Carchemish
City on the upper Euphrates, now on the border between Turkey and Syria. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Egyptian army here in 605 BC and so won Syria and Palestine for Babylon.
Carchemish stood on the bank of the upper Euphrates; its ruins lie on the present border between Turkey and Syria. Isaiah lists it among the cities that had fallen to Assyria (Isaiah 10:9). Chronicles says that Pharaoh Necho II was marching to fight at Carchemish when Josiah met him at Megiddo (2 Chronicles 35:20–22). Four years later an Egyptian army lay in the city when the Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar II crossed the river and defeated it (Babylonian Chronicle 5 obv. 1–5) (Jeremiah 46:2). See Babylon Defeats Egypt at Carchemish.
What happened here
- 605 BC, firm dateBabylon Defeats Egypt at Carchemish
The Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar destroys the Egyptian army at Carchemish on the Euphrates and, within months, becomes king. Egypt loses Syria and Palestine, and Judah passes from Egyptian to Babylonian rule.