: "I am wise, I know, I have seen what is hidden. Even if I do not know how to write with the stylus, yet I have seen secret things…” When he saw the moon symbol of Esagila (the temple of Marduk), he makes an insulting gesture. He assembled the priestly scholars, he expounded to them as follows: "Is not this the sign of ownership indicating for whom the temple was built? If it belongs really to Marduk, it would have been marked with the spade (symbol of Marduk). Therefore the Moon himself has marked already his own temple with the moon-symbol!" And Zeriya, the šatammu (chairman of the temple council) who used to crouch as his secretary in front of him, and Rimut, the bookkeeper who used to have his court position near to him, do confirm the royal dictum, stand by his words, they even bare their heads to pronounce under oath: "Now only we understand this situation, after the king has explained about it!"
Verse Account of Nabonidus, written sometime after 538BC
The invasion came from the direction of Media, from the north and east. The Babylonian armies, possibly under the command of Belshazzar, son of King Nabonidus, met the Persians and Medes at the city of Upu (Opis) on the River Tigris. It was here that the great Median Wall had been built by Nebuchadnezzar against the Medes. The huge defensive work failed in its intent, possibly because the Persians changed the watercourses to allow them to bypass the wall. While Cyrus may have conquered Lydia later, I believe the more usual interpretation that Lydia fell first. This would have meant that Cyrus would have been able to use the treasury of Croesus to fund his war and could have afforded to field a vast army. Outnumbered the Babylonian army was slaughtered in a great battle and the Persians passed the Median Wall. A governor named Ugbaru, who controlled the region bordering the Medes, may have defected to the Persian cause and thus the victorious Persian army may now have included a large Babylonian contingent.
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| Ruins of Babylon |
The Babylonian forces would have fallen back to Babylon after such a cataclysmic defeat. Having lost faith in the ruling family, the huge city of Sippar, sacred to the sun-god Shamash, surrendered to the Persians without a siege. With his empire collapsing around him and not trusting the people of Babylon, Nabonidus may have fled to the neighbouring city of Borsippa, which was strongly fortified and which contained the temple of the god Nabu, after whom Nabonidus was named.
When Cyrus did battle at Opis on the bank of the Tigris against the army of Akkad, the people of Akkad retreated. He carried off the plunder and slaughtered the people. On the fourteenth day Sippar was captured without a battle. Nabonidus fled.
Nabonidus Chronicle ABC7, written sometime after 538BC
The Persian army proceeded to Babylon and laid siege to the city, the largest in the world. The walls that had been built by Nebuchadnezzar were nearly impregnable and the city had been stocked with food supplies enough to last for years. The city should have been invincible. However, Herodotus reports that the Persians diverted the River Euphrates and made it so that the water levels flowing into the city dropped low enough for their troops to march along the river bed and into the city.
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| Partially reconstructed walls of Babylon |
Herodotus reports that there were river walls along the banks of the river and that the forces of Babylon could have manned these and shot the Persians with arrows like fish in a trap. But the Persians were instead able to march into the city almost unscathed. There may have been reasons for this, such as the fact that Babylon was so large that the garrison may not have realised that the river walls were under attack. Another reason was that the city of Babylon was celebrating a festival that day and the guards may have not been at full strength. It is also possible, considering the level of hatred against Nabonidus and his son, that there was an element of treachery and the Babylonian garrison, or parts of it, simply allowed the Persians to enter once the river levels lowered.
Cyrus dealt with it and with the river just as had the Babylonian queen: drawing off the river by a canal into the lake, which was a marsh, he made the stream sink until its former channel could be forded. When this happened, the Persians who were posted with this objective made their way into Babylon by the channel of the Euphrates, which had now sunk to a depth of about the middle of a man's thigh. Now if the Babylonians had known beforehand or learned what Cyrus was up to, they would have let the Persians enter the city and have destroyed them utterly; for then they would have shut all the gates that opened on the river and mounted the walls that ran along the river banks, and so caught their enemies in a trap. But as it was, the Persians took them unawares, and because of the great size of the city (those who dwell there say) those in the outer parts of it were overcome, but the inhabitants of the middle part knew nothing of it; all this time they were dancing and celebrating a holiday which happened to fall then, until they learned the truth only too well.
Herodotus Histories 1:176, written around 440BC
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| Feast of Belshazzar by John Martin AD1820 |
Later Hebrew tradition records that Belshazzar, who was once again acting as king, with Nabonidus out of the city and in nearby Borsippa, was feasting on the night the city fell. As they were feasting a hand appeared and began to write the following words on the wall of the palace,
Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. The king was perturbed by the portent and asked the Hebrew courtier Daniel what these words meant. Daniel replied that this meant that Belshazzar had been weighed in the balance and found wanting, that his kingdom would be divided and given to the Persians. The interpretation Daniel gives is based on Hebrew wordplay that would not be obvious to those who did not speak Hebrew. Later that night the Persians stormed the palace and the prophecy came true. Thus, even to this day, the phrase “The writing is on the wall” is a way of describing an imminent event. The account of Daniel is probably written later, but is one of the few documents that remain that mention the Crown Prince Belshazzar.
Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking. “This is the inscription that was written: Mene, mene, tekel, parsin “Here is what these words mean:
Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.
Daniel 5:5-6, 25-30, written later, at some point between 500-150BC
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| Feast of Belshazzar by Gustave Dore AD1866 |
Babylon had fallen with barely a struggle and now the broken king Nabonidus, who had thought himself the chosen one of the god Sin, who had seen himself raised to supreme power and brought low again, was now captured by the Persians either in Borsippa or in returning to Babylon. Cyrus himself was not present at the capture of Babylon and the campaign and immediate fate of Babylon seems to have been organised by a Persian general called Gubaru, who may or may not be the same person as the governor Ugbaru, who had possibly switched sides earlier in the campaign. There is a great deal that we do not know of the fall of Babylon, despite the Babylonian, Greek and Hebrew sources describing the event. The remainder of the Babylonian Empire surrendered to the Persians without any known resistance. The fall of the Babylonian Empire was even swifter than that of the Assyrian Empire seventy years previous.
On the sixteenth day, Ugbaru, governor of Gutium, and the army of Cyrus, without battle, they entered Babylon. Afterwards, after Nabonidus retreated, he was captured in Babylon.
Nabonidus Chronicle ABC7, written sometime after 538BC
Cyrus entered the city in triumph, presumably through the great Ishtar Gate and was welcomed by the people and the priests. Cyrus carefully listened to the grievances of the elites and took great care to restore rites and rituals to what they had been before Nabonidus. Assiduous propaganda was begun to ruin the reputation of the fallen king and to paint Cyrus as the generous liberator. To his credit Cyrus does seem to have prevented his troops from looting and the conquest was an easier one than previous conquests. The fallen monarch Nabonidus may even have been allowed to live out his life in exile in the far eastern province of Carmania, but I suspect that he was probably executed. Regardless he was an old and broken man, and his (possible) son and heir Belshazzar was certainly dead.
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Feast of Belshazzar, still from Arthur Griffith's
film Intolerance AD1916 (the details here are
rather fanciful, though the scale of the set would
have appealed to the ancient Babylonians |
On learning of the invasion Nabonnedos met him with an army and opposed him in battle. After being defeated, he fled with a small retinue and took refuge within the city of the Borsippians. Cyrus meanwhile seized Babylon and ordered that the outer walls of the city be thrown down because the city seemed to him to be very formidable and hard to capture. Cyrus then marched on Borsippa to lay siege to Nabonnedos. Nabonnedos, however, did not await the siege but surrendered himself first. Dealing with him in a gracious manner, Cyrus granted him Carmania as his residence and sent him out of Babylonia. King Darius, however, took away a part of his province for himself. Nabonnedos, therefore, died after spending the remainder of his life in this country.
Berossus, Babyloniaca, written around 280BC, quoted by Josephus, writing around AD90 (hence the possible mention of Darius here)
The wife of Cyrus, Cassandane, died shortly after the fall of Babylon and the newly conquered city mourned her for six days in an act that must have greatly helped relations between the conquered and the conquerors. To further cement the conquest Cyrus’ son Cambyses was tasked with fulfilling some of the rituals of the priesthood of Marduk, although there was some consternation when the young prince accidentally committed sacrilege by allowing his guards to come armed and by approaching the Babylonian temple in Elamite dress. But this was soon rectified and the rites restored.
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| Remains of the ziggurat in Borsippa |
On the third day of the month Arahsamna, Cyrus entered Babylon. ... There was peace in the city while Cyrus, his greeting to Babylon in its entirety spoke. Gubaru, his district officer, appointed the district officers in Babylon.
Nabonidus Chronicle ABC7, written sometime after 538BC
Cyrus himself does not appear to have stayed in the city and it is not clear if Cambyses stayed either. This leads to some rather confused reporting. The Hebrew book of Daniel, possibly written rather later, records that Darius the Mede became king of Babylon, at an advanced age of 62. Some suspect this is another name for Cambyses, prince of Persia, but he is unlikely to have been 62 at this time. A Greek writer Xenophon, writing in the mid-300’s BC records a king of Media called Cyaxares II who seems to have existed as a co-king of the Persian Empire before disappearing from history. Others suspect that Gubaru (Gobryas in Greek), who had organised the city upon its immediate capture, was appointed “king” of Babylon. Gubaru may have been the same as Ugbaru, the defecting governor. So we have a prince, two kings and two governors, two of which may never have existed and two of which may have been the same person.
