This was the Empire that broke the power of Assyria, and, in its westward sweep, destroyed Judah and conquered Egypt. The empire lasted from 612 B.C. to 536 B.C. Daniel's seventy year prophecy runs from the fall of Jerusalem to the rededication of worship in the Restoration Temple. Cyrus, king of Persia, conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. and in 538 B.C. he authorized the return of the Jews to their own land. First return was in 536 B.C.

The Empire's capital was in Babylon. In Isaiah's time Assyria was the dominant power of the world. Babylon was a dependency of Assyria. Babylon rose to world power status and then fell in 539 B.C. Isaiah sang of the Fall of Babylon one-hundred years BEFORE its rise in 612 B.C. (Isaiah 13:1, 13:19, 14:22). Babylon's splendor as the Queen city of the pre-Christian world, the "glory of kingdoms" and "the city of gold" (Isaiah 13:19, 14:4) was clearly envisioned. Babylon's fall is also pictured in detail, naming the unknown Medes as destroyers of Babylon. (Isaiah 13:17-19). Babylon was to supersede Assyria (Isaiah 14:25), Media shall supersede Babylon (Isaiah 13:17); and Babylon shall pass away forever (Isaiah 12:19-22, 14:22-23, Daniel 5:31).

The Persian Army took Babylon without a battle during the days of Nabonidas and his first son Belshazar.

The Persian Empire, often called the Medo-Persian Empire, was the second great world empire represented in the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It was the LARGEST empire in ancient history in terms of total land controlled.

One of the first acts of the first Persian king, Cyrus, who was a "singularly noble and just monarch," was to authorize the return of the Jews to their own land. Persia was the mountainous plateau east of the lower end of the Euphrates-Tigris Valley and its empire extending eastward into India and reached westward to Greece. Its capitals were Persepolis and Susa, with its kings sometimes residing at Babylon.