resh courage from the success that crowned the
revolt of Babylonia. The Medes, a formidable nation to the east of
Assyria, and which had often crossed arms with the Assyrians, entered
into combination with Babylonia, and the two making several united
assaults upon Nineveh, under the leadership of Kyaxares, at last
succeeded in effecting an entrance. The city was captured and burned to
the ground. With the fall of Assyria, a feeling of relief passed over
the entire eastern world. A great danger, threatening to extinguish the
independence of all of the then known nations of the globe, was averted.
The Hebrew prophets living at the time of this downfall, voice the
general rejoicing that ensued when they declared, that even the cedars
of Lebanon leaped for joy. The province of Assyria proper, fell into the
hands of the Medes, but Babylonia, with her independence established on
a firm footing, was the real heir of Assyria's spirit. Her most glorious
monarch, Nebuchadnezzar II. (604-561 B.C.), seems to have dreamed of
gaining for Babylon the position, once held by Nineveh, of mistress of
the world. Taking Ashurbanabal as his model, he carried his arms to the
west, subdued the kingdom of Judah, and, passing on to Egypt, strove to
secure for Babylon, the supremacy exercised there for a short time by
Assyrian monarchs. In addition to his military campaigns, however, he
also appears in the light of a great builder, enlarging and beautifying
the temples of Babylonia, erecting new ones in the various cities of his
realm, strengthening the walls of Babylon, adorning the capital with
embankment works and other improvements, that gave it a permanent place
in the traditions of the ancient world as one of the seven wonders of
the universe.

The glory of this second Babylonian empire was of short duration. Its
vaulting ambition appears to have overleaped itself. Realizing for a
time the Assyrian ideal of a world monarchy, the fall was as sudden as
its rise was unexpected. Internal dissensions gave the first indication
of the hollowness of the state. Nebuchadnezzar's son was murdered in 560
B.C., within two years after reaching the throne, by his own
brother-in-law, Neriglissar; and the latter dying after a reign of only
four years, his infant child was put out of the way and Nabonnedos, a
high officer of the state, but without royal prerogative, mounted the
throne. In the year 550 news reached Babylon that Cyrus, the king of
Anzan, had d