The Fall of Babylon

King Nabonidus spent years away from the capital and favoured the moon god Sin, turning the priesthood of Marduk against him. The Persians defeated the Babylonian army at Opis, and the city opened its gates; the chronicles speak of an entry without battle. Cyrus ordered that the temples not be plundered, that the gods carried off be returned each to its city, and that the deported peoples be sent home — a policy recorded on a clay cylinder found at Babylon. Mesopotamia became a satrapy and was never again an independent kingdom, though the city lived on for centuries.