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605-562 BCEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Nebuchadnezzar II Rebuilds Babylon and Conquers Jerusalem

Babylon became the grandest city of its age, and its king carried the elite of Judah into exile

On the timeline · around 605-562 BCE · Neo-Babylonian Babylon and the Persian ConquestThe Assyrian EmpireNeo-Babylonian Babylon and the Persian ConquestNebuchadnezzar II Rebuilds Babylon and Conquers Jerusalem725 BCE675 BCE625 BCE600 BCE

Quick facts

Reign
605-562 BCE
Siege of Jerusalem
598/597 BCE, deportations begin
Destruction of Jerusalem
587/586 BCE
Fall of Tyre
585 BCE

What happened

Nebuchadnezzar II ruled the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 605 to 562 BCE, inheriting and expanding the power his father Nabopolassar had built by helping destroy Assyria. He crushed remaining Assyrian resistance and, in 598 to 597 BCE, marched on the Kingdom of Judah, besieging Jerusalem and deporting its elite citizens back to Babylon in what became known as the Babylonian Captivity. Renewed resistance from Judah brought further campaigns between 589 and 582 BCE, including the destruction of Jerusalem itself in 587 or 586 BCE, before the Phoenician city of Tyre finally fell after a lengthy siege in 585 BCE, consolidating Nebuchadnezzar's control over the former Assyrian sphere of influence in the Levant.

Why it matters

The Babylonian Captivity became one of the defining events in the history of the Jewish people, reshaping Judean religious and political identity in exile and setting up the later Persian-era return that Cyrus the Great would authorize. Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, meanwhile, became the wonder city of its age, the platform for the Ishtar Gate and the legendary Hanging Gardens.

How we know

Nebuchadnezzar's Levantine campaigns are recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles as well as in the Hebrew Bible's books of Kings and Jeremiah, giving historians two independent textual traditions, Babylonian administrative and Judean religious, that corroborate the same sequence of sieges and deportations.

Sources

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Nebuchadnezzar II Rebuilds Babylon and Conquers Jerusalem · Ancient Mesopotamia · SourcedStory