Nebuchadnezzar II

Possibly named after his grandfather or after one of Babylon's legendary warrior-kings, Nebuchadnezzar had already made his name during his father Nabopolassar's reign, leading armies in the takedown of Assyria. At Carchemish in 605 BC he crushed Pharaoh Necho II's Egyptian forces, securing Babylon's dominance over the ancient Near East - then inherited the throne when Nabopolassar died shortly after. His early years as king were unsteady: a failed invasion of Egypt emboldened rebellions across the empire. He put down insurrections in the east, then turned west to the Levant in the 580s BC. In 587 BC he besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, deporting much of Judah's population in what became the Babylonian captivity. The conquest - along with the later capture of Tyre - restored Babylon's grip on the region. But his inscriptions focus overwhelmingly on construction: the religious complexes of Esagila and Etemenanki, the processional street, the Ishtar Gate. For a time historians saw him more as builder than warrior. He died in 562 BC, after 43 years on the throne, among the most powerful rulers alive.