Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the start of the Exile
- Date
- 587/586 BCE
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Kingdom of Judah (Jerusalem)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
After a siege of roughly 18–30 months, the army of Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon breached Jerusalem and, in 587 or 586 BCE, sacked the city and burned Solomon's Temple.
King Zedekiah was captured, blinded and deported; the Davidic monarchy ended, and a large portion of Judah's elite and population was taken into captivity in Babylonia, inaugurating the Babylonian Exile. The destruction is corroborated by Babylonian records and by archaeological burn layers in Jerusalem. The loss of land, king and Temple forced a profound religious reorientation: in exile, Judahite religion crystallised around sacred texts, sabbath and covenant rather than a single sanctuary, accelerating the formation of the Hebrew Bible and a portable, increasingly monotheistic Judaism. The exile and the subsequent return under Persian rule became foundational to Jewish identity and to Western religious tradition.
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Empires active in 587/586 BCE
- Roman Kingdom753 BCE – 509 BCE
- Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) Empire626 BCE – 539 BCE
- Scythians800 BCE – 300 BCE
- Zhou Dynasty1046 BCE – 256 BCE
- Carthaginian Empire650 BCE – 146 BCE
- Kingdom of Kush1070 BCE – 350 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Death of Cyrus the Great in Battle Against the Massagetaec. 530 BCE
- Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis480 BCE
- Fall of Nineveh and Collapse of Assyrian Power612 BCE
- Darius I's Scythian Campaign North of the Black Seac. 513 BCE
- Battle of MarathonSeptember 490 BCE
- Alexander the Great invades the Persian Empire334 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
Vivid popular history climaxing with Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.
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