In the course of time Astyages died in Media, and Cyaxares, the son of Astyages and brother of Cyrus's mother, succeeded to the Median throne.
Xenophon, Cyropaedia, written around 370BC (Xenophon is known as a sometimes unreliable historian)
Kings often changed their names upon taking the throne so either Cyaxares or Gubaru might have changed their names. Also sub-kings were often placed on the throne of Babylon by the Assyrians, as the Babylonians would often rebel otherwise. Kandalanu was sub-king under Ashurbanipal and Bel-ibni was sub-king under Sennacherib. There is no good contemporary source to clear up the confusion. The Babylonian documents are not helpful here either. These would date their transactions by the year of the king, but seeing as there was a later king Darius, whose reign lasted a long time, an earlier king Darius might go unnoticed.
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| Upper sections of the ruined ziggurat of Borsippa |
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.
Daniel 6:30, written considerably later, at some point between 500-150BC
The writer Aeschylus, who writes around the 470’s BC, slightly earlier than Herodotus, paints a different picture of the Persian Empire. Rather than conquering the Medes, the Persians formed a partnership with them, that may have seen the royal families of Media and Persia coexist until the Median royal line died out and the Persians became more dominant. There are indications that the behaviour of Medes and Persians was somewhat of a partnership and that this continued until about the year 521. The Hebrew writings lend some credence to this view. But even about such a crucial matter we do not have enough sources to say for sure. For Darius the Mede, there is no certain evidence that he existed, but there are some indications that he, or someone like him, did sit on the Babylonian throne after Cyrus had taken the city.
For Medus was first to be the leader of its host; and another, his son, completed his work since wisdom ruled his spirit. Third, after him, Cyrus, blessed in good fortune, came to the throne and established peace for all his people.
Aeschylus, Persians, 765-770, written 472BC, seeming to suggest a peaceful transfer of power between Medes and Persians
The fall of Babylon seems to have been mostly peaceful and the inhabitants of Babylonia were probably content with their change of ruler. But this masked a far deeper change. Mesopotamia would never again dominate the ancient world. The culture of the Mesopotamians would continue and still be influential for centuries to come, but their political power would never return. Around this time the Elamites also begin to fade from history. Even the name of their last king is barely known and I am unsure of who actually should be said to hold this title. The kingdom of the Persians was now the largest kingdom on earth; the largest kingdom that had ever existed to that date. While it might suit the Persians to temporarily leave a ritual king in Babylon at this time, they probably began to take away all power from the sub-kings of Elam, Babylon and their other tributary states and to replace these with governors.
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| Nabonidus Chronicle |
Nabonidus' deeds Cyrus effaced and everything Nabonidus constructed, all the sanctuaries of his royal rule Cyrus has eradicated, the ashes of the burned buildings the wind carried away. Nabonidus' picture he effaced, in all the sanctuaries the inscriptions of that name are erased. Whatever Nabonidus had created, Cyrus fed to the flames! To the inhabitants of Babylon a joyful heart is now given. They are like prisoners when the prisons are opened. Liberty is restored to those who were surrounded by oppression. All rejoice to look upon him as king!
Verse Account of Nabonidus, written sometime after 538BC
Immediately after the fall of Nabonidus and his son, the restive priesthood began writing documents to discredit the fallen ruler. The Nabonidus Chronicle and the Verse Account of Nabonidus are works of propaganda against the previous king. Some of the Hebrew writings later, canonical and non-canonical, may reflect some of these works. The most significant of these propaganda efforts is a proclamation by the new king Cyrus, known today as the Cyrus Cylinder. Here Cyrus proclaims that he is a righteous monarch, similar to previous great monarchs, and that he had been chosen by the great god Marduk to rule Babylon instead of the impious Nabonidus. Cyrus then confirmed that he would respect previous arrangements and concludes with typical formulae similar to other Mesopotamian inscriptions, about how the king restored and increased sacrifices and reconstruction of temples.
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| Cyrus Cylinder |
Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced over my good deeds and in peace, before him, we moved around in friendship. By his exalted word all the kings who sit upon thrones throughout the world, from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, who live in the districts far off the kings of the West, who dwell in tents, all of them, brought their heavy tribute before me and in Babylon they kissed my feet. From Babylon to Asshur and from Susa, Akkad, Eshnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der, as far as the region of Gutium, the sacred centres on the other side of the Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there, to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings. In addition, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in their habitations, in pleasing abodes, the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabonidus, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon.
