Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who was the last king of Babylon?
Belshazzar (/bɛlˈʃæzər/; Hebrew: בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר, Belshatsar, Greek: Βαλτάζαρ, Baltázar, from Akkadian: 𒂗𒈗𒋀, Bēl-šar-uṣur, meaning "Bel protect the king")[3] was the eldest son of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire, and regent for his father during the latter's prolonged absence from the city, although he never assumed the titles or ritual functions of kingship.[4] He may have been killed when Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 BCE.[5]
Jeconiah ( "Yekonya" , meaning "Yah has established"; ; ), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin ( ; ), was a king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon in the 6th century BC and was taken into captivity. He was the son and successor of King Jehoiakim. Most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible. Records of Jeconiah's existence have been found in Iraq, such as the Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets. These tablets were excavated near the Ishtar Gate in Babylon and have been dated to c. 592 BC. Written in cuneiform, they mention Jeconiah (, ""Ia-'-ú-kinu"") and his five sons as recipients of food rations in Babylon.
The victorious Assyrian demolished the walls of Babylon, massacred many of the inhabitants, pillaged and plundered his way across the city to the Esagila temple, where he made off with the statue of Marduk. He then proclaimed himself "king of Karduniash, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of Sippar and Babylon, king of Tilmun and Meluhha." Middle Assyrian texts recovered at ancient Dūr-Katlimmu, include a letter from Tukulti-Ninurta to his "sukkal rabi'u", or grand vizier, Ashur-iddin advising him of the approach of his general Shulman-mushabshu escorting the captive Kashtiliash, his wife, and his retinue which incorporated a large number of women, on his way to exile after his defeat. In the process he defeated the Elamites, who had themselves coveted Babylon. He also wrote an epic poem documenting his wars against Babylon and Elam. After a Babylonian revolt, he raided and plundered the temples in Babylon, regarded as an act of sacrilege. As relations with the priesthood in Ashur began deteriorating, Tukulti-Ninurta built a new capital city; Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.
After the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, the Assyrian Empire began to disintegrate, riven by internal strife. Ashur-etil-ilani co-ruled with Ashurbanipal from 630 BC, while an Assyrian governor named Kandalanu sat on the throne of Babylon on behalf of his king. Babylonia seemed secure until both Ashurbanipal and Kandalanu died in 627 BC, and Assyria spiralled into a series of internal civil wars which would ultimately lead to its destruction. An Assyrian general, Sin-shumu-lishir, revolted in 626 BC and declared himself king of Assyria and Babylon, but was promptly ousted by the Assyrian Army loyal to king Ashur-etil-ilani in 625 BC. Babylon was then taken by another son of Ashurbanipal Sin-shar-ishkun, who proclaimed himself king. His rule did not last long, however, and the Babylonians revolted. Nabopolassar seized the throne amid the confusion, and the Neo-Babylonian dynasty was born. Babylonia as a whole then became a battleground between king Ashur-etil-ilani and his brother Sin-shar-ishkun who fought to and fro over the region. This anarchic situation allowed Nabopolassar to stay on the throne of the city of Babylon itself, spending the next three years undisturbed, consolidating his position in the city.
Another parallelization that can be made between Babylon 5 and The Lord of the Rings is that of John Sheridan and Frodo: in the end of The Return of the King Frodo appears to carry too much of a burden to stay in Middle-earth, so he is honored by the elves who take him with them to Valinor inside the last ship. At the end of Sleeping in Light, Sheridan goes to Coriana 6 to die where he meets Lorien who apparently honors him by taking him to join the other First Ones beyond the Rim.
A "daughter of Babylon" was married into the Hittite royal family, possibly to Tudhaliya IV, a younger son of Ḫattušili III who went on to succeed him. This would have been a daughter or sister of Kudur-Enlil and the news elicited contempt from Ramesses II, king of Egypt, who apparently no longer regarded Babylon significant. Pudu-Ḫepa, the Hittite queen, replied in a letter, ‘If you say ‘‘the king of Babylon is not a Great King’’, then you do not know the status of Babylon’.
