Neo-Babylonian Empire

The Neo-Babylonian Empire emerged after the collapse of Assyrian power and reached its height under Nebuchadnezzar II. Babylon became an imperial capital celebrated for monumental building, temples and royal ceremony.

The empire controlled much of Mesopotamia and the Levant, including Judah after the conquest of Jerusalem. Court politics and contested royal succession weakened the dynasty before the armies of Cyrus entered Babylon in 539 BCE.

Haggard’s Belshazzar and other fiction about the final Babylonian court draw directly on this period.