page_title: Neo-Assyrian Empire
section_title: Fall of Assyria, 631–609 BC
hierarchical_section_title: Neo-Assyrian Empire / History / Fall of Assyria, 631–609 BC
caption_attribution_description: English: Battle of Carchemish
context_page_description: The Neo-Assyrian Empire was an Iron Age Mesopotamian empire, in existence between 911 and 609 BC, and became the largest empire of the world up until that time. The Assyrians perfected early techniques of imperial rule, many of which became standard in later empires, The Assyrians were the first to be armed with iron weapons, and their troops employed advanced, effective military tactics.
  Following the conquests of Adad-nirari II in the late 10th century BC, Assyria emerged as the most powerful state in the world at the time, coming to dominate the Ancient Near East, East Mediterranean, Asia Minor, Caucasus, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, eclipsing and conquering rivals such as Babylonia, Elam, Persia, Urartu, Lydia, the Medes, Phrygians, Cimmerians, Israel, Judah, Phoenicia, Chaldea, Canaan, the Kushite Empire, the Arabs, and Egypt.
  The Neo-Assyrian Empire succeeded the Old Assyrian Empire, and the Middle Assyrian Empire of the Late Bronze Age. During this period, Aramaic was also made an official language of the empire, alongside Akkadian.
context_section_description: The empire began to disintegrate rapidly after a series of bitter civil wars broke out involving a number of claimants to the throne. Ashur-etil-ilani succeeded Ashurbanipal, but his reign was short and he was succeeded in 627 BC by his brother Sinsharishkun. After dealing with the revolt of the general Sin-shumu-lishir, Sinsharishkun faced a much larger threat. His Babylonian vassal state had taken advantage of the upheavals in Assyria and rebelled under the previously unknown Nabopolassar, a member of the Chaldean tribe, in 625 BC. What followed was a long war fought in the Babylonian heartland. Nabopolassar tried to capture Nippur, the main Assyrian center of power in Babylonia, but was defeated by Sinsharishkun. However, Nabopolassar did take the actual city of Babylon after a popular uprising there, and was crowned king of the city in 625 BC.
  Sinsharishkun then lost more ground, before he succeeded in recapturing Uruk in about 624 BC, only to quickly lose it again. When Sinsharishkun led a large army to Babylonia in 623 BC, in an attempt to finally crush the rebellion, yet another war broke out in the Assyrian homeland. A relief army was sent back from the Babylonian campaign but changed sides, thereby allowing the usurper to reach the capital, Nineveh, without interference, and claim the throne. Sinsharishkun was able to quell the homeland rebellion, but precious time was lost to solve the Babylonian problem, and Nabopolassar was able to consolidate his position.
  In 620 BC, Nabopolassar finally captured Nippur, becoming master of Babylonia. While these events were unfolding, the Medes had also freed themselves from Assyrian domination and consolidated power in what was to become Persia. In 616 BC, Cyaxares, the Median king, made an alliance with Nabopolassar, and with the help of the Scythians and Cimmerians, attacked Assyria. Assyria now faced overwhelming odds, and after four years of bitter fighting, the coalition destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC, after a three-month siege, followed by house-to-house fighting. Sinsharishkun was killed in the process, and the Fall of Nineveh marked the beginning of the end of the Assyrian Empire.
  A general called Ashur-uballit II was declared king of Assyria, and with belated military support from the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II, whose dynasty had been installed with the help of the Assyrians, held out at Harran until 609 BC. Egyptian aid continued to the Assyrians, who desperately attempted to curb the increasing power of the Babylonians and Medes.
  In 609 BC, at the Battle of Megiddo, an Egyptian force defeated a Judean force under king Josiah and managed to reach the last remnants of the Assyrian army. In a final battle at Harran in 609 BC, the Babylonians and Medes defeated the Assyrian-Egyptian alliance, after which Assyria ceased to exist as an independent state. It is not known if Ashur-uballit II was killed at Harran or if he survived; anyway, he subsequently disappeared from the pages of history. In 605 BC, another Egyptian force fought the Babylonians (Battle of Carchemish), helped by the remnants of the army of the former Assyria, but this too met with defeat.
  In the mid-6th century BC, Babylonia and Assyria became provinces of the Persian Empire. In 520 BC, Assyria made a final attempt to regain independence, with a large-scale rebellion against the Achaemenid Empire, which was suppressed by king Darius the Great.
  Though the Assyrians during the reign of Ashurbanipal destroyed the Elamite civilization, the Assyrians' culture did influence the succeeding empires of the Medes and the Persians, Indo-Iranian peoples who had been dominated by Assyria.
caption: In 605 BCE, an Egyptian force fought the Babylonians at Battle of Carchemish, helped by the remnants of the army of the former Assyria, but this too met with defeat.
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