Cyrus Cylinder, written sometime around 538BC
A modern, forged translation of the Cyrus Cylinder has been propagated, primarily by the deposed 20th century Pahlavi Dynasty in Iran. This mistranslation completely diverges from the original and has almost nothing in common with the actual text. It supposedly tells how Cyrus abolished slavery and only ruled over those who wished it. The real inscription references the Babylonian god Marduk. The false translation usually refers to the Persian god Ahura Mazda, so that is a good way of spotting it. This travesty was referred to as the First Charter of Human Rights and a bronze reproduction of the cylinder, complete with false translation was gifted to the UN headquarters, where it sits to this day. It is an abject forgery and is completely false but I have seen this misinformation scattered around the Internet so I wanted to mention it here, as it is false and should be called out as false.
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Model of the Cyrus Cylinder
with false translation beneath it |
Now that I put the crown of kingdom of Persia, Babylon, and the nations of the four directions on the head with the help of Ahura Mazda,, I announce that I will respect the traditions, customs and religions of the nations of my empire and never let any of my governors and subordinates look down on or insult them until I am alive. From now on, till God grants me the kingdom favour, I will impose my monarchy on no nation. Each is free to accept it, and if any one of them rejects it, I never resolve on war to reign. Until I am the king of Persia, Babylon, and the nations of the four directions, I never let anyone oppress any others, and if it occurs, I will take his or her right back and penalize the oppressor. And until I am the monarch, I will never let anyone take possession of movable and landed properties of the others by force or without compensation. Until I am alive, I prevent unpaid, forced labour. Today, I announce that everyone is free to choose a religion. People are free to live in all regions and take up a job provided that they never violate other’s rights. No one could be penalized for his or her relatives’ faults. I prevent slavery and my governors and subordinates are obliged to prohibit exchanging men and women as slaves within their own ruling domains. Such a traditions should be exterminated the world over.
False translation of the Cyrus Cylinder that is sometimes promulgated throughout the Internet, written sometime in the 1950’s AD. I cannot stress enough how false this translation is
Cyrus did generally govern kindly. His conquests were still conquests and many died in his battles, but we read of no peoples being deported and no accounts of state-sponsored torture and terror exist from his reign. It is quite possible that both of these occurred but, like the Neo-Babylonian kings, he did not boast of this. There are no accounts of rebellions against his rule either. But the main reason he is remembered so fondly is that he allowed the exiles to return. Many peoples had been conquered and deported by the Assyrians and Babylonians. These people were generally treated well but they were transplanted hundreds of miles from their homelands and were forced to live in new lands. Many adapted to the new life, but others longed to return. Cyrus seems to have allowed this. This was probably practical, as such a vast empire as Cyrus now ruled could not afford to fight constant rebellions. Regardless of the motives, the exiled peoples of the Near East could now return to their homes.
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| Partially reconstructed ruins of Babylon |
The most famous example of this is the Jews, who had been transplanted from the kingdom of Judah, by the Babylonians, to the south of Mesopotamia. Here they had made new lives for themselves and even created, or been located in, small cities that were named after them, such as Al-Yahudu. A number of the documents from these settlements survive and give an idea of life under captivity.
This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever. I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
Jeremiah 25:11-14, dates unclear but committed to writing perhaps as early as 560BC, possibly significantly later
When Cyrus allowed the exiles to return it is probable that not many did, certainly not immediately. But those who had been taken were able to now take hope that they, or their children would be able to return to Zion. They remembered the words of the prophets, such as Jeremiah, that the rule of Babylon would only last seventy years. It is hard to match the seventy years exactly to the exile. The proclamation of return was probably made in 539 or 538, shortly after the fall of Babylon. But the city of Jerusalem had fallen in around 587/586. This is not seventy years but the Hebrew writers seem to have used 70 as a shorthand for “around the span of a lifetime”. Possibly it refers to the length of time that Babylon ruled, which was around seventy years depending on how this is counted. The idea of a god’s anger lasting for seventy years is also known elsewhere in ancient literature, from Esarhaddon’s restoration of Babylon, where he mentioned that the god Marduk had originally been angry with his people for seventy years.
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Cyrus restores the vessels of the Temple
Gustave Dore AD1866 |
He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”
2 Chronicles 36:20-23, written probably around 400BC
Regardless of the exact accuracy of the times, the Jews viewed this as a divine deliverance and saw Cyrus as a saviour sent by God. Babylon was remembered as the city of destruction and in later Jewish, and subsequent Christian literature, Babylon became known as the embodiment of all the evil in the world.
A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
Revelation 14:8, written around 100AD
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| Ruins of Pasargadae |
Around the year 538, while the propaganda and the proclamations and preparations of return were being made in Babylon, King Analmaye of Kush probably died in the city of Meroe. He was buried in the royal cemetery of the Kushite kings in Nuri and was probably succeeded by Amaninatkilebte. Sadly almost nothing is known of these kings or of the history of Kush at this time. It is possible that the Persians established some form of control on the Arabian shore of the Persian gulf around what is now the territory of the United Arab Emirates.
