When the Babylonians defeated the Assyrians, they created one of the most powerful states in the world which is what we know as the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Some might ponder as to how such a mighty empire managed to fall so quickly and with little effort by Cyrus. Did Cyrus manage to defeat the Babylonians through military might alone or did he receive some outside help which was essential to his victory over the Babylonians? This is what we will try to answer here.
The story begins with the rise of the merchant bankers in Babylon. The way merchants bankers operated is very similar to how our monetary system operates today, in fact, the origins of our current monetary system has its origin in Babylon.
ESTABLISHING FINANCIAL DOMINATION During the latter part of the 6th Century, social and economic stability gave rise to the accumulation of wealth from land revenues, rents, slavery, etc. With prosperity came merchant bankers. Private archives written on cuneiform tablets from the time period show a large sector of the population participating in commercial and financial operations, whose operations were based on a silver standard and modeled on promissory notes.
A typical contract of that day had these familiar lists; Object of the transaction, Names of lender and borrower, Duration of the loan, Method of reimbursement, Interest to be collected, Collateral to be held by the lender.
https://archive.ph/q221WWho were the merchant bankers of Babylon?
In order to answer that question we need to pay extra attention to is the date given as to when the rise of the merchant bankers came about in Babylon.
What happened in the 6th century? The Babylonian Exile.
The rise of these merchant bankers and the usurous system implemented in Babylon coincidentally coincided with the Babylonian Exile after the Jewish-Babylonian War and the destruction of the first temple. Jews were foolishly transported en masse to Babylon and were kept ''captive'' in Babylon. But as we'll see that for being captives, they sure were given a lot of liberty, especially in the financial sector.
I will cite two examples of very prominent banking families from this era that have been identified as being jewish. Jews who were originally from Judea.
Murashu family:
From Wikipedia;
The Murashu tablets provide a glimpse into what life was like for fifth-century Jewish descendants of the Babylonian Exile and captivity. After the Persian king Cyrus the Great captured Babylon in 539 BCE, he allowed and helped finance the return of Jews to Judea with the Edict of Cyrus in 538. The Murashu tablets are dated to this period after Jews were allowed to return to Judea. The fact that the banking house "Murashu & Sons" conducted business with Jews who decided to remain in Nippur rather than return to Judea suggests that life in Persian-controlled Nippur was at least somewhat tolerable for Jews.
HV Hilprecht considers the group ("firm") to be bankers and brokers, who were engaged in money-lending and trading operations in southern and central Babylonia for a period of 50 years from the end of the 5th century (Dandamaev, Lukonin, Kohl)
https://archive.ph/L6jCSThe Murashu family stemmed from Judahite deportees . After rooting in Nippur, a commercially important city southeast of Babylon, they became a leading banking family of Mesopotamia. The family was central to the region's economy for at least a century and a half. 730 tablets of the banking house of Murashu and Sons were recovered from the ruins of Nippur
The surviving records of the Murashu business houses are mostly of three sons and three grandsons of the founder, covering a half century between 455 and 403 B.C.E. They make clear that the firm had long been a vital factor in the economy of the region, and continued to be so thereafter. The records provide a piercing view into the Persian/Babylonian economy of the times, as well as of the vital role of Jewish artisans and entrepreneurs active within it.
https://archive.ph/OzemAThe rise of this jewish banking family is dated to be after the collapse of the Babylonian Empire, however, this does not disprove the theory that they could have been active in money lending even before the collapse of the empire. It however gives us a clear insight at the financial freedom the jews had to engage in usurious activities even after the Persian take-over of Babylon.
The House of Egibi:
The House of Egibi was a family from within ancient Babylonia who were, amongst other things, involved in mercantile activities. The family’s financial activities are known to archaeologists via an archive of about 1,700 clay tablets spanning five generations of the family, dating to a period from around 600 to 482 BCE.
https://archive.ph/rbh8q The family name of the other banking house vital to the economy of the area, Egibi, is an Akkadian transliteration of Jacob. A trove of the records of the family was fortuitously recovered because its inscriptions were incised upon clay tablets that were baked in a conflagration. The family's misfortune served to enrich the historical record.
