III. The Babylonian Empire, B.C. 606-538. This period has been more correctly termed that of the "four kingdoms," since the East was not then, as during the Assyrian period, under one government. The destruction of Nineveh had been wrought by the union of the Medes and Babylonians, under their kings, Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, and these peoples succeeded to most, but not all, of the conquests of Assyria.
1. Media won its own independence, and obtained possession of Armenia, Assyria Proper (north of the Tigris), and Elam. Persia had already been conquered, so that the largest, though less important, portion of the Assyrian empire now belonged to Media.
2. Babylonia obtained Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine. Most of these countries had claimed their independence on the fall of Assyria; and their conquest occupied the reign of Nabopolassar, and his greater son, Nebuchadnezzar. Thus the important parts of the Bible world were nearly all under the rule of Babylon.
3. A new kingdom arose in Asia Minor, that of Lydia, embracing all the lands between the Ægean Sea and the river Halys; destined, however, to a short history, for it formed one of the earliest conquests of Cyrus the Great.
4. Cilicia also appears for the first time upon the map, being situated between the Euphrates and Lydia, north of Syria, and south of the Halys river, and retained its independence until the close of the Babylonian period, when it was annexed to Persia, though even then it retained its own kings.
5. To these might be added Egypt, though outside of the Asiatic world. It soon shook off the yoke of Assyria, and resumed its independence; but, endeavoring to contest with Babylon the empire of the East, was defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, and compelled to retire from Asia. Some suppose that it was conquered by Babylon; and it is possible that for a few years Egypt may have recognized the supremacy of Nebuchadnezzar by paying tribute, but it was never a part of his empire.
The map of the Oriental world, as thus reconstructed, lasted about a century, though with varying boundary lines; as, for instance, Elam, or Susiana, sometimes formed a part of Babylonia, and at other times of Media. During this period Babylon was the metropolis of the East. It was raised to greatness by Nebuchadnezzar, who finished the Tower of Belus, raised the Hanging Gardens, and built great palaces. Two-thirds of the bricks unearthed in the ruins of Babylon bear his name. The city formed a square, on both sides of the Euphrates, covering an area of 130 miles, about that of the city and county of Philadelphia. It was surrounded with double walls, one of which is said to have been 300 feet high, and so wide that six chariots could be driven abreast along its summit. The greatness of the city was short-lived. It was taken by the Medes and Persians, B.C. 536, and soon began to decline, though it remained, in a decaying condition, for nearly 1,000 years afterward.