Nabopolassar was succeeded by his son, the famous Nebuchadnezzar (604 to
561 B. C.), who carried his arms with success against the cities of
Jerusalem and Tyre, and even into Egypt. The empire was at its height of
power and glory under him, and extended from the Euphrates to Egypt, and
from the deserts of Arabia on the south to the Armenian Mountains on the
north.
The carrying into captivity of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar and the pride
of his heart,--his image of gold in the plain of Dura, his fiery
furnace, his strange madness, recovery, and repentance,--are well known
from the account in the Hebrew Scriptures by the prophet Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach, the friend of
Jehoiachin, captive King of Judah. He was followed by Neriglassar, a
successful conspirator against his power and life; and he in turn, after
some years, was defeated and slain in battle against the Medes and
Persians. The assassination, after a few months, of the tyrant
Laborosoarchod brought the last Babylonian monarch, Nabonidus, to the
throne, in 555 B. C.