# Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE

> Investigate how Babylon passed into Persian rule and how its conquerors explained the change. Read the Cyrus Cylinder alongside accounts of Nabonidus, religious legitimacy, and imperial administration without treating royal propaganda as a modern rights charter.

Canonical URL: https://aristotree.com/leila.h/cyrus-takes-babylon-539-bce
Language: en
Creator: leila.h
Last modified: 2026-10-07T08:37:15.837Z
Concepts: 26
Relationships: 41

This is a public, user-curated knowledge graph. Follow the cited sources when verifying claims.

## Concepts

### Labashi-Marduk

**Labashi-Marduk** was the fifth and penultimate king of the Neo-Babylonian **Empire**, ruling in 556 BC.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labashi-Marduk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labashi-Marduk?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### Adad-guppi

**Adad-guppi** /ˈædəˌɡɒpi/, also known as Addagoppe, was a devotee of the moon god Sîn in the northern Assyrian city of Harran, and the mother of King **Nabonidus** of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adad-guppi
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adad-guppi?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### Akitu

**Akitu** or Akitum is a **spring** festival and New Year's celebration, held on the first day of the Assyrian and Babylonian Nisan in ancient Mesopotamia and in Assyrian communities around the world, to celebrate the sowing of barley.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akitu
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akitu?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus_Chronicle

### Euphrates

The **Euphrates** is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of **West Asia**.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrates
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrates?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Opis

### Cambyses II

**Cambyses II** was the second King of Kings of the **Achaemenid Empire**, reigning from 530 to 522 BCE.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambyses_II
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambyses_II?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### Babylonian captivity

The **Babylonian captivity** or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian **Empire**.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### Xenophon

**Xenophon** of Athens was a Greek military leader, philosopher, economist, and historian.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### Babylonian Chronicles

The **Babylonian Chronicles** are a loosely defined series of about 45 **tablets** recording major events in Babylonian history.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_Chronicles
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_Chronicles?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Opis
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar

### Median kingdom

Media was a **polity** centered in Ecbatana that existed from the 7th century BCE until the mid-6th century BCE, and is believed to have dominated a significant portion of the Iranian plateau, preceding the powerful **Achaemenid Empire**.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_Empire
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_Empire?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great

### Ecbatana

**Ecbatana** was an ancient city, the capital of the **Median kingdom**, and the first capital in Iranian history.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecbatana
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecbatana?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great

### Astyages

**Astyages** was the last king of the **Median kingdom**, reigning from 585 to 550 BCE.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astyages
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astyages?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### Sin (mythology)

Sin or Suen also known as Nanna is the **Mesopotamian god** representing the moon.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_(mythology)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_(mythology)?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon

### 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.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylonian_Empire
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Babylonian_Empire?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus

### Battle of Opis

The **Battle of Opis** was the last major military engagement between the **Achaemenid Empire** and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which took place in September 539 BC, during the Persian invasion of Mesopotamia.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Opis
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Opis?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

### Nabonidus Chronicle

The **Nabonidus Chronicle** is an ancient **Babylonian** text, part of a larger series of Babylonian Chronicles inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus_Chronicle
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus_Chronicle?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Opis

### Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE

Investigate how **Babylon** passed into Persian rule and how its conquerors explained the change. Read the **Cyrus Cylinder** alongside accounts of Nabonidus, religious legitimacy, and imperial administration without treating royal propaganda as a modern rights charter.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Babylon?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1880-0617-1941

### Nabonidus

**Nabonidus** 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 539 BC.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire

### Marduk

**Marduk** was a god from ancient Mesopotamia, patron deity of **Babylon**.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

### Babylon

**Babylon** was an ancient city located on the lower **Euphrates** river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

### Achaemenid Empire

The **Achaemenid Empire** was an ancient Iranian empire founded by **Cyrus the Great** of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. 5 million square kilometres, making it the largest empire of its time.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam

### Belshazzar

**Belshazzar** was the son and crown prince of **Nabonidus**, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

### Cyrus the Great

Cyrus II of Persia, commonly known as **Cyrus the Great**, was the founder of the **Achaemenid Empire**.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

### Cyrus Cylinder

The **Cyrus Cylinder** is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several pieces, on which is written an Achaemenid royal inscription in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of the Persian king **Cyrus the Great**.

Topics: history, historical episode

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

### Tayma

**Nabonidus** spent an extended period at the Arabian oasis of **Tayma** before the Persian conquest.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tayma
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tayma?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar

### Hormuzd Rassam

Rassam’s excavations in **Babylon** discovered the **Cyrus Cylinder** in 1879.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cylinder

### Esagila

The cylinder identifies **Esagila** as Marduk’s sanctuary in **Babylon** and presents Cyrus’s rule in relation to the Babylonian cult.

Topics: history

Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esagila
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esagila?action=history
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam

## Relationships

- Akitu — related_to → Esagila: Akitu: Esagila
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Akitu: Akitu: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Euphrates — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Euphrates: Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Euphrates: Euphrates: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Cambyses II — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Cambyses II: Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Cambyses II: Cambyses II: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Babylonian captivity — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Babylonian captivity: Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Babylonian captivity: Babylonian captivity: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Xenophon — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Xenophon: Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Xenophon: Xenophon: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Babylonian Chronicles — related_to → Babylon: Babylonian Chronicles: Babylon
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Babylonian Chronicles: Babylonian Chronicles: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Median kingdom — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Median kingdom: Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Median kingdom: Median kingdom: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Ecbatana — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Ecbatana: Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Ecbatana: Ecbatana: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Astyages — related_to → Cyrus the Great: Astyages: Cyrus the Great
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Astyages: Astyages: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Sin (mythology) — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Sin (mythology): Achaemenid Empire
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Sin (mythology): Sin (mythology): Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Labashi-Marduk — related_to → Marduk: Labashi-Marduk: Marduk
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Labashi-Marduk: Labashi-Marduk: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Adad-guppi — related_to → Nabonidus: Adad-guppi: Nabonidus
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Adad-guppi: Adad-guppi: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Neo-Babylonian Empire — related_to → Babylon: Neo-Babylonian Empire: Babylon
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Neo-Babylonian Empire: Neo-Babylonian Empire: Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Achaemenid Empire: Achaemenid Empire: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Belshazzar: Belshazzar: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Marduk: Marduk: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Nabonidus Chronicle: Nabonidus Chronicle: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Battle of Opis: Battle of Opis: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Babylon: Babylon: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Cyrus Cylinder: Cyrus Cylinder: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Nabonidus: Nabonidus: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Cyrus Takes Babylon, 539 BCE — related_to → Cyrus the Great: Cyrus the Great: people, places, and context for the episode.
- Nabonidus — related_to → Nabonidus Chronicle: The Nabonidus Chronicle records events of Nabonidus’s reign and the Persian…
- Nabonidus — related_to → Tayma: Nabonidus spent an extended period at the Arabian oasis of Tayma before…
- Nabonidus — related_to → Belshazzar: Belshazzar acted as regent during his father Nabonidus’s…
- Cyrus Cylinder — related_to → Marduk: The cylinder portrays Marduk as choosing Cyrus to rule Babylon; this is…
- Cyrus Cylinder — related_to → Esagila: The cylinder identifies Esagila as Marduk’s sanctuary in Babylon and presents Cyrus’s…
- Cyrus Cylinder — related_to → Hormuzd Rassam: Rassam’s excavations in Babylon discovered the Cyrus…