Fall of Babylon

In 539 BCE the Persian king Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonian army and took the imperial capital. The transfer of power ended the Neo-Babylonian dynasty and brought Mesopotamia into the Achaemenid Empire.

Later traditions connected the conquest with Belshazzar’s feast and prophetic warnings, although the historical Belshazzar was the son and co-regent of Nabonidus rather than an independent king in the later biblical sense.

Haggard’s final novel Belshazzar combines court romance and intrigue with the legendary and historical traditions surrounding Babylon’s fall.