Zedekiah (), also written Tzidkiyahu, originally called Mattanyahu or Mattaniah, was a biblical character, the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. Zedekiah had been installed as king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, after a siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, to succeed his nephew, Jeconiah, who was overthrown as king after a reign of only three months and ten days.
A chronicle drawn up just after the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus gives the history of the reign of Nabonidus ('Nabuna'id'), the last king of Babylon, and of the fall of the Babylonian empire. In 538 BC, there was a revolt in Southern Babylonia, while the army of Cyrus entered the country from the north. In June the Babylonian army was completely defeated at Opis, and immediately afterwards Sippara opened its gates to the conqueror. Gobryas (Ugbaru), the governor of Media, was then sent to Babylon, which surrendered "without fighting," and the daily services in the temples continued without a break. In October, Cyrus himself arrived, and proclaimed a general amnesty, which was communicated by Gobryas to "all the province of Babylon," of which he had been made governor. Meanwhile, Nabonidus, who had concealed himself, was captured, but treated honourably; and when his wife died, Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus, conducted the funeral. Cyrus now assumed the title of "king of Babylon," claimed to be the descendant of the ancient kings, and made rich offerings to the temples. At the same time he allowed the foreign populations who had been deported to Babylonia to return to their old homes, carrying with them the images of their gods. Among these populations were the Jews, who, as they had no images, took with them the sacred vessels of the temple.
Agum II (also known as Agum Kakrime) was "possibly" a Kassite ruler who may have become the 8th or more likely the 9th king of the third Babylonian dynasty sometime after Babylonia was defeated and sacked by the Hittite king Mursilis I in 1531 BC (short chronology), establishing the "Kassite Dynasty" which was to last in Babylon until 1155 BC. A later tradition, the Marduk Prophecy, gives 24 years after a statue was taken, before it returned "of its own accord" to Babylon, suggesting a Kassite occupation beginning around 1507 BC.
The three siblings who rule Babylon—beautiful Taneal, warlike Salman Osar and more conservative Azzur—are visited by King Phaleg of Assyria. Phaleg showers the three with gifts, offering up untold riches in exchange for all of the slaves in Babylon. The siblings are suspicious of Phaleg's motives, thinking he means to raise an army from the slaves. Taneal seduces and drugs the Assyrian king, discovering that he intends to find Queen Asparia and marry her, creating a powerful empire of Assyria and Hellas. The siblings agree to stop this, and send troops to ambush the king. Hercules discovers the plan and aids the Assyrians, as the Babylonians are his enemy, and saves the life of the king. Phaleg makes Hercules take a loyalty oath, and then sends him to Babylon, along with several of his men, to retrieve Asparia.
Among Babylonians, feelings were still strong that none had a right to rule over western Asia until he had been consecrated to the office by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon." Cyrus claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of Bel-Marduk and portrayed himself as the savior, chosen by Marduk to restore order and justice. Cyrus was assumed by the Marduk priesthood to be wrathful at the impiety of Nabonidus who had moved the images of the local gods from their ancestral shrines to his formal capital Babylon. A year before Cyrus' death, in 529 BCE, he elevated his son Cambyses II in the government, making him king of Babylon, while he reserved for himself the fuller title of "king of the (other) provinces" of the empire. It was only when Darius I acquired the Persian throne and ruled it as a representative of the Zoroastrian religion, that the old tradition was broken and the claim of Babylon to confer legitimacy on the rulers of western Asia ceased to be acknowledged.
6 Against him (Jehoiakim) came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.
8 ... and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem...
10 And at the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. 
The story is set around the fall of Babylon, when on 12 October 539 BCE the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great entered the city. Its last king, Nabonidus, was captured, and his fate is unknown, although he may have been exiled. Several details in the text do not match the known historical facts. Belshazzar is portrayed as king of Babylon and son of Nebuchadnezzar, but was actually the son of King Nabonidus, one of Nebuchadnezzar's successors, and never became king. The conqueror is named as Darius the Mede, but no such individual is known to history; and the invaders were not Medes, but Persians. This is typical of the story's genre, in which historical accuracy is not an essential element.