The ethnicity of this prestigious Jewish family was brought into question because of the name of the head of the firm, Ittl-Marduk-balatu, who also employed the first name of Istn. The theophoric inclusion of the god Marduk in the name was shown to be a fashionable acceptance of Babylonian norms without religious overtones. As noted above, many other confirmed Jews were known to have likewise pragmatically assumed such names. An example of the use of such names is that assumed by a governor of Judah, Sheshbazzar.
The origins of the family are not doubtful. The Babylonian name of this member of the Egibi family was, in fact, a secondary name. The original and true name of the family was Shirik, an Aramaic name. What appears to have been his first name was Iddina, rendered in Hebrew as Nathan. The ancestor of another member of the family was Bel-iau, a name that obviously invokes the God of Israel.
It is clear that although the Egibi and Murashu families were wealthy Jews , and while other Jews did well at court and in the service of the hierarchy, most Jews were busy at agriculture, crafts, and various enterprises
https://archive.ph/OzemAThe jewish banking family of Egibi has been nicknamed ''Rothschilds of the Ancient World'' with enough wealth that enabled them to give loans to States.
The firm of Egibi possessed enormous wealth and infleunce and have been designated the ''Rothschilds of the ancient world.'' They carried on every sort of financial transaction. They made loans to the State, as well as to private persons, and the finances of the court were entrusted to them for several generations. They collected the land taxes, tithes, and dues for the use of the public and paid them into the royal trasury. They also undertook what we should now describe as ''agencies'' for private individuals and in addition to their vast money lending transactions must also have engaged in what we now term bankers business, for we know that documents existed in those early days corresponding to modern cheques and bills of change. The various transactions of the firm were noted down on clay tablets, which were stored in great earthenware jars for safety, and there they remained until they were accidentally discovered some few years ago.
All bear the names of the contracting parties and witnesses, and most of them are dated. The Egibi firm were not the only great trading firm in ancient Babylonia, as during the excavations
JEWISH INFILTRATION OF THE BABYLON HIGHER SOCIETY THROUGH THEIR SHAPESHIFTING TACTICS; INTERMARRIAGE AND CHANGE OF SURNAMES The classic modus operandi of the jewish supremacist when it comes to subverting a nation is to be able to infiltrate and take it over from within by climbing to the highest echelon of every avenue of society. And this very M.O. can be seen in Babylon during the Babylonian exile.
The second essay, ''Negotiating Marriage in Multicultral Babylonia: An example opf the Judean Community in Al-Yahudu by Kathleen Abraham, deals with marriage contracts from Al-Yahuda. The investigation shows that intermarriage occurred, especially in rural settings.
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From the Haaretz article; 'Intermarriage and the Jews: What Would the Early Israelites Say?'
During the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BCE, the issue of intermarriage seems to have become a more acute problem in certain minds
Ezra not only expanded the law but enforced it retroactively, forcing all Judeans to divorce their foreign wives and excommunicating those who refused to comply
https://archive.ph/W9NLOThe Book of Ezra which describes events after the Persian conquest of Babylon focuses primarily on jewish men who had married non-jewish women and it's pretty obvious why. Because this ban most likely did not apply to jewish women who had intermarried with Babylonian men as their children were considered jewish under jewish law.
This created two scenarios; Jewish men who had Babylonian wives who decided to stay in Babylon rather than return to Judea because of this new law that was implemented in Judea after the jews were allowed to return by Cyrus and Jewish men who left their Babylonian wives with their half-jewish children in Babylon. Also just like not all jews left for Palestine when Israel was created, it was certainly also true for jews in Babylon after they were allowed to return to Judea. Meaning after the Persian conquest of Babylon, a sizeable number of jews still remained in Babylon.
