Rise of host!- head of some Babylonians, ranged througl a part of the adjoin- lities between , . , . » . / . A . _ . n . the Meties and mg kingdom or Media, when Astyages, the king ot that country,
by oai&ns. acc01Upaujed by his son-iu-law Cyrus, hastily assembled some
troops, -and having put the followers of Evil-Merodach to the
rout, he pursued them to their own border with considerable
slaughter.
NerisRssar Neriglissar or Neglisarus,1 the Neriglissoorus of Josephus,8
murders and . i i , , . • r. i succeeds Evil- sou-iu-law ot JN ebuchadnezzar, took this opportunity ot murder-
Bubyiou, aud big his brother-in-law Evil-Merodach, and succeeded him as
king of Babylon.
In order to secure the throne thus usurped, and restrain the
growing power of the Medes and Persians, at a period when
the energies of the youthful Cyrus were beginning to display
themselves, Neriglissar proceeded to collect the forces of the
several satrapies of Lydia, Phrygia, Caria, Cappadocia, Paph-
lagonia, Cilicia, &c.: he even sent envoys to the kings of India,3
Cyaxarcs sue- in order to obtain assistance from them. Cyaxares, with the
assistance of Cyrus, had succeeded his father Astyages on the
throne of Media, and with the view of counteracting the warlike
preparations of the king of Babylonia, he called his nephew out
of Persia with a body of 30,000 men, appointing him commander
in-chief of all his forces. After three years employed
in extensive preparations, Neriglissar the Babylonian, assisted
by a body of Arabians, together with the other forces, including
the Lydians, under the command of the well-known Croesus,
advanced to encounter the Medes and Persians under Cyrus.
The latter, on his side, was assisted by a body of Armenians,
who had already subdued that portion of the kingdom of Babylon
which was next to their country. Previous to the commencement
of hostilities,- it is said that an embassy arrived from
India to inquire into the grounds and causes of the war, offering
mediation if it might be accepted, and threatening at the same
time to join that party which appeared to have justice on its
The Indians side :4 this was probably a consequence of the mission just
offer media- menti0ned as having been sent to India by Neriglissar.
In the contest which followed, Cyrus gained a complete
1 Euseb., Chron. Arm., pp. 41, 42.
2 Coatr. Ap., lib. I ., cap. x x .; Euseb., Praep. Evan., lib. IX .
2 Cyropaedia, lib. I . 4 Ibid., p. 36.
in Media.
Cyrus takes
the field
against
Neriglissar.