Editing Babylonia (section)

===Assyrian rule, 911–619 BC===
Babylonia remained in a state of chaos as the 10th century BC drew to a close. A further migration of nomads from the Levant occurred in the early 9th century BC with the arrival of the [[Chaldea]]ns, another nomadic Northwest Semitic-speaking people described in Assyrian annals as the "Kaldu". The Chaldeans settled in the far southeast of Babylonia, joining the already long extant Arameans and Suteans. By 850 BC the migrant Chaldeans had established a small territory in the extreme southeast of Mesopotamia.

From 911 BC with the founding of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–605 BC) by [[Adad-nirari II]], Babylon found itself once again under the domination and rule of its fellow Mesopotamian state for the next three centuries. Adad-nirari II twice attacked and defeated [[Shamash-mudammiq]] of Babylonia, annexing a large area of land north of the [[Diyala River]] and the towns of [[Hīt]] and [[Zanqu]] in mid Mesopotamia. He made further gains over Babylonia under [[Nabu-shuma-ukin I]] later in his reign. [[Tukulti-Ninurta II]] and [[Ashurnasirpal II]] also forced Babylonia into vassalage, and [[Shalmaneser III]] (859–824 BC) sacked Babylon itself, slew king [[Nabu-apla-iddina]], subjugated the Aramean, Sutean and Chaldean tribes settled within Babylonia, and installed [[Marduk-zakir-shumi I]] (855–819 BC) followed by [[Marduk-balassu-iqbi]] (819–813 BC) as his vassals. It was during the late 850s BC, in the annals of [[Shalmaneser III]], that the [[Chaldea]]ns and [[Arabs]] dwelling in some northern regions of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] are first mentioned in the pages of written recorded history.

Upon the death of Shalmaneser II, [[Baba-aha-iddina]] was reduced to vassalage by the Assyrian queen [[Shammuramat]] (known as [[Semiramis]] to the Persians, Armenians and Greeks), acting as regent to his successor [[Adad-nirari III]] who was merely a boy. Adad-nirari III eventually killed Baba-aha-iddina and ruled there directly until 800 BC until [[Ninurta-apla-X]] was crowned. However, he too was subjugated by Adad-Nirari III. The next Assyrian king, [[Shamshi-Adad V]] then made a vassal of [[Marduk-bel-zeri]].

[[File:Assiri, regno di sennacherib, prisma a sei facce con iscrizione sulle 8 campagne militari del sovrano, 704-681 ac ca. 02.jpg|thumb|upright|Prism of Sennacherib (705–681 BC), containing records of his military campaigns, culminating with [[Siege of Babylon|Babylon's destruction]]. Exhibited at the [[Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago]].]]
Babylonia briefly fell to another foreign ruler when [[Marduk-apla-usur]] ascended the throne in 780 BC, taking advantage of a period of civil war in Assyria. He was a member of the [[Chaldea]]n tribe who had a century or so earlier settled in a small region in the far southeastern corner of Mesopotamia, bordering the [[Persian Gulf]] and southwestern Elam. [[Shalmaneser IV]] attacked him and retook northern Babylonia, forcing a border treaty in Assyria's favour upon him. However, he was allowed to remain on the throne, and successfully stabilised the part of Babylonia he controlled. [[Eriba-Marduk]], another Chaldean, succeeded him in 769 BC and his son, [[Nabu-shuma-ishkun]] in 761 BC. Babylonia appears to have been in a state of chaos during this time, with the north occupied by Assyria, its throne occupied by foreign Chaldeans, and civil unrest prominent throughout the land.

The Babylonian king [[Nabonassar]] overthrew the Chaldean usurpers in 748 BC, and successfully stabilised Babylonia, remaining untroubled by [[Ashur-nirari V]] of Assyria. However, with the accession of [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] (745–727 BC) Babylonia came under renewed attack. Babylon was invaded and sacked and Nabonassar reduced to vassalage. His successors [[Nabu-nadin-zeri]], [[Nabu-suma-ukin II]] and [[Nabu-mukin-zeri]] were also in servitude to Tiglath-Pileser III, until in 729 BC the Assyrian king decided to rule Babylon directly as its king instead of allowing Babylonian kings to remain as vassals of Assyria as his predecessors had done for two hundred years.

It was during this period that [[Eastern Aramaic languages|Eastern Aramaic]] was introduced by the Assyrians as the [[lingua franca]] of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and the still spoken (by Assyrians and Mandeans) Mesopotamian Aramaic began to slowly overlay and supplant Akkadian as the spoken language of the general populace of both Assyria and Babylonia.

The Assyrian king [[Shalmaneser V]] was declared king of Babylon in 727 BC, but died whilst besieging [[Samaria]] in 722 BC.

