Though he does not appear to have taken any active part in the long siege of Nineveh, Nabopolassar was not slow in securing his share of the dismembered empire. The northern territory of Assyria, including Northern Mesopotamia,[3] fell to the Medes, while the southern districts became parts of Nabopolassar's empire under a possible Median suzerainty.[4] But Babylon was soon to put her newly organized army to the test. Two years before the fall of Nineveh Egypt had seized the opportunity, afforded her by Assyria's impotence, of occupying Palestine and Syria.[5] She had crushed Josiah and his Hebrew army at Megiddo, and, though it is not certain whether Judah had the support of other allies, it is clear that Necho encountered no effective opposition on his advance to the Euphrates. But Nabopolassar did not intend to allow this portion of the Assyrian empire to fall to Egypt unchallenged, and he despatched a Babylonian force north-westwards along the Euphrates under the command of the crown-prince, Nebuchadnezzar. The two armies met at Carchemish in 604 b.c., where the Egyptians were utterly routed and driven back through Palestine.[6] But Nebuchadnezzar did not press his pursuit beyond the borders of Egypt, for news reached him at Pelusium of Nabopolassar's death, and he was obliged to return at once to Babylon in order to carry out at the capital the necessary ceremonies attending his accession to the throne.
In spite of his withdrawal from the country, the greater part of Syria and Palestine lost no time in transferring their allegiance to Babylon. The little state of Judah was an exception, for, though she paid her tribute at first, she soon put the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah at defiance, and her short-sighted revolt led to the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 596 b.c., and to the carrying away of a large portion of her population into captivity. A few years later Egypt made her last attempt to reoccupy Palestine and Syria, and Judah joined the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre in rallying to her support. In 587 Nebuchadnezzar advanced into Northern Syria and took up a strong strategic position at Riblah on the Orontes, whence he despatched a part of his army to besiege Jerusalem. An attempt by Apries, the Egyptian king, to relieve the city was unsuccessful, and in 586 Jerusalem was once more taken and the greater part of the remnant of the Jews followed their fellow-countrymen into exile.[7] The Babylonian army then occupied Phoenicia, though the city of Tyre offered an obstinate resistance and only acknowledged its allegiance to Babylon after a long siege, which is said to have lasted for thirteen years.[8]
Thus Nebuchadnezzar completed the work begun by his father, Nabopolassar, and, by the skilful and vigorous prosecution of his campaigns, established the Neo-Babylonian empire on a firm basis, so that its authority was unquestioned from the Persian Gulf to the Egyptian frontier. Of his later campaigns nothing has yet been published, beyond a fragmentary reference to a conflict with Amasis of Egypt in the thirty-seventh year of his reign.[9] Though we do not know the circumstances under which it took place, we may assume that the Babylonian army was again victorious against the Egyptian troops and the Greek mercenaries who fought in their ranks. A tradition is indeed preserved by Josephus that Nebuchadnezzar made Egypt a Babylonian province, and although this is certainly an exaggeration, the evidence suggests that he may well have conducted at least one successful campaign on Egyptian territory. The troubles of Apries in consequence of his ill-advised expedition against Cyrene, followed by the revolt of Amasis and his own deposition and death, may well have furnished the occasion for a successful invasion of the country by Nebuchadnezzar.
A very large number of inscriptions have been recovered of the Neo-Babylonian kings, but, unlike the foundation-records of Assyria, they contain no accounts of military expeditions, but confine themselves to commemorating the restoration or erection of temples and palaces in Babylon and the other great cities in the land. Considering his military successes, this is surprising in Nebuchadnezzar's case, and the suggestion has been made that he may have told us so little of his expeditions and battles because they were perhaps undertaken at the bidding of Media as his suzerain.[10] Cyaxares was his kinsman, and the part played by Babylon in the conflict of Media with Lydia may well be explained on that hypothesis.
BRONZE DOOR-STEP FROM E-ZIDA, INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME AND TITLES OF NEBUCHADNEZAR ii.
Brit. Mus., No. 90851.
With the passing of Assyrian power the political importance of Lydia had risen considerably, and under Sadyattes and Alyattes, the successors of Ardys upon the Lydian throne, the ravages of the Cimmerian invasion were repaired. These monarchs had conducted a long series of attacks upon the cities and states of Ionia, and, though they were in the main successful, they used up the resources of the nation without obtaining material advantages in return. Handicapped to this extent, Lydia entered upon a five years' struggle with the growing power of Cyaxares, who pushed back her eastern frontier. Matters came to a head in 585 b.c., when the great battle was fought on the Halys between Cyaxares and Alyattes on May 28th. The battle is famous for the total eclipse of the sun, which took place on that day, and is said to have been foretold by the Greek astronomer Thales of Miletus.[11] By the subsequent treaty the Halys was fixed as the frontier between Lydia and the Median empire, and, according to Herodotus, it was arranged in part through the mediation of Nebuchadnezzar.[12] The intervention of Babylon must have been undertaken in the Median interest, and it is possible that Cyaxares could count on Nebuchadnezzar for more than benevolent neutrality in case of need.