Neo-Babylonian Empire facts for kids

An engraving on an eye stone of onyx with an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II

The term Neo-Babylonian Empire (also known as Chaldea) is talking about the Babylonian era during the 11th, or Chaldean, dynasty.

History

It was ruled by this dynasty between 626 BC when Nabopolassar rebelled against Assyria till 539 BC when Cyrus the Great captured the city of Babylon. The king Nebuchadnezzar II ruled this kingdom from 605 BC - 562 BC. Chaldea started out as referring to the southern part of Babylonia until a Chaldean became the king of Babylon.

Images for kids

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  Map of the Old Babylonian Empire under Hammurabi (r.c. 1792–1750 BC).

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  Locations of some major Mesopotamian cities.

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  The so-called "Tower of Babel stele", depicting Nebuchadnezzar II in the top-right and featuring a depiction of Babylon's great ziggurat (the Etemenanki) to his left.

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  Stele of Nabonidus exhibited in the British Museum. The king is shown praying to the Moon, the Sun and Venus and is depicted as being the closest to the Moon.

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  Illustration of the inhabitants of Babylon deriding the Achaemenid king Darius I during the revolt of Nebuchadnezzar III in 522 BC. From the History of Darius the Great (1900) by Jacob Abbott.

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  Major cities of Lower Mesopotamia in the 1st century BC.

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  Partial view of the ruins of Babylon in modern-day Iraq.

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  9th century BC depiction from a cylinder seal of the Statue of Marduk, Babylon's patron deity Marduk's main cult image in the city.

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  Cylinder by Nabonidus, commemorating restoration work done on a temple dedicated to the god Sîn in Ur. Exhibited at the British Museum.

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  Tablet concerning a legal dispute over barley, from Uruk and dated to the reign of Nabonidus (544 BC). Exhibited at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

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  Striding lions from the Processional Street of Babylon. Exhibited at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

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  Tablet containing a 6th-century BC Babylonian "map of the world", featuring Babylon at its center. Exhibited at the British Museum.

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  Tablet recording a silver payment from the temple dedicated to the god Shamash in Sippar, written during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. Exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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  Irrigation canal from modern-day Iraq, near Baghdad

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  The Ishtar Gate, one of Babylon's eight inner city gates, was constructed by King Nebuchadnezzar II c. 575 BC. The reconstructed gate is exhibited at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

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  City plan of Babylon, showcasing the locations of major points of interest. The outer walls and the northern Summer Palace are not shown.

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  Mud-brick from the Processional Street of Babylon stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar II.

See also

In Spanish: Imperio neobabilónico para niños