We know that jewish women did indeed marry with Babylonian Elite as one example of such a marriage has been found.
A second marriage contract is between Kaššāya, the daughter of a Judean named Amuše (=Hoshea, הוֹשֵׁעַ) son of Arih (אָרַח), to a Babylonian groom named Gūzānu, son of Kiribtu, from the urban elite family Ararru (“Miller”).[23] Two of the Judean woman’s uncles were royal merchants. This indicates the upper class (but non-elite) status of her family.
This also provides us with an example of jews changing their surnames to Babylonian surnames. Kaāya was the name of one of Nebuchadnezzar's daughters and so was the name Amue.
Unlike the previous document, which was signed primarily by people with Judean names, here all the names are Babylonian. Even the son of Amuך (Hoshea) has a Babylonian name: Bēl-uballiṭ, “The LORD (Marduk) sustains,” and the bride, Kaāya, bears the same name as one of Nebuchadnezzar’s daughters.
https://archive.ph/6tujHObviously, the children this marriage spawned were fully jewish according to jewish religious law, now part of the Babylonian elite crowd with Babylonian surnames, ready to continue the subversive mission of their mother Kaāya.
It was not uncommon for jews to adopt Babylonian surnames
Many Jews assumed Babylonian names, as is inevitably the case in a Diaspora.
https://archive.ph/OzemAThe Babylonian Talmud also gives us an insight that the jews were for the most ''part less subject to persecution than other jews who lived in other lands''.
This indicates that jews had political influence in Babylon, which makes sense as they had massive financial influence in Babylon, and with it came political power. We also saw an example of jews marrying into elite families as well.
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JEWISH MOTIVATION FOR WANTING THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE DESTROYEDJews had clear motives for wanting to destroy the Babylonian Empire. After all the Babylonians invaded them, destroyed them in battle, destroyed their temple, and forced them to leave their ''holy land''. We can also cite examples from the Babylonian Talmud in which they express their hate towards the Babylonians;
R. Hamnuna said in a discorse: If one sees the wicked Babylon, he should say five benedictions: On seeing [the city] Babylon itself he says, Blessed be He who has desdtroyed the wicked Babylon. On seeing the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, He says, Blessed be He who destroyed the palace of the wicked Nebechadnezzar. On seeing the lions'den, or the fiery furnace, he says, Blessed be He who wrought miracles for our ancestors in this place.
When Mar the son of Rabina came to [the city of] Babylon, he used to put some dust in his kerchief and throw it out, to fulfil the text, I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.
Talmud - Mas. Berachoth 57b
AND THEY MADE A CAUSE WAY FOR HIM etc. Rabbah b. Bar Hana said: These were not Babylonians but Alexandrians, and because they [the Palestinians] hated the Babylonians , they called them [the Alexandrians] by their [the Babylonians'] name. It was taught: R.Judah said, They were not Babylonians but Alexandrians. R. Jose said to him: May your mind be relieved even as you have relieved my mind!
Talmud - Mas. Yoma 66b
We find similar hostile passages from the Old Testament that call for the destruction of Babylon and demonize the Babylonians ;
"Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds, jackals her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged."-Isaiah 13:19-22
"A sword against the Babylonians! Declares the Lord—against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men! A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror. A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become weaklings. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered. A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror."-Jeremiah 50:35-38
"Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord. “I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the Lord. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain. No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord."-Jeremiah 51:24-26
DID JEWS HELP CYRUS TAKE OVER BABYLON? We have already established that within Babylon jews had managed to;
1. Gain huge amounts of financial control to the point where they can provide loans to states
2. Infiltrated Babylonian society through intermarriage and name-changing
3. Hated the Babylonians and thus had the motivation to want Babylon to fall
Cyrus II's father was Cambyses I, he was the king of Anshan which was a minor kingdom with not so much power, not only that but it was also a vassal of the Median Empire under King Astyages. According to Herodotus, Astyages had a dream that his daughter, Mandane, would give birth to a son that would bring destruction to his empire. Thus he decided to marry her off to Cambyses I as he considered him as a non-threat. This marriage spawned the birth of Cyrus II. Then it is claimed that Astyages had a second dream in which he was warned once again of his daughter's son, and that's when Astyages decided to send one of his generals, a man by the name of Harpagus to kill his daughter's son, Cyrus. Harpagus however decided not to kill the boy. It later came out that Harpagus had disobeyed Astyage's orders and as punishment, Astyages had fed him his son at a banquet.
