The Babylonians ( c.586-539 BC)

The Babylonians ( c.586-539 BC)

History of Palestine

In 612 BC the Babylonians over Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire immediately collapsed. The Babylonians were from southern Iraq and they so thoroughly destroyed Nineveh that when explorers began their search for it in the nineteenth century it was still popularly believed that Nineveh, like Troy, was only a myth. However, the discovery of the great winged bulls which guarded the entrance to each gate lead us to believe that Nineveh was that great city mention in ancient writings.

The Babylonians installed a puppet king, Zedekiah, in Jerusalem; but when he became involved in political intrigue with Egypt, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BC. He also burnt down Solomon’s Temple and carried Jerusalem’s leading citizens back to Baylon.

The Hebrews who were taken to Babylon were apparently well-treated, some becoming wealthy merchants. It was Babylon that the old Hebrew faith gradually transformed itself into Judaism, conforming to a rigid monotheism, with stress on fasting, confession, prayer, laws-reading and study.

Nebuchadnezzar also overran Philistia and Phoenicia, but Tyre recorded history’s longest siege when it held back the Babylonians for thirteen long years. In the end, the Babylonians gave up the siege in despair.

Nebuchadnezzar was not all war. When his wife complained that Babylon’s climate in the summer was too hot and humid, Nebuchadnezzer built for the fabulous “Hanging Gardens”, so that she could enjoy a cool breeze at an altitude. The Hanging Gardens were later counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.