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BabyloniaThe wealth of Babylonia tempted nomadic and seminomadic neighbors; even under Hammurabi's successor Babylonia was having to stave off assaults. Early in the 18th cent. B.C. the Hittites sacked Babylon and held it briefly. The nomadic Kassites (Cassites), a tribe from Elam, took the city shortly thereafter and held it precariously for centuries. Babylonia degenerated into anarchy c.1180 B.C. with the fall of the Kassites. As a subsidiary state of the Assyrian Empire (after the 9th cent. B.C.), Babylonia flourished once more. It was the key area in the attempted uprising against the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and Babylon was sacked (c.689 B.C.) in his reign.
After the death of Assurbanipal, the last great Assyrian monarch, Nabopolassar, the ruler of Babylonia, established (625 B.C.) his independence. He allied himself with the Medes and Persians and helped to bring about the capture of Nineveh (612 B.C.) and the fall of the Assyrian Empire. He established what is generally known as the Chaldaean or New Babylonian Empire. Under his son, Nebuchadnezzar, the new empire reached its height (see Babylon). The recalcitrant Hebrews were defeated and punished with the Babylonian captivity. Egypt had already been defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in the great battle of Carchemish (605) while Nabopolassar was still alive. The empire seemed secure, but it was actually transitory. The steady growth of Persian power spelled the end of Babylonia, and in 538 B.C. the last of the Babylonian rulers surrendered to Cyrus the Great (see also Belshazzar). Babylonia became an important region of the Persian Empire.
See R. W. Rogers, A History of Babylonia and Assyria (6th ed. 1915); D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia (1926–27); G. R. Driver et al., The Babylonian Laws (1952–55); H. W. F. Saggs, Everyday Life in Babylonia and Assyria (1965, repr. 1987); J. Wellard, Babylon (1972).
The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-09 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
- Shinar
Shinar, in the Bible, the whole or a part of Babylonia.
- Immer
Immer, in the Bible. 1 Priestly family. This is probably the same as Amariah 8. 2 Priest. 3 Unidentified place in Babylonia.
- Belshazzar
Belshazzar, according to the Bible, son of Nebuchadnezzar and last king of Babylon. The Book of Daniel relates that, at his feast, handwriting appeared on the wall. Daniel interpreted it as a ...
- Calneh
Calneh, in the Bible. 1 Place, in S Babylonia, founded by Nimrod with other cities; the word may mean all of them. 2 Unidentified city, possibly in N Syria. It is perhaps the same as Calno, na...
- Darius the Mede
Darius the Mede, in the Bible, a king of the Medes who succeeded to the throne of Babylonia after Belshazzar. Otherwise unknown outside biblical tradition, it is likely that this Darius has be...
- Marduk
Marduk, ancient god of Babylonia and chief god of the city of Babylon. His cult rose to prominence in the reign of Hammurabi, and Marduk became the omniscient king of the pantheon—the creator ...
- Nergal
Nergal, ancient deity worshiped in Babylonia and Assyria. He was a god of the midsummer sun, of war, of the chase, and of the dead. He could be beneficent, but he was primarily associated with...
- Chaldaea
Chaldaea or Chaldea, properly the southernmost portion of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Sometimes it is extended to include Babylonia and thus comprises all S Mesopotamia,...
- Cunaxa
Cunaxa, ancient town of Babylonia, near the Euphrates River, NE of Ctesiphon. It was the scene of a battle (401 B.C.) between Cyrus the Younger and Artaxerxes II, described by Xenophon in the ...
- Nabonidus
Nabonidus, d. 538? B.C., last king of the Chaldaean dynasty of Babylonia. He was not of Nebuchadnezzar's family, and it is possible that he usurped the throne. He was absorbed in antiquarian a...