Around the year 537 any king who ruled Babylon as a ceremonial king under Cyrus, was probably dead. This might have been the mysterious Darius the Mede mentioned by the Hebrew book of Daniel or the mysterious Cyaxares II the Mede mentioned by Xenophon. The book of Daniel records that Darius issued an edict that none save he should be worshipped for the space of a month, that the courtier Daniel broke this edict, was thrown in the lions’ den and survived. It has been noted that the religious behaviour ascribed to Darius in this passage does not accord with the known behaviour of Zoroastrianism. But it is also fair to note that there is as of yet no notice that Zoroastrianism was widespread among the Medes or Persians. Cyrus leaves no real proof that he was a follower of Zoroaster. Whatever the case, if there was a sub-king of Babylon, they fade from history in or around this point, leaving the real power in the hands of Gubaru (or Gobryas) as satrap of Babylonia and the Trans-Euphrates.
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Daniel in the Lion's Den, by Gustave Dore
AD1866 |
So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” So King Darius put the decree in writing.
Daniel 6:6-9, written later, at some point between 500-150BC
Around this time a number of the exiled Jews were gathered under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel (who were possibly the same person). They returned to the city of Jerusalem, which was abandoned, although the land around it was not. The book of Ezra records that over forty thousand people returned but this may have been over a number of years and not necessarily all at once. The people moved into settlements in an area probably around 30 km around Jerusalem and within their first year of moving back they created an altar that they could use to sacrifice on.
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The rebuilding of the temple
Gustave Dore AD1866 |
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.
Ezra 3:1-2, probably written no earlier than 420BC
Around the year 536, the dates are approximate because we do not know exactly when the exiles returned from Babylon, the Jewish exiles went further than building an altar and attempted to rebuild the temple itself. Under the auspices of Zerubbabel, the leader of the returned people and related to the previous royal line of David, and the High Priest Jeshua, they began the work with great ceremony. Those who had been born in Babylon were joyful to see the symbol of their belief rising from the foundations once more. But those who were old enough to remember the great temple that had been destroyed and compare it to the paltry rebuilding effort were moved to tears.
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
Ezra 3:11-13, probably written no earlier than 420BC
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| Ruins of Pasargadae |
The peoples who were living in the land, who were descendants of the original Israelites and the peoples of the Middle East who had been deported by the Assyrians and Babylonians over the years, also worshipped the national god of Israel and requested to join the rebuilding effort. This offer was rebuffed by the leadership of the returned exiles. It was felt that the religious beliefs of those who were not returned exiles were the same as had led to the exile in the first place and that their involvement would corrupt the purpose of the temple. Thus there was great tension between the returnees and the people dwelling about.
But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
Ezra 4:3, probably written no earlier than 420BC
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| Figure from a facade of a temple in Uruk |
For the years 535-531 not much can really be said, to my knowledge. So I will pass the time with describing the character of Gimillu. Gimillu appears in history shortly after Cyrus’ capture of Babylon. The Babylonian empire had been wealthy, not so much in gold, but wealthy in agricultural produce. With the possible exceptions of Egypt or certain sections of the Ganges or the Yangtze, Babylonia was the most fertile place on earth at the time. The temples of the gods were not just focal points of belief but focal points of agriculture. The temple complex of Ishtar in Uruk, known as the Eanna Temple had between 70,000 to 90,000 sheep at this time. When the Persians took over Babylonia they may have arrived as tolerant rulers but they were interested in the wealth of the elites for taxation purposes.
To this end, they sent Gimillu to act as a kind of auditor of the Eanna Temple in Uruk, particularly in monitoring their flocks. The priests seem to have resented this and blocked handing over any information to officials as much as they could. Soon a series of feuds seem to have developed between Gimillu and the temple officials. Gimillu was accused by the temple officials of stealing sheep, which to be fair the temple officials, even Gimillu admitted. When I first came across the story I thought of Gimillu as a charming rogue, but instead came across
this excellent article which suggests that Gimillu wanted to preserve his own position and kept his stealing to a minimum.
When the temple officials realised that it was a choice between being audited and keeping Gimillu around, they handed over all the records to Gimillu to give to the Persian rulers in Babylon. Gimillu however refused to hand over the records to his superiors. So there is the ludicrous situation of the temple officials handing over all their documents for audit to the auditor and the auditor refusing to do anything with them and in fact hiding from those he is meant to be auditing. Gimillu was also convicted of stealing sheep from the sacred herds, after copious testimony and a few confessions from Gimillu and his brother, and financed his appeal by stealing some more. It really is a bizarre tale, but also serves as an excellent object lesson in the wealth of Babylon and the very real interest that the Persians were beginning to take in taxing the wealthy provinces.