[[Marduk-apla-iddina II]], a Chaldean malka (chieftain) of the far southeast of Mesopotamia, then fomented revolt against Assyrian domination, assisted by strong Elamite support. Marduk-apla-iddina managed to take the throne of Babylon itself between 721 and 710 BC whilst the Assyrian king [[Sargon II]] (722–705 BC) were otherwise occupied in defeating the [[Scythians]] and [[Cimmerians]] who had attacked Assyria's [[Iran|Persian]] and [[Media (region)|Median]] vassal colonies in ancient Iran. Marduk-apla-iddina II was eventually defeated and ejected by [[Sargon II]] of Assyria, and fled to his protectors in Elam. [[Sargon II]] was then declared king in Babylon.

====Destruction of Babylon====
[[Sennacherib]] (705–681 BC) succeeded Sargon II, and after ruling directly for a while, he placed his son [[Ashur-nadin-shumi]] on the throne. However, Merodach-Baladan and his Elamite protectors continued to unsuccessfully agitate against Assyrian rule. [[Nergal-ushezib]], an Elamite, murdered the Assyrian prince and briefly took the throne. This led the infuriated Assyrian king [[Sennacherib]] to invade and subjugate Elam and to sack Babylon, laying waste to the region and largely destroying the city. While praying to the god [[Nisroch]] in [[Nineveh]] in 681 BC, Sennacherib was soon murdered by his own sons. The new Assyrian king [[Esarhaddon]] placed a puppet king [[Marduk-zakir-shumi II]] on the throne in Babylon. However, Marduk-apla-iddina returned from exile in Elam, and briefly deposed Marduk-zakir-shumi, whereupon Esarhaddon was forced to attack and defeat him. Marduk-apla-iddina once more fled to his masters in Elam, where he died in exile.

====Restoration and rebuilding====
[[Esarhaddon]] (681–669 BC) ruled Babylon personally, he completely rebuilt the city, bringing rejuvenation and peace to the region. Upon his death, and in an effort to maintain harmony within his vast empire (which stretched from the [[Caucasus]] to [[Egypt]] and [[Nubia]] and from [[Cyprus]] to [[Persia]] and the [[Caspian Sea]]), he installed his eldest son [[Shamash-shum-ukin]] as a subject king in Babylon, and his youngest, the highly educated [[Ashurbanipal]] (669–627 BC), in the more senior position as king of Assyria and overlord of Shamash-shum-ukin.

====Babylonian revolt====
[[File:Babylonian prisoners under Assyrian guard, reign of Ashurbanipal 668-630 BCE, Nineveh, ME 124788.jpg|thumb|upright=2|Babylonian prisoners under the surveillance of an Assyrian guard, reign of Ashurbanipal 668–630 BC, Nineveh, [[British Museum]] ME 124788]]
Despite being an Assyrian himself, Shamash-shum-ukin, after decades subject to his brother [[Ashurbanipal]], declared that the city of Babylon (and not the Assyrian city of [[Nineveh]]) should be the seat of the immense empire. He raised a major revolt against his brother, Ashurbanipal. He led a powerful coalition of peoples also resentful of Assyrian subjugation and rule, including Elam, the [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Medes]], the Babylonians, Chaldeans and Suteans of southern Mesopotamia, the Arameans of the Levant and southwest Mesopotamia, the [[Arabs]] and [[Dilmun]]ites of the Arabian Peninsula and the Canaanites-Phoenicians. After a bitter struggle Babylon was sacked and its allies vanquished, Shamash-shum-ukim being killed in the process. Elam was destroyed once and for all, and the Babylonians, Persians, Chaldeans, Arabs, Medes, Elamites, Arameans, Suteans and Canaanites were violently subjugated, with Assyrian troops exacting savage revenge on the rebelling peoples. An Assyrian governor named [[Kandalanu]] was placed on the throne to rule on behalf of the Assyrian king.<ref name="Georges Roux - Ancient Iraq"/> Upon Ashurbanipal's death in 627 BC, his son [[Ashur-etil-ilani]] (627–623 BC) became ruler of Babylon and Assyria.

However, Assyria soon descended into a series of brutal internal civil wars which were to cause its downfall. Ashur-etil-ilani was deposed by one of his own generals, named [[Sin-shumu-lishir]] in 623 BC, who also set himself up as king in Babylon. After only one year on the throne amidst continual civil war, [[Sinsharishkun]] (622–612 BC) ousted him as ruler of Assyria and Babylonia in 622 BC. However, he too was beset by constant unremitting civil war in the Assyrian heartland. Babylonia took advantage of this and rebelled under [[Nabopolassar]], a previously unknown ''malka'' (chieftain) of the Chaldeans, who had settled in southeastern Mesopotamia by c. 850 BC.

It was during the reign of Sin-shar-ishkun that Assyria's vast empire began to unravel, and many of its former subject peoples ceased to pay tribute, most significantly for the Assyrians; the Babylonians, Chaldeans, [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], [[Scythians]], Arameans and [[Cimmerians]].