In years 12 to 16 of the reign of Nabopolassar, Ashur, Nineveh, and Harran were destroyed, and the coalition between the Medes and the Babylonians replaced the great empire.
‘The twelfth year: In the month of Ab the Medes, after they had marched against Nineveh. . . hastened and they captured Tarbisu, a city in the district of Nineveh. They went along the Tigris and encamped against Ashur. They did battle against the city and. . . destroyed it. They inflicted a terrible defeat upon a great people, plundered and sacked them. The king of Akkad (Babylonia) and his army, who had gone to help the Medes, did not reach the battle (in time). The city. . . The king of Akkad and Umakishtar (Cyaxares, king of the Medes) met one another by the city and together they made an entente cordiale. Cyaxares and his army went home. The king of Akkad and his army went home.
The thirteenth year: In the month of Iyyar, the Suheans rebelled against the king of Akkad and became belligerent. The king of Akkad mustered his army and marched to Suhu. On the fourth day of the month of Sivan he did battle against Rahilu, a city which is on an island in the middle of the Euphrates, and at that time he captured the city. He built his. . . The men who live on the bank of the Euphrates came down to him. . . he encamped against Anat and the siege engines he brought over from the western side. . . he brought the siege engines up to the wall. He did battle against the city and captured it. . . the king of Assyria and his army came down and. . . The king of Akkad [went home] with his army.
The fourteenth year: The king of Akkad mustered his army and marched to. . . The king of the Umman-Manda (that is, the Medes) marched towards the king of Akkad. . . they met one another. The king of Akkad brought across [the army] of Cyaxares and they marched along the bank of the Tigris. They encamped against Nineveh. From the month of Sivan until the month of Ab — for three months — they subjected the city to a heavy siege. On the xth day of the month of Ab, they inflicted a major defeat upon a great people. At that time, Sin-shar-ishkun, king of Assyria, [died (?)] . . . They carried off the vast booty of the city and the temple, and they turned the city into a ruin heap. The. . . of Assyria escaped from the enemy and embraced the feet of the king of Akkad to save his own life. On the twentieth day of the month of Elul, Cyaxares and his army went home. After he had gone, the king of Akkad [despatched his army] and they marched to Nasibina. Plunder and exiles of. . . and they brought the people of Rusapa to the king of Akkad at Nineveh. On the xth day of the month of. . . [Ashur-uballit (II)] ascended the throne in Harran to rule Assyria. Up until the xth day of the month of. . . in Nineveh. . . from the twentieth day of the month of. . . the king of. . .
The fifteenth year: In the month of Tammuz, the king of Akkad mustered his army and marched to Assyria. . . victoriously. . . of the land of. . . and of the land of Shu - . . . he plundered it and carried off its vast booty. In the month of Marchesvan the king of Akkad took the lead of his army and marched against Ruggulitu. He did battle against the city and on the 28th day of the month of Marchesvan captured it. He did not leave a single man alive. . . he went home.
The sixteenth year: In the month of lyyar the king of Akkad mustered his army and marched to Assyria. From the month of. . . until the month of Marchesvan he marched about victoriously in Assyria. In the month of Marchesvan the Umman-Manda, who had come to help the king of Akkad, put their armies together and marched to Harran against Ashur-uballit (II) who had ascended the throne of Assyria. Fear of the enemy overcame Ashur-uballit (II) and the army of Egypt which had come to help him and they abandoned the city and crossed [the Euphrates]. The king of Akkad reached Harran and. . . captured the city. He carried off the vast booty of the city and the temple. In the month of Adar the king of Akkad left their. . . he went home. The Umman-Manda who had come to help the king of Akkad, withdrew.’
Already by 614 bc, the Medes of Cyaxares (Umakishtar in the Babylonian Chronicle) had invaded the Assyrian cities, conquering Tarbisu and then Ashur, which was brutally sacked. Nabopolassar moved north to help Cyaxares, but reached Ashur after the siege. Nonetheless, the Babylonian king sealed an alliance with the Median king and returned to Babylonia. Two years later (612 bc), the two armies attacked Nineveh for the final blow on the Assyrians. After three months of siege, the Assyrian capital was taken, sacked and destroyed. Sin-shar-ishkun died during the siege. The Medes returned to their land, but Nabopolassar still had the strength to march to Nasibina and conquer it. The Assyrian court sought refuge in Harran. There, an Ashur-uballit II, whose name recalled the founder of the Middle Assyrian kingdom, was made king of the deteriorating empire. In 610 bc, the Medes and Babylonians reached Harran and conquered it. Ashur-uballit and his Egyptian allies retreated west of the Euphrates.
This was effectively the end of the Neo-Assyrian empire. Despite the fact that the remaining Assyrian troops continued to fight alongside the Egyptians for a couple of years, Ashur-uballit was effectively removed from power, disappearing from the sources. At this stage, the real confrontation was among the surviving states in the empire, which were fighting over its remains. The alliance between Cyaxares and Nabopolassar was still in place, but was becoming increasingly less functional on a military level, although the alliance clearly implied a division of the respective areas of influence. The Babylonians gained control over the Mesopotamian plain, while the Medes gained control over the Iranian and Anatolian highlands. The third power was Egypt, which had controlled the Syro-Levantine area from 616 bc and was competing with the Babylonians along the Euphrates, in an attempt to regain control over Harran. Before dealing with the Egyptians in the west, Nabopolassar, supported by his son and designated heir Nebuchadnezzar II, decided to consolidate his presence to the north of his empire with a series of expeditions into Kum-muh, reaching the borders of Urartu. This kingdom would survive another couple of years. To a certain extent, Urartu was trying to take part in the division of the former Assyrian territories, especially in the area between the Upper Euphrates and the Upper Tigris.
The last year of Nabopolassar’s reign (605 bc) marked the decisive victory of the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar crossed the Euphrates at Carchemish, the operative centre of the Egyptians. The city was sieged, the Egyptians retreated and Nebuchadnezzar followed them to Hama, where he defeated them again. At this point, the prince found out that his father had died. He thus returned to Babylon to take the throne, having already conquered Syria as far as Hama and placed the Egyptians in a difficult position.
World History
