BIOGRAPHY


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         Nebuchadnezzar was a Chaldean king who was born 630 BCE and died in 562BCE. His father, Nabopolassar, was king before him and in 605 BCE sent him to Egypt where he defeated the Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish.  Necho occupied Syria and Palestine at the time.  Because of Nebuchadnezzar’s triumph over Necho he became the undisputed master of Western Asia.  But because of the sudden death of his father he had to return home to safeguard his inheritance, thus allowing Necho to return to Egypt with some of his army.  Three years later in 601 BCE Necho defeats Nebuchadnezzar in a battle which encouraged the Judaean revolt under Jehoiakim.  But Jehoiakim died shortly after the siege began and was succeeded by his son, Jehoiachin.  In March of 597 BCE Nebuchadnezzar crushed the Judaean revolt and carried off Jehoiachin and many of his nobles to Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar then placed Zedekiah, who was only Nebuchadnezzar’s puppet, on the throne of Judaea. . A new revolt occurred (588-587 BC) in Judaea. After a siege of about a year, Jerusalem was finally destroyed in 586 BC. Nebuchadnezzar was also a splendid builder, and Babylon with its hanging gardens, which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was then the greatest city of its time. However, Babylon was shortly to fall under conquest when Nabonidus was king. At the end of his reign, the book of Daniel depicts him as a very conceited miser who goes insane and eats grass.  But we will never know… unless we build a time machine, but other than that we will never know.
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The Chaldean Empire