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The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia.
Jun 6, 2024 · The Neo-Babylonian empire was an ancient kingdom that stretched from Palestine to Persia. It is known perhaps best from the accounts of its second king, Nebuchadnezzar II, in the Hebrew Bible and for the role it played in the Babylonian captivity.
Learn about the Neo-Babylonian empire (626–539 bc), which emerged from the collapse of Assyria and reached its peak under Nebuchadnezzar II. Explore the history, culture, and legacy of this ancient kingdom in the Middle East.
- Overview
- A Neo-Babylonian dynasty
- Architecture
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By Dr. Senta German
"I, Nebuchadnezzar . . . magnificently adorned them with luxurious splendor for all mankind to behold in awe."
Nebuchadnezzar II, Inscription plaque of the Ishtar Gate
The chronology of Mesopotamia is complicated. Scholars refer to places (Sumer, for example) and peoples (the Babylonians), but also empires (Babylonia) and unfortunately for students of the Ancient Near East these organizing principles do not always agree. The result is that we might, for example, speak of the very ancient Babylonians starting in the 1800s B.C.E. and then also the Neo-Babylonians more than a thousand years later. What came in between you ask? Well, quite a lot, but mostly the Kassites and the Assyrians.
The Babylonians rose to power in the late 7th century and were heirs of the urban traditions which had long existed in southern Mesopotamia. They eventually ruled an empire as dominant in the Near East as that held by the Assyrians before them.
This period is called Neo-Babylonian (or new Babylonia) because Babylon had also risen to power earlier and became an independent city-state, most famously during the reign of
.
In the art of the Neo-Babylonian Empire we see an effort to invoke the styles and iconography of the 3rd millennium rulers of Babylonia. In fact, one Neo-Babylonian king,
The Neo-Babylonians are most famous for their architecture, notably at their capital city, Babylon.
largely rebuilt this ancient city including its walls and seven gates. It is also during this era that Nebuchadnezzar purportedly built the "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" for his wife because she missed the gardens of her homeland in Media (modern day Iran). Though mentioned by ancient Greek and Roman writers, the "Hanging Gardens" may, in fact, be legendary.
The Ishtar Gate (today in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin) was the most elaborate of the inner city gates constructed in Babylon in antiquity. The whole gate was covered in
glazed bricks which would have rendered the façade with a jewel-like shine. Alternating rows of lion and cattle march in a relief procession across the gleaming blue surface of the gate.
Additional resources
The Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
Learn about the Neo-Babylonian Empire, a revival of ancient Babylonia in the 7th century B.C.E. Explore its art, architecture, and legacy, including the famous Ishtar Gate and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Sep 15, 2023 · A New Power Rises. Following the fall of Nineveh, the Assyrian Empire collapsed, and Nabopolassar's forces emerged as a dominant power in the region. Nabopolassar declared himself king of Babylon and established the Neo-Babylonian Empire, also known as the Chaldean Dynasty.
Babylon, one of the most famous cities of antiquity. It was the capital of southern Mesopotamia from the early 2nd millennium to the early 1st millennium bce and capital of the Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empire in the 7th and 6th centuries bce, when it was at the height of its splendor.
A chapter from a book that surveys the history and culture of the ancient Near East from the third to the first millennium BC. It covers the rise, expansion, and fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, its impact on the region and its legacy in Babylonian culture.
