539 BC

Fall of Babylon

Capture of Babylon by Cyrus's forces

The Persian army entered Babylon on 12 October. Cyrus himself did not arrive until 29 October — and the diverted-river story comes from Greeks, not from the Babylonian chronicle.

12 October 539 BCE: an unopposed entry

Cyrus's forces defeated the Babylonian army at Opis, where the Nabonidus Chronicle records retreat, plunder and killing. Sippar was then occupied without a battle on 10 October 539 BCE, and Nabonidus fled.

Two days later Ugbaru, governor of Gutium, led Cyrus's army into Babylon without a battle for the city. Nabonidus, who had retreated there, was captured.

The temple calendar kept running

Shield-bearing troops guarded the gates of Esagila, but the chronicle emphasizes that the rites were not interrupted and no scheduled performance was missed.

Cyrus was not personally present when his army initially entered Babylon. He entered the city himself on 29 October, greeted the city, and his official Gubaru appointed district officers — seventeen days after the army walked in.

The famous version is the Greek one

The siege, the diverted Euphrates, the festival and the surprise attack all come from later Greek traditions. They conflict with the near-contemporary Babylonian chronicle, which reports an entry without battle.

That chronicle is not neutral either: at least part of it was composed under Cyrus and is hostile to Nabonidus. It documents his capture and says nothing about what happened to him afterwards.

His son Belshazzar governed in Babylonia during part of his father's absence, but contemporary evidence does not securely place him at the capture or record his death there.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at -0539-10-12.

What the sources leave uncertain

The capture year and sequence are unusually well supported by the cuneiform Nabonidus Chronicle and contemporary economic chronology.
The Julian-calendar conversions used by scholars give 12 October for the army’s entry and 29 October for Cyrus’s entry; older publications sometimes differ by a day or two.
The Chronicle is near-contemporary but not neutral: at least part was composed under Cyrus and is hostile to Nabonidus.
Greek accounts describing a siege, river diversion, festival, and surprise attack conflict with the Babylonian Chronicle’s report that the army entered the city without battle.