12th October 539 BCE: Babylon falls to the Persian king Cyrus the Great

Scott Allsop (0:00)

On the 12th of October, 539 BC, Babylon fell to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, according to the traditional dating of the event. Welcome to HistoryPod.

Babylon had been the center of the Neo-Babylonian Empire since the rise of Nabopalace in 626 BC. His son expanded the empire and developed Babylon through a series of major building projects that made the city famous for its temples, palaces and defensive walls. By the middle of the 6th century BC, however, the empire faced a new threat from Persia. Cyrus had established control over a large area of western Asia and began expanding into territories controlled by Babylon. In 539 BC, his army entered Mesopotamia and defeated Babylonian forces at the Battle of Ophis on the Tigris. The Persian advance continued towards Babylon, while the Babylonian king Nabonidus withdrew towards the city.

Although Babylon was heavily fortified, the city did not endure a prolonged siege. The Nabonidus Chronicle, a contemporary Babylonian record, states that Persian forces entered Babylon, and that Agbaru, an ally of Cyrus, took control of the city. Modern reconstructions of the sequence of events have since pinpointed this as happening on 12th October. The Chronicle also records that Nabonidus was captured after the fall of the city, but, unlike some later accounts, does not describe a spectacular assault involving the diversion of the Euphrates. Cyrus entered Babylon shortly afterwards, and adopted the traditional title King of Babylon. He presented himself as a legitimate ruler, supported by Marduk, the city's principal deity, which brought Mesopotamia into the Persian Empire, and ensured that Babylon continued to be an important city for centuries afterwards.