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| Ruins of Uruk |
Cyrus II, king of the world, king of the land Anshan, the son of Cambyses I: The great gods placed in my hands all of the lands and I allowed the land to live undisturbed.
Inscription of Cyrus in Babylon
Around the year 530 Cyrus II, Cyrus the Great, who had created the largest kingdom the world had yet seen, died. It is not clear exactly how he died. Xenophon, the later unreliable Greek historian who writes in the mid-300’s BC records that he died peacefully, whereas Herodotus records that he was engaged in a war with a Scythian tribe called the Massagetae far to the north. Here he fought the armies of a queen known in Greek as Tomyris. His armies defeated hers, partly using an ambush after falsely retreating from their camp. Her son was killed in the defeat and the Massagetae counterattacked and defeated the Persians, slaying their king in the process. Herodotus says that the queen of the Massagetae put the decapitated head of Cyrus into a container of blood, so that in death his thirst for shed blood could finally be quenched. This shows us just how reliant we are on the Greek historians for this period. No Hebrew sacred text, no Persian inscription, no Babylonian cuneiform, tells us how Cyrus the Great died and the truth is that we just do not know.
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Later European painting of Tomyris
dipping the head of Cyrus in blood
Mattia Preti AD1670 |
The greater part of the Persian army was destroyed there on the spot, and Cyrus himself fell there, after having reigned for one year short of thirty years. Tomyris filled a skin with human blood, and searched among the Persian dead for Cyrus' body; and when she found it, she pushed his head into the skin, and insulted the dead man in these words: “Though I am alive and have defeated you in battle, you have destroyed me, taking my son by guile; but just as I threatened, I give you your fill of blood.” Many stories are told of Cyrus' death; this, that I have told, is the most credible.
Herodotus Histories 1:214, written around 440BC
His son Cambyses II succeeded him as king of the Persian Empire. Cyrus was buried in an imposing yet simple tomb. Interestingly, current Zoroastrian belief does not allow for tombs, lest the earth be polluted, but while Cyrus may have been a follower of Zoroaster, it is likely that his beliefs were different than the Zoroastrianism that we know. His tomb was described by later Greek writers such as Arrian and Strabo and it is from their description that we believe we can know his tomb near Pasargadae.
There was an inscription on the tomb in Persian which read, “Mortal! I am Cyrus son of Cambyses, who founded the Persian Empire, and was ruled over Asia. Do not grudge me my monument.”
Arrian, Anabasis 6:29
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| Tomb of Cyrus II near Pasargadae |
Around this time the inhabitants of Judea who were not part of the group of returned exiles seem to have forced the exiles to stop building their temple. It is possible that the rebuilding was seen as a potentially rebellious step. It is also possible that the inhabitants of the land were simply aggravated with the strangers who had returned and were now competing with the original inhabitants for land and resources. Certainly there were religious tensions between the two groups. Strangely in this episode in the book of Ezra, Cambyses II is referred to as Ahasuerus or Xerxes and Bardiya is referred to as Artaxerxes. Either these were alternative names of Persian kings or they are scribal errors here.
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes (probably meaning Cambyses II) was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
Ezra 4:23, probably written no earlier than 420BC
For the year 529 I cannot tell for certain what occurred this year, nor for the year 528 or 527. However I can make some guesses that Cambyses II of Persia was looking for an excuse to attack the kingdom of Egypt. The Egyptians were the last major kingdom in the Near East not under Persian control and conflict between the two was inevitable.
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| Persian Empire at the death of Cyrus |
Herodotus gives an account of Cambyses demanding a daughter of Amasis as a bride. But Amasis, fearing that his daughter would be mistreated, gave him a daughter of Apries, called Nitetis, as a bride instead, hoping that she would stay silent about the fact that her father had been overthrown and slain by Amasis. Predictably, this did not happen and Cambyses heard the story of how Amasis was a usurper.
But after a time, as he embraced her addressing her as the daughter of Amasis, the girl said to him, “O King, you do not understand how you have been made a fool of by Amasis, who dressed me in finery and sent me to you as his own daughter, when I am in fact the daughter of Apries, the ruler Amasis revolted from with the Egyptians and killed.” This speech and this crime that occurred turned Cyrus' son Cambyses, furiously angry, against Egypt.
Herodotus Histories 3:1, written around 440BC
This is a weird story and one that is unbelievable for a number of reasons. Surely it is a bad idea to send the child of a slain foe to be your emissary in the court of a powerful enemy? Apries had been dead since 567, perhaps earlier, meaning that any daughter of Apries would have been around forty at the youngest. It is strange, but it is possible that Herodotus has confused this with an earlier episode that may have seen a daughter of Apries already married to Nebuchadnezzar, who invades Egypt as a result. The timelines fit better with a Babylonian king rather than a Persian one.
