Readers of the Old Testament read about the Assyrian Empire when Tiglath-Pileser III invaded Israel about 733 BC and made Ahaz of Judah pay tribute. Tiglath-Pileser's son Shalmaneser V completed the destruction of the northern kingdom. Then around 700 BC, Sennacherib invaded Judah and the Assyrian army camped out around Jerusalem (2 Kings 18-19, 2 Chronicles 32.) The Asyrian annals record Hezekiah paying tribute to Sennacherib but Jerusalem is not conquered. Instead, Sennacherib is murdered by one of his sons in a temple in Nineveh.
The Assyrian Empire reached its greatest extent during the reign of Esarhaddon, who conquering Egypt in 671 BC. Its arrogance and eventual destruction are describe in the book of Nahum.
But in 626 BC, Nabopolassar wrestled control of Babylon from a grandson of Esarhaddon and became the first king of a new Babylonian kingdom. (That kingdom is sometimes called the Neo-Babylonian Empire or the Chaldean Empire.) Nabopolassar's control of southern Assyrian cities was aided by an alliance with the kingdom of Media.
In 612 BC, the Babylonians and the Medians captured Nineveh, essentially ending the power of the Assyrian kings. A final defeat for the remnants of the Assyrian army occurred at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, when an army led by Nebuchadnezzar II, son of Nabopolassar, defeated an alliance of Assyrians and Egyptians. In 587 BC Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and removed its leaders and most of its populace to Babylon. At that time, Nebuchadnezzar apparently appointed Zedekiah as a vassal king over Judah, an appointment that ended with Zedekiah's rebellion, defeat and imprisonment.
After the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 BC, there were a number of very brief reigns by sons and grandsons of Nebuchadnezzar, ending with a palace coup by Nabonidus and his son, Belshazzar. While Nabonidus campaigned in the west, Belshazzar served as regent in Babylon.
In 539, Cyrus the Great of Persis, invaded Babylon from the southeast. Cyrus created the First Persian Empire, an empire that was eventually even greater than the Assyrian Empire at its height. Eight years after the death of Cyrus, Darius the Great took over the throne. His son Xerxes I, grandson Artaxerxes I and great grandson Xerxes II reigned after him.
The Persian empire lasted until 330 BC when Alexander the Great invaded from the far west.
The fall of Assyria, the rise of Babylon and the eventual domination of Persia are all mentioned in various parts of the Old Testament. Tiglath-Pileser and Sennacherib are mention in the scrolls of Kings and Chronicles as is the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Cyrus all appear in Daniel. Darius appears in Daniel and also in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah.
The Persian Empire plays a significant role in Old Testament history. It is the ruling empire when the Babylonian exile ends and Jews return to Jerusalem for the Second Temple period. While that happened, some Jews remained in Persia and their Jewish descendants live there today, as a Jewish minority in the Islamic kingdom of Iran.
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