Nabopolassar

Nabû-apla-uṣur
King of Babylon
Cylinder seal of Nabopolassar, from Babylon. London, British Museum
Reign	ca. 626 – 605 BC
Predecessor	Ashurbanipal
Successor	Nebuchadnezzar II
Born	ca. 658 BC
Died	605 BC

Nabopolassar (/ˌnæboʊpəˈlæsər/; Akkadian: Nabû-apal-uṣur; c. 658 BC – 605 BC) was a king of Babylonia and a central figure in the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The death of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal around 627 BC resulted in political instability. In 626 BC, a native dynasty arose under Nabopolassar, a former Assyrian official. Nabopolassar made Babylon his capital and ruled over Babylonia for a period of about twenty years (626–605 BC). He is credited with founding the Neo-Babylonian Empire. By 616 BC, Nabopolassar had united the entire area under his rule.

Nabopolassar formed an alliance with Cyaxares of the Medes to confront the Assyrians and their Egyptian allies. By 615 BC he had seized Nippur. He then led his forces to assist the Medes besieging the city of Ashur, but the Babylonian army did not reach the battlefield until after the city had fallen.

Assyria, weakened by internal strife and ineffectual rule, was unable to resist the Babylonians and the Medes [1], who united to sack the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 BC. Following a prolonged siege at the Battle of Nineveh, Nabopolassar took control of the city. Ashur-uballit II was a member of the Assyrian royal family and a tartan (general) in the army. He became king after Sin-shar-ishkun, who may have been his brother, and who probably died during the fall of Ninevah.