Assyria was founded by colonists from Babylon and for many centuries was subject to, or in conflict with, Babylon. Assyria was a world empire from around 884 B.C. to the fall of Nineveh, its capital, in 612 B.C.

It was the Babylonian Empire that broke the power of Assyria, and, in its westward sweep, destroyed Judah and conquered Egypt. The Empire's capital was in Babylon and as a world power it lasted from 612 B.C. to 536 B.C. Cyrus, king of Persia, conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. The Persian Army took the Babylonian empire without a battle during the days of Babylon's King Nabonidas and his first son King Belshazar.