How did the city of Babylon finally end?
In 539 B.C., when Cyrus the Persian captured Babylon for the MedoPersian Empire (see Daniel 5), the city lost its independence forever. In 482 B.C. Xerxes I brutally suppressed a revolt of Babylon against Persian rule. He removed the statue of Marduk, the chief god, and apparently damaged some fortifications and temples. Alexander the Great took Babylon from the Persians in 331 B.C. without a fight. In spite of his short-lived dream to make Babylon his eastern capital, the city declined over several centuries. By 198 A.D. the Roman, Septimus Severus, found Babylon completely deserted. So, the great city came to an end through abandonment. Today some Iraqi villagers live on parts of the ancient site, but they have not rebuilt the city as such. The doom of Babylon, described in Isaiah 13, liberates the descendants of Jacob, who have been oppressed by Babylon (Isa. 14:1-3). The event that accomplished this was the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 B.C. Although he did not destroy the ci