The "Chronicle of Early Kings", a neo-Babylonian historiographical text preserved on two tablets, describes how Ea-gamil, the last king of the Sealand Dynasty, fled to Elam ahead of an invasion force led by Ulam-Buriaš, the “brother of Kaštiliašu”, who became “master of the land” ("bēlūt māti īpuš"), i.e. Sealand, a region of southern Mesopotamia synonymous with or at the southern end of Sumer. A serpentine or diorite mace head or possibly door knob found in Babylon, is engraved with the epithet of Ulaburariaš, “King of Sealand”. The object was excavated at Tell Amran ibn-Ali, during the German excavations of Babylon, conducted from 1899 to 1912, and is now housed in the Pergamon Museum.
In 1595BC[lower-alpha 2] the city was overthrown by the Hittite Empire from Asia Minor. Thereafter, Kassites from the Zagros Mountains of north western Ancient Iran captured Babylon, ushering in a dynasty that lasted for 435years, until 1160BC. The city was renamed Karanduniash during this period. Kassite Babylon eventually became subject to the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1053 BC) to the north, and Elam to the east, with both powers vying for control of the city. The Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I took the throne of Babylon in 1235BC.
"Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the pious prince appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest priestly prince, beloved of Nabu, of prudent deliberation, who has learnt to embrace wisdom, who fathomed Their (Marduk and Nabu) godly being and pays reverence to their Majesty, the untiring Governor, who always has at heart the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the first born son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon, am I."
Jeconiah was a King of Judah, the last of these kings to be included among Joseph's ancestors. He was captured and brought to Babylon along with many of his subjects, beginning the Babylonian captivity. His son Shealtiel was born in Babylon, as was Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel. It was Zerubbabel who led the Jews out of exile in Babylon and he plays a prominent role in the Book of Ezra.
A princess of Babylon was married into the Hittite royal family. This would have been a daughter or sister of King Kudur-Enlil and the news elicited contempt from Ramesses II, who apparently no longer regarded Babylon as politically significant. Puduḫepa replied in a letter, ‘If you say "The king of Babylon is not a Great King," then you do not know the status of Babylon.’
At the beginning of his reign, Hammurabi I sent troops to aid the Babylonian king Hammurabi against Siwe-Palar-Hupak of Elam who invaded Babylon. Amut-Pi-El of Qatna tried to form an alliance with the Elamite king, but Zimri-Lim of Mari warned Hammurabi I and the Elamite envoys were captured on the borders as they were trying to return to Elam. After defeating Elam, Hammurabi I sent Hammurabi of Babylon troops to aid him against Larsa. The kingdom of Yamhad was of the same status as Babylon, evidenced by Hammurabi of Babylon's treatment of Yamhad's envoys which caused the delegates of Mari to complain. The fact that Zimri-Lim became king with the help of Yamhad meant that Mari was a semi-client state of Yamhad, and in the correspondence between Zimri-Lim and Hammurabi's father Yarim-Lim I, the king of Mari calls Yarim-Lim his father. This situation helped Yamhad's trade because of Mari's location between Babylon and Aleppo. On one occasion, Hammurabi sent an army of 10,000 troops to aid Zimri-Lim. Yamhad's lordship over Mari was so strong that the king of Ugarit asked Hammurabi to intermediate with Zimri-Lim to let him visit the famous Palace of Mari.
In these last two tablets, the character of Lugalbanda is introduced as one of Enmerkar's war chiefs. According to the Sumerian king list, it was this Lugalbanda "the shepherd" who eventually succeeded Enmerkar to the throne of Uruk. Lugalbanda is also named as the father of Gilgamesh, a later king of Uruk, in both Sumerian and Akkadian versions of the "Epic of Gilgamesh".
In a legend related by Aelian (ca. AD 200), the king of Babylon, "Euechoros" or "Seuechoros" (also appearing in many variants as "Sevekhoros", earlier "Sacchoras", etc.), is said to be the grandfather of Gilgamos, who later becomes king of Babylon (i.e., Gilgamesh of Uruk). Several recent scholars have suggested that this "Seuechoros" or "Euechoros" is moreover to be identified with Enmerkar of Uruk, as well as the "Euechous" named by Berossus as being the first king of Chaldea and Assyria. This last name "Euechous" (also appearing as "Evechius", and in many other variants) has long been identified with Nimrod.
