Nabopolassar (Babylon)

Nabopolassar was the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and father of Nebuchadnezzar II. In −626, he seized control of Babylon and led a rebellion against the declining Assyrian Empire.

Allied with the Medes under King Cyaxares, his forces conquered Nineveh in −612, bringing about the collapse of Assyrian dominance in Mesopotamia. His campaigns established Babylon as the emerging regional superpower.

His rise transformed the political situation of the ancient Near East. Assyria, which had destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel, was replaced by Babylon, whose expansion under his son would eventually lead to the conquest of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem's First Temple.