1. At the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II inflicted a crushing defeat on an Egyptian army led by Pharaoh Necho II, and ensured that the Neo-Babylonian Empire would succeed the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the dominant power in the ancient Near East.
In 587 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem and destroyed it and the Kingdom of Judah, deporting much of its population in what became known as the Babylonian captivity.
Beyond his military campaigns, Nebuchadnezzar II is remembered as a great builder who erected many of Babylon's religious buildings, including the Esagila and Etemenanki, embellished its palaces and beautified its ceremonial centre through renovations to the city's processional street and the Ishtar Gate.
Nebuchadnezzar II is accredited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar II was the eldest son of Nabopolassar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
Nebuchadnezzar II must have been made high priest at a very young age, considering that his year of death, 562 BC, is 64 years after 626 BC.
Nebuchadnezzar II had been the sole commander of the Babylonian army at this battle as his father had chosen to stay in Babylon, perhaps on account of illness.
Nebuchadnezzar II inflicted a [defeat] upon them finished them off completely.
At this point in time, Nebuchadnezzar II was still away on his campaign against the Egyptians, having chased the retreating Egyptian forces to the region around the city of Hamath.
The speed in which Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Babylon might be due to the threat that one of his brothers could claim the throne in his absence.
Shortly thereafter, before the end of the month in which he had been crowned, Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Syria to resume his campaign.
Nebuchadnezzar II had seemingly failed to inspire fear, given that none of the westernmost states in the Levant swore fealty to him and paid tribute.
In 604 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II campaigned in the Levant , conquering the city of Ascalon.
The Ascalon campaign was preceded by a campaign in Syria, which was more successful than Nebuchadnezzar II's first, resulting in oaths of fealty from the rulers of Phoenicia.
In 603 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II campaigned in a land whose name is not preserved in the surviving copy of the chronicle.
In both 602 BC and 601 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II campaigned in the Levant, though little information survives beyond that a "vast" amount of booty was brought from the Levant to Babylonia in 602 BC.
In 598 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II campaigned against the Kingdom of Judah, succeeding in capturing the city of Jerusalem.
Nebuchadnezzar II colle[cted] its massive tribute and went back to Babylon.
Notably, Nebuchadnezzar II spent all of 600 BC in Babylon, when the chronicle excuses the king by stating that he stayed in Babylon to "refit his numerous horses and chariotry".
Some years when Nebuchadnezzar II was victorious can hardly be considered real challenges.
Josephus's account of Nebuchadnezzar II's reign is obviously not entirely historic, as he describes Nebuchadnezzar II as, five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, invading Egypt, capturing the Pharaoh and appointing another Pharaoh in his place.
Josephus states that Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Tyre in the seventh year of "his" reign, though it is unclear whether "his" in this context refers to Nebuchadnezzar II or to Ithobaal III of Tyre.
Nebuchadnezzar II extensively expanded and rebuilt his capital city of Babylon and the most modern historical and archaeological interpretations of the city reflect it as it appeared after Nebuchadnezzar II's construction projects.
The projects were made possible through the prospering economy during Nebuchadnezzar II's reign, sustained by his conquests.
Nebuchadnezzar II's building inscriptions record work done to numerous temples, notably the restoration of the Esagila, the main temple of Babylon's national deity Marduk, and the completion of the Etemenanki, a great ziggurat dedicated to Marduk.
Nebuchadnezzar II constructed a third palace, the Summer Palace, built some distance north of the inner city walls in the northernmost corner of the outer walls.
Some bricks of the Processional Street bear the name of the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib on their underside, perhaps indicating that construction of the street had begun already during his reign, but the fact that the upper side of the bricks all bear the name of Nebuchadnezzar II suggests that construction of the street was completed under Nebuchadnezzar II's reign.
Nebuchadnezzar II directed building efforts on the city of Borsippa, with several of his inscriptions recording restoration work on that city's temple, the Ezida, dedicated to the god Nabu.
Additionally, Nebuchadnezzar II restored the ziggurat of the Ezida, the E-urme-imin-anki, and worked on the temple of Gula, Etila, as well as numerous other temples and shrines in the city.
Nebuchadnezzar II began work on the Royal Canal, known as Nebuchadnezzar II's Canal, a great canal linking the Euphrates to the Tigris which in time completely transformed the agriculture of the region, but the structure was not completed until the reign of Nabonidus, who ruled as the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 556 to 539 BC.
Amel-Marduk's administrative duties probably began before he became king, during the last few weeks or months of his father's reign when Nebuchadnezzar II was ill and dying.
Marriage to a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar II could explain how Nabonidus could become king, and explain why certain later traditions, such as the Book of Daniel in the Bible, describe Nabonidus's son, Belshazzar, as Nebuchadnezzar II's son.
Nebuchadnezzar II has typically been regarded as the greatest and most prestigious king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
Many Assyriologists, such as Wolfram von Soden in 1954, thus initially assumed that Nebuchadnezzar II had mainly been a builder-king, devoting his energy and efforts to building and restoring his country.
Nebuchadnezzar II was a great builder, who restored a country that for a long time had been devastated by war.
The Babylonian captivity initiated by Nebuchadnezzar II came to an end with the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in 539 BC.
The Bible narrates how Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the Kingdom of Judah, besieged, plundered and destroyed Jerusalem, and how he took away the Jews in captivity, portraying him as a cruel enemy of the Jewish people.
Nebuchadnezzar II is depicted as carrying out death sentences pronounced by God, slaying two false prophets.
Alternatively, possible theological explanations include Nebuchadnezzar II being seen, despite his cruelty, as an instrument in fulfilling God's universal plan; or perhaps that designating him as a "servant" of God was to show that readers should not fear Nebuchadnezzar II, but his true master, God.
Nebuchadnezzar II is for the most part depicted as a merciless and despotic ruler.
Nebuchadnezzar II is referred to as in works of the mediaeval scholar al-Tabari, where he is credited with conquering Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia and Arabia.
The historical Nebuchadnezzar II never conquered Egypt, and it appears that al-Tabari transferred to him the achievements of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon.
In economic documents, Nebuchadnezzar II is ascribed the ancient title "king of the Universe", and he sometimes used the title "king of Sumer and Akkad", used by all the Neo-Babylonian kings.