was the superpower. It was the center of ancient civilization — massive walls, the Hanging Gardens, an army that had crushed every rival it faced. Under Nebuchadnezzar II, it represented the height of human achievement and power.
Nobody expected to fall. The city's walls were reportedly 80 feet thick and 300 feet tall. It was surrounded by a moat. The Euphrates River ran through the middle. By every military standard of the time, it was unconquerable.
And then a Hebrew started speaking.
What Isaiah Said
prophesied in the late 700s BC — about 150 years before fell. Here is what he said:
He named the conqueror: "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus..." (Isaiah 45:1). Isaiah named the Persian king who would conquer . At the time of writing, the Persian Empire was barely a regional power. Cyrus himself would not be born for over a century.
He described the method: "I will go before you and level the mountains... I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron" (Isaiah 45:2). The reference to gates matters — as we will see.
He predicted permanent fall: Isaiah 13:19-20 says would be overthrown like and Gomorrah and "never be inhabited" again. "No Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there."
He named the attackers: "The Medes" (Isaiah 13:17). Cyrus conquered as the leader of a Medo-Persian alliance.
What Actually Happened
In 539 BC, the forces of the Great approached . Here is how the city fell:
The river diversion: According to the Greek historian Herodotus and the Babylonian Chronicle, Cyrus's forces diverted the Euphrates River, which ran under the city walls. When the water level dropped, Persian soldiers waded through the riverbed beneath the walls and entered the city.
The gates were open: The Babylonians were holding a great feast — this is the night of the "writing on the wall" from 5. The inner gates along the river had been left open. Cyrus's army walked straight in.
It fell in a single night: Despite walls 80 feet thick and a moat wide enough to deter any army, fell with almost no battle. Herodotus records that people in the outer parts of the city did not even know it had fallen until the next morning.
The Aftermath
Isaiah said would never be inhabited again. The historical record confirms it:
- By 275 BC, the population had largely moved to the new city of Seleucia nearby
- By the 1st century AD, the site was mostly deserted
- Today, ancient in modern Iraq near Hillah is an archaeological ruin. Nobody lives there. Despite Saddam Hussein's attempts to rebuild parts of it in the 1980s, the site remains uninhabited
For comparison: other ancient cities like , , and have been continuously inhabited for thousands of years. — once the greatest city on earth — is dirt and rubble. Exactly as Isaiah said.
The Dating Debate
Critics argue that Isaiah 40-55 was written by a different author ("Deutero-Isaiah") during or after the exile (540s BC), which would make the Cyrus prediction less remarkable since he was already on the scene.
But even accepting that theory: the specific details about how would fall — the gates, the overnight conquest, the permanent desolation — were written before October 539 BC. And the prediction about permanent desolation has been verified over 2,500 years of history since.
The traditional view that wrote the entire book in the 700s BC is held by many scholars and was the unanimous view of both Jewish and Christian tradition for millennia. If that dating holds, the Cyrus was made 150 years in advance and names a man who had not been born yet.
The Bottom Line
A Hebrew said a city with 80-foot walls and a moat would fall to a specific king from a specific people, and that it would never recover. He was right on every count.
represented the pinnacle of human civilization. It was supposed to endure. Isaiah said it would not. Cyrus arrived and proved him right. 2,500 years later, nobody lives there.
Some predictions hold up over time. This one has held up perfectly.