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| Statue of Amasis |
Another tale Herodotus tells is of Phanes of Halicarnassus, a Greek mercenary captain who was deep in the councils of the Pharaoh but who defected and fled to Asia Minor. The Egyptians had had dealings with the tyrant of Samos, called Polycrates, so he may have defected while on a mission. The Egyptians dispatched a ship to catch him and Phanes was supposedly captured in Lycia, but escaped his captors by getting them drunk, before he made his way to Cambyses where he advised the Persians. One must be cautious of this story as Phanes supposedly goes on to give Cambyses advice that allows him to win the campaign (according to Herodotus). Greek historical writings tend to ascribe all tactical and strategic skill to themselves and none to the non-Greeks. If a barbarian army wins, it must be because they had a Greek mercenary captain advising them.
This Phanes had some grudge against Amasis, and fled from Egypt aboard ship, hoping to talk to Cambyses. Since he was a man much admired among the mercenaries and had an exact knowledge of all Egyptian matters, Amasis was anxious to catch him, and sent a trireme with his most trusted eunuch to pursue him. This eunuch caught him in Lycia but never brought him back to Egypt, for Phanes was too clever for him. He made his guards drunk and so escaped to Persia. There he found Cambyses prepared to set out against Egypt, but in doubt as to his march, how he should cross the waterless desert; so Phanes showed him
Herodotus Histories 3:4, written around 440BC
So, at the beginning of 526 the stage was set for war between the Persian Empire and kingdom of Egypt, possibly because of marriage alliances gone wrong, or because of defecting Greeks, but probably simply because the Egyptian kingdom was the last major threat to the Persian Empire and Cambyses wanted to take it.
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Statue of
Ankhnesneferibre
God's Wife of Amun
in Thebes |
As the preparations for the Persian invasion were nearly complete the Pharaoh Amasis died. He had been a usurper but also a strong and successful monarch. He would go on to be remembered as a funny, trickster-like king whose memory would live on in Egyptian folk-tales, which were later immortalised by Herodotus.
While Amasis was now dead, there was another royal death that may or may not have happened around this time. Another son of Cyrus, named Bardiya but sometimes referred to by the Greeks as Smerdis, may have been killed on the orders of King Cambyses around this point. If the murder did happen it would have been secret but whether or not this murder did happen would affect the next decade of history dramatically.
Amasis’ son, Psammetichus III took the throne in his stead. He mustered the armies of Egypt in the north, where the invasion would surely come. However his preparations were overshadowed by what was seen to be an omen; rain in the city of Thebes. The city almost never saw rain and this unusual phenomenon was seen as an evil omen.
While his son Psammenitus was king of Egypt, the people saw an extraordinary thing, namely, rain at Thebes of Egypt, where, as the Thebans themselves say, there had never been rain before, nor since to my lifetime; for indeed there is no rain at all in the upper parts of Egypt; but at that time a drizzle of rain fell at Thebes
Herodotus Histories 3:10, written around 440BC
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| Relief of Psammetichus III from Karnak |
In the year 525 BC the Persians crossed the desert to reach the Egyptian fortress city of Pelusium. Herodotus, who is always good for a tale, recounts stories that the ruler of that region of Arabia diverted rivers into the desert using artificial pipelines made of animal skins. Even Herodotus felt that this was a little too much and tells a more sensible tale of water supplies being stored up for years previously to allow the army of the Persians to make a passage.
When, then, the Arabian had made the pledge to the messengers who had come from Cambyses, he devised the following expedient: he filled camel-skins with water and loaded all his camels with these; then he drove them into the waterless land and there awaited Cambyses' army. This is the most credible of the stories told;
Herodotus Histories 3:9, written around 440BC
The armies clashed outside Pelusium and there was a hard-fought battle. The Persians were victorious and Psammetichus III fled to Memphis. Herodotus tells stories of how the Greek mercenaries murdered Phanes’ children in the space between the two armies before battle joined. He also mentions how he himself had seen the site of the battle and could see the differences in the skulls between the Egyptians and the Persians (how could he tell which were Egyptian?) But the most spectacular story of the battle of Pelusium was told by an ever later Greek writer, who wrote that the Persians knew the Egyptians held cats to be sacred, so they placed cats in the front line to stop the Egyptians from shooting. Thus the Battle of Pelusium is sometimes known as the Battle of the Cats.
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A fantastically over the top painting of the Battle of
Pelusium, showing the story of the Persians
using cats. Paul-Marie Lenoir AD1872 |
When Cambyses attacked Pelusium, which guarded the entrance into Egypt, the Egyptians defended it with great resolution. They advanced formidable engines against the besiegers, and hurled missiles, stones, and fire at them from their catapults. To counter this destructive barrage, Cambyses ranged before his front line dogs, sheep, cats, ibises, and whatever other animals the Egyptians hold sacred. The Egyptians immediately stopped their operations, out of fear of hurting the animals, which they hold in great veneration. Cambyses captured Pelusium, and thereby opened up for himself the route into Egypt.
