page_title: Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire
section_title: Rise of Babylon
hierarchical_section_title: Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire / Course of the war / Rise of Babylon
caption_attribution_description: English: Approximate extension of the Neo-Babylonian Empire during the reign of Nabonidus (556-539 BC). Français: Extension approximative de l'empire néo-babylonien sous le règne de Nabonide (556-539 av. J.-C.).
context_page_description: The Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire was the last war fought by the Neo-Assyrian Empire between 626 and 609 BC. Succeeding his brother Ashur-etil-ilani, the new king of Assyria, Sinsharishkun, was immediately faced by the revolt of one of his brother's chief generals, Sin-shumu-lishir, who attempted to usurp the throne for himself. Though this threat was dealt with relatively quickly, the instability caused by the brief civil war may be what made it possible for another general, Nabopolassar, to rise up and seize power in Babylonia. Sinsharishkun's inability to defeat Nabopolassar, despite repeated attempts over the course of several years, allowed Nabopolassar to consolidate power and form the Neo-Babylonian Empire, restoring Babylonian independence after more than a century of Assyrian rule. The Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the newly formed Median Empire under King Cyaxares, then invaded the Assyrian heartland. In 614 BC, the Medes captured and sacked Assur, the ceremonial and religious heart of the Assyrian Empire, and in 612 BC their combined armies attacked and razed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital.
context_section_description: Sinsharishkun's rule of Babylon did not last long, as almost immediately in the wake of him coming to the throne, the general Sin-shumu-lishir rebelled.  Sin-shumu-lishir was a key figure during Ashur-etil-ilani's reign, putting down several revolts and possibly being the de facto leader of the country. The rise of another king might have endangered his position and as such led him to revolt and attempt to seize power for himself. Sin-shumu-lishir seized some cities in northern Babylonia, including Nippur and Babylon itself and would rule there for three months before being defeated by Sinsharishkun.
  Babylonia's governor, Nabopolassar, possibly using the political instability caused by the previous revolt and the ongoing interregnum in the south, assaulted both Nippur and Babylon. and in the aftermath of a failed Assyrian counterattack, Nabopolassar was formally crowned King of Babylon on November 22/23 626 BC, restoring Babylonia as an independent kingdom.
  In 625–623 BC, Sinsharishkun's forces again attempted to defeat Nabopolassar, campaigning in northern Babylonia. Initially, these campaigns were successful; in 625 BC the Assyrians took the city of Sippar and Nabopolassar's attempt to reconquer Nippur failed. Another Assyrian vassal, Elam, also stopped paying tribute to Assyria during this time and several Babylonian cities, such as Der, revolted and joined Nabopolassar. Realizing the threat this posed, Sinsharishkun led a massive counterattack himself which saw the successful recapture of Uruk in 623 BC. 
  Sinsharishkun could possibly have ultimately been victorious but another revolt, led by an Assyrian general, occurred in the empire's western provinces in 622 BC. This general, whose name remains unknown, took advantage of the absence of Sinsharishkun's forces to march on Nineveh, met an army which surrendered without fighting and successfully seized the Assyrian throne. The surrender of the army indicates that the usurper was an Assyrian and possibly even a member of the royal family, or at least a person that would be acceptable as king.  Sinsharishkun then abandoned his Babylonian campaign and though he successfully defeated the usurper after a hundred days of civil war, the absence of the Assyrian army saw the Babylonians conquer the last remaining Assyrian outposts in Babylonia in 622–620 BC. The Babylonian siege of Uruk had begun by October 622 BC and though control of the ancient city would shift between Assyria and Babylon, it was firmly under Babylonian rule by 620 BC. and Nabopolassar consolidated his rule over the entirety of Babylonia. During the next years, the Babylonians scored several other victories against the Assyrians and by 616 BC, Nabopolassar's forces had reached as far as the Balikh River. Pharaoh Psamtik I, Assyria's ally, marched his forces to help Sinsharishkun. The Egyptian pharaoh had over the last few years campaigned in order to establish dominance over the small city-states of the Levant and it was in his interests that Assyria survived as a buffer state between his own empire and those of the Babylonians and Medes in the east. A joint Egyptian-Assyrian campaign to capture the city of Gablinu was undertaken in October of 616 BC, but ended in defeat after which the Egyptian allies kept to the west of the Euphrates, only offering limited support. In 616 BC, the Babylonians defeated the Assyrian forces at Arrapha and pushed them back to the Little Zab. Although Nabopolassar's attempt at taking Assur, the ceremonial and religious center of Assyria, in May of the next year failed and he retreated to Takrit, the Assyrians also failed to assault Takrit and put an end to him.
caption: The Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabonidus (r.  556–539 BC)
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