According to some historical records, Cyrus II built his empire by bringing down the Median Empire first and did so by gathering other Persian tribes to fight under his banner and then he decided to rebel against King Astyages. How Cyrus II managed to beat the enormous empire that was the Median Empire. It is said that he was betrayed by his own general Harpagus as revenge for the murder of his son. Harpagus decided to suddenly change his allegiance and fight alongside Cyrus II instead.
Interestingly, Cyrus II started his endeavor by first gathering Persian tribes to strengthen his army and then went off to start a rebellion, and then as luck would have it for Cyrus II, the key to success was the betrayal done by Harpagus, something we couldn't have possibily relied on. Or maybe he did?
The story behind Harpagus having his son fed to him could have been a made-up lie to demonize Astyages because as they say, the victors write history. It could have also been a cover for the real reason why Harpagus decided to betray Astyages, that he was paid off to do it. It's also possible that Cyrus II managed to convince the other Persian tribes to join him by offering them huge amounts of money that he had received from rich financial bankers from Babylon who had a vested interest in making Cyrus king over an enormous empire which they could then use to their benefit. We have already established who these rich financial bankers are who had the means to provide loans to states.
Who is known for supporting rebellions throughout history? The jews of course.
Why Cyrus II?
Jews have always been known to support leaders who are 'tolerant' and 'liberal-minded' because they know with such a leader they will receive more benefits and freedoms and as it turns out the characteristics of tolerant and liberal-minded are what fit Cyrus II.
Religious toleration was a remarkable feature of the Persian rule and there is no question that Cyrus himself was a liberal-minded promoter of this humane and intelligent policy
Reference has recently been made by Dr. R. D. Barnett: he sees it in an expression of the oecumenical attitude of the Achaemenian kings who, from the time of Cyrus onwards, adopted a liberal policy of tolerance and conciliation towards the various religions embraced within their empire.
With this in mind, it makes total sense why jews would choose Cyrus II to give financial backing to and to help him take over the Median Empire and also Babylon.
On top of the theory that jewish bankers based in Babylon might have backed Cyrus II and helped him rise to power thus contributing to the creation of the Achaemenid Empire, there is also a strong indication that jews assisted the invading Persian empire by opening the gates to the city of Babylon which is something jews have been historically known for, a popular example is the opening of the gates of Toledo to the invading Muslim horde who were also more 'liberal-minded' towards the jews in comparison to the Visigoths.
It seems most probable that Cyrus' entry had been assisted by the large community of Jews which had been deported by Nebuchadrezzar II from Judah under Jehoiakim sixty years before; these exiles believed that in spite of their captive prosperity they would receive more liberal treatment at Persian hands. In this they were right and as we learn from the book of Ezra, Cyrus gave a charted to the Jews for the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem and the return of the utensils sequestered by Nebuchadnezzar.
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From the Old Testament;
Thus said the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut
Isaiah 45:1
Quoted from a Christian website dedicated to Bible study;
But inside the city were many enemies of Belshazzar, who were friendly with Cyrus. These people opened the gates of Babylon to Cyrus. At night he brought his army quietly into the city and surrounded the palace of King Belshazzar.
https://archive.ph/SPhDm Obviously, the people the quote is referring to could only be talking about the jews.
