In the year of _Nabonassar_ 123, [376] _Nabopolassar_ the commander of the forces of _Chyniladon_ the King of _Assyria_ in _Chaldæa_ revolted from him, and became King of _Babylon_; and _Chyniladon_ was either then, or soon after, succeeded at _Nineveh_ by the last King of _Assyria_, called _Sarac_ by _Polyhistor_: and at length _Nebuchadnezzar_, the son of _Nabopolassar_, married _Amyite_ the daughter of _Astyages_ and sister of _Cyaxeres_; and by this marriage the two families having contracted affinity, they conspired against the _Assyrians_; and _Nabopolasser_ being now grown old, and _Astyages_ being dead, their sons _Nebuchadnezzar_ and _Cyaxeres_ led the armies of the two nations against _Nineveh_, slew _Sarac_, destroyed the city, and shared the Kingdom of the _Assyrians_. This victory the _Jews_ refer to the _Chaldæans_; the _Greeks_ to the _Medes_; _Tobit_, _Polyhistor_, _Josephus_, and _Ctesias_ to both. It gave a beginning to the great successes of _Nebuchadnezzar_ and _Cyaxeres_, and laid the foundation of the two collateral Empires of the _Babylonians_ and _Medes_; these being branches of the _Assyrian_ Empire: and thence the time of the fall of the _Assyrian_ Empire is determined, the conquerors being then in their youth. In the Reign of _Josiah_, when _Zephaniah_ prophesied, _Nineveh_ and the Kingdom of _Assyria_ were standing, and their fall was predicted by that Prophet, _Zeph._ i. 1, and ii. 13. and in the end of his Reign _Pharaoh Nechoh_ King of _Egypt_, the successor of _Psammitichus_, went up against the King of _Assyria_ to the river _Euphrates_, to fight against _Carchemish_ or _Circutium_, and in his way thither slew _Josiah_, 2 _Kings_ xxiii. 29. 2 _Chron._ xxxv. 20. and therefore the last King of _Assyria_ was not yet slain. But in the third and fourth year of _Jehoiakim_ the successor of _Josiah_, the two conquerors having taken _Nineveh_ and finished their war in _Assyria_, prosecuted their conquests westward, and leading their forces against the King of _Egypt_, as an invader of their right of conquest, they beat him at _Carchemish_, and [377] took from him whatever he had newly taken from the _Assyrians_: and therefore we cannot err above a year or two, if we refer the destruction of _Nineveh_, and fall of the _Assyrian_ Empire, to the second year of _Jehoiakim_, _Anno Nabonass._ 140. The name of the last King _Sarac_ might perhaps be contracted from _Sarchedon_, as this name was from _Asserhadon_, _Asserhadon-Pul_, or _Sardanapalus_.