The "Cyropaedia", a historical romance which may contain a historical core, contains content as described by Xenophon who had been in Persia as one of the "Ten Thousand" Greek soldiers who fought on the losing side in a Persian civil war, events which he recounted in his "Anabasis". It is also possible that stories about Cyrus were told (and embellished) by Persian court society and that these are the basis of Xenophon's text. Herodotus, though writing long after the events, had traveled in Mesopotamia and spoken to Babylonians. In "Cyropaedia" (7.5.20–33), Xenophon, in agreement with Herodotus (I.292), says that the combined Median and Persian army entered the city via the channel of the Euphrates river, the river having been diverted into trenches that Cyrus had dug for the invasion, and that the city was unprepared because of a great festival that was being observed. "Cyropaedia" (7.5.26–35) describes the capture of Babylon by Gobryas, who led a detachment of men to the capital and slew the king of Babylon. In 7.5.25, Gobryas remarks that "this night the whole city is given over to revelry", including to some extent the guards. Those who opposed the forces under Gobryas were struck down, including those outside the banquet hall. The capture of the city, and the slaying of the son king of the king (4.6.3), is described in "Cyropaedia" (7:5.26–30) as follows:
Both Xenophon and Daniel 5 describe the demise of Belshazzar on the night that the city was taken. Xenophon, Herodotus, and Daniel agree that the city was taken by surprise, at the time of a festival, and with some (but apparently not much) loss of life. The "Cyropaedia" (4.6.3) states that a father and son were both reigning over Babylon when the city fell, and that the younger ruler was killed. The "Cyropaedia" does not name either king, and the silence of other classical sources regarding Belshazzar had cast doubt on the historicity of Daniel's reference to Belshazzar as the king who was slain, until cuneiform evidence was found corroborating the existence of Belshazzar as the ruler in Babylon.
"This dynasty also did not actually rule Babylon, but their numbering scheme was continued by later Kassite Kings of Babylon, and so they are listed here."
Midway through the text, the writer switches to a first-person narrative in the voice of Cyrus, addressing the reader directly. A list of his titles is given (in a Mesopotamian rather than Persian style): "I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king, powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters [of the earth], son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan, descendent of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan, the perpetual seed of kingship, whose reign Bel [Marduk] and Nebo love, and with whose kingship, to their joy, they concern themselves." He describes the pious deeds he performed after his conquest: he restored peace to Babylon and the other cities sacred to Marduk, freeing their inhabitants from their "yoke," and he "brought relief to their dilapidated housing (thus) putting an end to their (main) complaints". He repaired the ruined temples in the cities he conquered, restored their cults, and returned their sacred images as well as their former inhabitants which Nabonidus had taken to Babylon. Near the end of the inscription Cyrus highlights his restoration of Babylon's city wall, saying: "I saw within it an inscription of Ashurbanipal, a king who preceded me." The remainder is missing but presumably describes Cyrus's rededication of the gateway mentioned.
After extending his empire from the Mediterranean to Central Asia, Cyrus turned his attention to Babylonia. The most important ancient sources for his conquest of Babylon are the Nabonidus Chronicle (Nabonidus was the last Babylonian king, and Belshazzar, who is described as king of Babylon in the Book of Daniel, was his son and crown prince), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Verse Account of Nabonidus—which, despite its name, was commissioned by Cyrus.
Sargon was beset with widespread rebellions by the beginning of his rule. Marduk-apla-iddina II, a chieftain of the Chaldean tribes in the marshes of the south, declared himself king of Babylon and was crowned king in 721 BC. In 720 BC, Sargon and Marduk-apla-iddina met in battle on the plains east of Babylon, near the city of Der. Marduk-apla-iddina was supported by the Elamite king Humban-Nikash I. The Elamite troops were able to push back the Assyrian army, and he retained control of the south and the title of king of Babylon. The three kings concluded a treaty to stabilize their relationship, a détente that would last ten years.