As it turns out, the day of the invasion was also coincidentally during a time of a massive feast to honor the gods in Babylon, thus the people were distracted and occupied by this festival. This means that it was perfect timing to sneakily open the gates to the invading Persians and have them take the city by surprise. This also indicates that the jews provided intelligence to the Persians on which time was the perfect moment to strike.. when everyone was distracted due to a religious festival.
According to Herodotus;
But, as it was, the Persians came upon them by surprise and so took the city. Owing to the vast size of the place, the inhabitants of the central parts (as the residents at Babylon declare) long after the outer portions of the town were taken, knew nothing of what had chanced, but as they were engaged in a festival, continued dancing and reveling until they learnt about the capture. Such, then, were the circumstances of the first taking of Babylon.
Also according to Herodotus, had the Babylonians been aware of Cyrus II's attack on the city, he and his army would have been destroyed;
Hereupon the Persians who had been left for the purpose at Babylon by the river-side, entered the stream, which had now sunk so as to reach about midway up a man's thigh, and thus got into the town. Had the Babylonians been apprised of what Cyrus was about, or had they noticed their danger, they would never have allowed the Persians to enter the city, but would have destroyed them utterly; for they would have made fast all the street gates which gave access to the river, and mounting upon the walls along both sides of the stream, would so have caught the enemy, as it were, in a trap.
https://archive.ph/jKtbzAFTERMATH As we touched upon already, jews did benefit from the Persian conquest of Babylon. They were allowed to return to Jerusalem with Cyrus giving a charter to the jews for the restoration of their sleazy temple. Then we have the Cyrus Cylinder in which Cyrus proclaimed his views on the rights of the nations and peoples under his rule, just as you would expect from a liberal-minded and tolerant leader, a kind of leader jews have always been known to support for obvious reasons.
Not only that. The jewish banking families in Babylon benefited greatly from this conquest.
Even after the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 539 BCE, we have confirmation from the Egibi family archives that they continued their role of tax farmers during the Achaemenid hold over Babylon. But this required attentiveness and heavy lobbying in the Persian court. In fact, Itti-Marduk-balāṭu even went to the Persian court and lobbied his case to the high ranking Babylonians, ‘evidently to befriend the officials responsible for administering taxes under Persia’s empire.’ And his efforts bore fruit. The Persians gave many established families like the Egibis the right to collect taxes as these families were already acquainted with the pre-established local systems of Babylonia.
https://archive.ph/xLTxPNot only was Babylon now under more liberal laws, just as jews always liked it. They befriended the Persian officials and were allowed to continue to collect taxes. One of those families was previously mentioned Egibi family, also known as the ''Rothschilds of the Ancient world''. This serves as further indications that Cyrus was financed by the jews and helped by them to take over Babylon.
When you have a liberal-minded leader that's friendly with jews, what kind of policy do you expect they would employ on their newly conquered land?
Multiculturalism, increased immigration, intermarriage, and the appointment of foreigners in administrative roles of course!
''The period of Achaemenid rule is notable for a sharp increase in intermarriages between the races and syncretization of their cultures and religious beliefs. The main reason for this was that contact between the various lands had become more regular. In particular, after the Persian invasion of Babylonia this fertile country became open to immigrants. Moreover, the Achemenids formed military colonies in Babylonia from members of various races, or not, infrequently appointed persons of foreign origin to posts in the administration. Hence Persians, Elamites, Lydians, Phrygians, Egyptians, Medes and others began to settle in the country. For example, about a third of all proper names in the documents of the Murashu archive from Nippur are not of Babylonian origin.
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This all sounds very familiar does it not? And we know today who is behind these genocidal policies that are currently active in all White countries, so I think it's safe for us to assume that the jews back in those ancient days were also responsible for these highly destructive policies which eventually led to the erasure of the Babylonian people and with it, its culture.
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