Polyaenus Stratagems 7:9, written around AD163
The Egyptians had fled to Memphis. An offer to surrender was rebuffed by the Egyptians, who may have slain the heralds, and so Memphis was taken by storm. Psammetichus III was captured but not executed immediately. However, later he was accused of stirring up rebellion against the Persians and was executed by them.
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| Statue of Udjahorresnet |
The God’s Wife of Amun, Ankhnesneferibre, daughter of Psammetichus II, and the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Nitocris II, daughter of Amasis, both seem to disappear from history at this point. The vast estates and treasuries of the temple of Amun were too important to be left in the hands of those who were loyal to the previous dynasties. Thus these women, who were among the wealthiest women in the world, were deposed and possibly executed, although their fate is unclear.
Another Egyptian who fared rather better under the new rule was Udjahorresne. He had been a commander of the Egyptian fleet under the Saite Dynasty and put his services at the disposal of the new Persian rulers. He had a variety of other titles and may have also been a physician. He now acted as a collaborator for the new regime and even devised proper Egyptian royal titles for Cambyses II.
…Commander of the royal navy under the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Khenemibre, (Amasis)…
When the great King of all lands, Cambyses, came to Egypt, the people of all (foreign) lands were with him. He exercised sovereignty in the land in its entire extent; they settled down in it, he being the great King of Egypt, the mighty sovereign of this country. His Majesty conferred upon me the dignity of Chief San, and granted that I should be by him as Smer and Provost of the temple.
Inscription of Udjahorresnet (written perhaps around 519BC?)
The Libyan tribes and the Greek city kingdom of Cyrene, on the north coast of Africa, seem to have sent tribute to Cambyses II as a sign of submission. No one wished to be the next target of the seemingly invincible Persians.
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Rather fanciful interpretation by a modern painter of the
aftermath of the Battle of Pelusium: |
So the Egyptians were besieged, and after a long while surrendered; but the neighboring Libyans, frightened by what had happened in Egypt, surrendered without a fight, laying tribute on themselves and sending gifts; and so too did the people of Cyrene and Barca, frightened like the Libyans.
Herodotus Histories 3:13, written around 440BC
Around this time, while the work on the Temple in Jerusalem was stalled or stopped, the Hebrew book of Kings may have been written. It may have undergone some editorial work later and it almost certainly drew from earlier sources but the book itself probably reached a recognisable form around this time.
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Chapel of the Divine Adoratrice Nitocris II
in Karnak |
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Amel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
2 Kings 25:27-30 (probably written around 525BC, as the final sections are a recollection of how Jehoiachin/Jeconiah was restored to favour by Amel-Marduk. Jeconiah was a direct ancestor of Zerubbabel)
Thus the period draws to a close. It began with a disturbed international stage, with a power struggle within the kingdom of the Medes seeing the Persians become dominant. The period closes with the kingdoms of Lydia, Babylon and Egypt all conquered by the Persian Empire. 25 years sees the Persian Empire becoming the largest empire that the world had ever seen. This has been a very long blog and I will let the text speak for itself rather than summarising. I will continue the story in the next blog.
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| Ruins of Pasargadae |
Primary Sources:
Jeremiah, dates unclear but committed to writing perhaps as early as 560BC, possibly significantly later
The “autobiography” of Adad-Guppi, probably written around 546BC
Verse Account of Nabonidus, written sometime after 538BC
Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC7) written sometime after 538BC
Cyrus Cylinder, written sometime around 538BC
Inscription of Cyrus in Babylon, no later than 530
Inscription of Udjahorresnet (written perhaps around 519BC?)
Daniel, written later, at some point between 500-150BC
Aeschylus, Persians, written 472BC, seeming to suggest a peaceful transfer of power between Medes and Persians
Bacchylides Ode 3, written shortly after 468BC
Herodotus Histories, written around 440BC
Xenophon, Cyropaedia, written around 370BC (Xenophon is known as a sometimes unreliable historian)
Berossus, Babyloniaca, written around 280BC, quoted by Josephus, writing around AD90 (hence the possible mention of Darius here)
2 Chronicles, written probably around 400BC
Ezra, probably written no earlier than 420BC
Revelation, written around 100AD
Polyaenus Stratagems, written around AD163
Secondary Sources:
False translation of the Cyrus Cylinder that is sometimes promulgated throughout the Internet, written sometime in the 1950’s AD. I cannot stress enough how false this translation is
Scholarly work on the Babylonian Auditor/Thief Gimillu
Article about the debate on the dating of the fall of Sardis
Related Blog Posts:
575-550BC in the Near East
550-525BC in Greece
525-500BC in the Near East
