The Battle of Hamath, sometimes called the Battle of Hama, took place between the

Babylonians Babylonia (; , ) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ru ...

and the fleeing remnants of the Egyptian army defeated at

Carchemish Carchemish ( or ), also spelled Karkemish (), was an important ancient capital in the northern part of the region of Syria. At times during its history the city was independent, but it was also part of the Mitanni, Hittite and Neo-Assyrian ...

. It was fought near the ancient city

Hamath Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one of ...

on the Orontes. In this battle,

Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

further shattered the remnants of

Necho II Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accor ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian army that he had previously defeated in the

Battle of Carchemish The Battle of Carchemish was a battle fought around 605 BCE between the armies of Egypt, allied with the remnants of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, against the armies of Babylonia. The forces would clash at Carchemish, an important military crossing a ...

. The battle is mentioned in the

Babylonian Chronicles The Babylonian Chronicles are a loosely-defined series of about 45 clay tablet, tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They represent one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography. The Babylonian Chronicles a ...

, now housed in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. In the Chronicles it states that Nebuchadnezzar II killed almost all of the

ian combatants, so exhausted that none of them returned to their own country. The Chronicles do not mention Necho and the Bible only mentions 'Necho's army', and it is possible that Necho wasn't present and the Egyptian army was just a garrison army. He was dealing with various rebellions in the delta.

Notes

600s BC

7th century BC Military history of Hama {{AncientEgypt-stub