The land of

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

(roughly corresponding to modern Lebanon) was ruled by the

Neo-Babylonian Empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to ancient Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC a ...

from around 605 BC to 538 BC.

Babylonian conquest

Prior to the rise of the Babylonian Empire in the late 7th century BC, Phoenicia had been a well-sought after land in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

with Hittites and then Assyrians occupying the country in the 13th - 12th centuries and 10th - 7th centuries respectively. Following the collapse of the

Assyrian Empire Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, an indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire ** Post-im ...

in Mesopotamia in 609 BC, Assyrian forces continued to resist their Babylonian conquerors in

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the regio ...

until 605 BC, when Babylon finally defeated the Assyrians at Carchemish, ending the last vestige of the Assyrian Empire. The conquest of Assyria by

Nebuchadnezzar II 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 ...

, king of Babylon, put him at odds with the Egyptian Pharaoh, whose interests lay in keeping a friendly Assyrian state in control of parts of the Levant. Consequently, the Babylonians had to fight the Egyptians in order to take control of Phoenicia and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean coast. However, the Egyptians were unable to contain the Babylonian might, and the Egyptians soon withdrew back to their homeland. The Babylonians moved into the former Assyrian provinces on the eastern Mediterranean coast, and Phoenicia became part of the new Babylonian Empire.

The reign of Nebuchadnezzar (605 - 562 BC)

Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, ruled for around 43 years, from 605 BC to 562 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, like many other foreign rulers of Phoenicia before him, exploited Phoenicia's resources to enrich his empire. The economic benefits he gained included harvesting timber, which greatly financed his construction projects throughout Mesopotamia. The Phoenician

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...

s frequently rebelled against their Babylonian overlords, which resulted in almost yearly campaigns to repress the revolts. In 586 BC, fresh from the

destruction of Jerusalem The siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), a major rebellion against Roman rule in the province of Judaea. Led by Titus, Roman forces besieged the Jewish capital, which had beco ...

, Nebuchadnezzar and his army laid siege to Tyre, which had revolted. After an incredible 13 years of siege, the city finally capitulated.http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-23369/Lebanon see section titled "Assyrian and Babylonian domination of Phoenicia"

Collapse of Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar's successors did him no credit and much of his gains were lost within a few decades. The rise of the Persians to the east was ignored by Babylon's incompetent rulers. Even before Babylon fell, Persia conquered Syria and seized Phoenicia from Babylonian rule. In the

battle of Sardis The siege of Sardis (547/546 BC) was the last decisive conflict after the Battle of Thymbra, which was fought between the forces of Croesus of Lydia and Cyrus the Great, when Cyrus followed Croesus to his city, laid siege to it for 14 days and cap ...

, a smaller Persian army succeeded (with the aid of camels and spearmen) in defeating an alliance of Lydian princes and Asian Greeks. Since

Nabonidus Nabonidus (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-naʾid'', meaning "May Nabu be exalted" or "Nabu is praised") was the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from 556 BC to the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenian Empire under Cyrus the Great in 53 ...

(King of Babylon from 556 BC) had sent troops to aid the Lydians and Greeks, the Persians then marched against Babylon and took the city in 539 BC, and the lands of the Babylonian Empire, including Phoenicia, passed into Persian hands.

References

{{reflist

Sources

Georges Roux, ''Ancient Iraq''

External links