Everything about Chaldean Dynasty totally explained
The term
Neo-Babylonian or
Chaldean refers to
Babylonia under the rule of the 11th ("Chaldean") dynasty, from the revolt of
Nabopolassar in
626 BC until the invasion of
Cyrus the Great in
539 BC, notably including the reign of
Nebuchadrezzar II.
History
Independence from Assyrian rule
Through the centuries of
Assyrian domination, Babylonia enjoyed a prominent status, and revolted at the slightest indication that it did not. However, the Assyrians always managed to restore Babylonian loyalty, whether through granting of increased privileges, or militarily. That finally changed in
627 BCE with the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler,
Ashurbanipal, and Babylonia rebelled under
Nabopolassar the Chaldean the following year. With help from the
Medes,
Nineveh was sacked in 612, and the seat of empire was again transferred to Babylonia.
Rise of the Achaemenids
Of the reign of the last Babylonian king,
Nabonidus (
Nabu-na'id), and the conquest of Babylonia by
Cyrus, there's a fair amount of information available. This is chiefly derived from a chronological tablet containing the annals of Nabonidus, supplemented by another inscription of Nabonidus where he recounts his restoration of the temple of the Moon-god at Harran; as well as by a proclamation of Cyrus issued shortly after his formal recognition as king of Babylonia. It was in the sixth year of Nabonidus (
549 BCE) that Cyrus, the Achaemenid Persian "king of
Anshan" in Elam, revolted against his suzerain
Astyages, "king of the Manda" or Medes, at Ecbatana. Astyages' army betrayed him to his enemy, and Cyrus established himself at Ecbatana, thus putting an end to the empire of the Medes. Three years later Cyrus had become king of all Persia, and was engaged in a campaign in the north of
Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, Nabonidus had established a camp in the desert, near the southern frontier of his kingdom, leaving his son
Belshazzar (
Belsharutsur) in command of the army.
In
539 BCE Cyrus invaded Babylonia. A battle was fought at Opis in the month of June, where the Babylonians were defeated; and immediately afterwards Sippara surrendered to the invader. Nabonidus fled to Borsippa, and on the 12th of October, after Cyrus' engineers had diverted the waters of the Euphrates, "the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting."
Belshazzar was executed shortly thereafter.
Nabonidus surrendered and was deported. Gutian guards were placed at the gates of the great temple of Bel, where the services continued without interruption. Cyrus didn't arrive until the 3rd of
Marchesvan (October), Gobryas having acted for him in his absence. Gobryas was now made governor of the province of Babylon.
Cyrus now claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of
Bel-Marduk, who was assumed to be wrathful at the impiety of Nabonidus in removing the images of the local gods from their ancestral shrines, to his capital Babylon. Nabonidus, in fact, had excited a strong feeling against himself by attempting to centralize the religion of Babylonia in the temple of
Marduk at Babylon, and while he'd thus alienated the local priesthoods, the military party despised him on account of his antiquarian tastes. He seems to have left the defense of his kingdom to others, occupying himself with the more congenial work of excavating the foundation records of the temples and determining the dates of their builders.
The invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus was doubtless facilitated by the existence of a disaffected party in the state, as well as by the presence of foreign exiles like the Jews, who had been planted in the midst of the country. One of the first acts of Cyrus accordingly was to allow these exiles to return to their own homes, carrying with them the images of their gods and their sacred vessels. The permission to do so was embodied in a proclamation, whereby the conqueror endeavored to justify his claim to the Babylonian throne. The feeling was still strong that none had a right to rule over western Asia until he'd been consecrated to the office by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon."
A year before Cyrus' death, in
529 BCE, he elevated his son
Cambyses II in the government, making him king of Babylon, while he reserved for himself the fuller title of "king of the (other) provinces" of the empire. It was only when
Darius Hystaspis ("the Magian") acquired the Persian throne and ruled it as a representative of the
Zoroastrian religion, that the old tradition was broken and the claim of Babylon to confer legitimacy on the rulers of western Asia ceased to be acknowledged. Darius, in fact, entered Babylon as a conqueror.
After the murder of
Smerdis the Usurper by Darius, it briefly recovered its independence under Nidinta-Bel, who took the name of
Nebuchadnezzar III, and reigned from October
521 BCE to August
520 BCE, when the Persians took it by storm. A few years later, probably
514 BCE, Babylon again revolted under
Arakha; on this occasion, after its capture by the Persians, the walls were partly destroyed. E-Saggila, the great temple of Bel, however, still continued to be kept in repair and to be a center of Babylonian patriotism, until at last the foundation of
Seleucia diverted the population to the new capital of Babylonia and the ruins of the old city became a quarry for the builders of the new seat of government.
Neo-Babylonian dynasty
Dynasty XI of Babylon (Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean)
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