King of Persia until 546. Appreciating the great strength of Babylon, he
did not at first attempt its capture, but began at once by intrigue to
pave the way for its ultimate overthrow. In 545 he set out on a western
campaign against Croesus, the king of Lydia, the ancient rival of Media.
After a quick and energetic campaign, Sardis, the rich Lydian capital,
was captured, and Cyrus was free to advance against the opulent Greek
colonies that lay along the eastern shores of the Aegean. These in rapid
succession fell into his hands, so that by 538 B.C. he was in a position
to advance with a large victorious army against the mistress of the lower
Euphrates.

VII. His Capture of Babylon. The campaigns of Cyrus were naturally
watched with keen interest by the Jewish exiles in Babylonia. The songs in
Isaiah 14, 15, and 21:1-10, and Jeremiah 51:29-31, voice their joyous
expectation of Babylon's impending humiliation. In a contemporary
inscription Cyrus has given a vivid account of the fall of the capital.
Early in October of the year 538 B.C. he assembled a large army on the
northern borders of Babylonia. Here a battle was fought in which the
Babylonians were completely defeated. The town of Sippar quickly
surrendered to Cyrus's general, and two days later the Persian army
entered Babylon. The record states that the gates of the mighty city were
opened by its inhabitants, and Cyrus and his followers were welcomed as
deliverers. King Nabonidus was captured and banished to the distant
province of Carmania, northeast of the Persian Gulf. In the words
of Cyrus: "Peace he gave the town; peace he proclaimed to all the
Babylonians." In the eyes of the conquered, he figured as the champion
of their gods, whose images he restored to the capital city. The temples
as well as the walls of Babylon were rebuilt, and the king publicly
proclaimed himself a devoted worshipper of Marduk and Nebo, the chief gods
of the Babylonians. Thus from the first the policy of Cyrus in treating