Bare ridges rise east of the Mesopotamian plain. Wind shears across the flat expanses of the Euphrates valley. Mud brick ziggurats bake under a harsh sun. Median archers gather on the high stone slopes. Soldiers sharpen iron blades and test the tension on wooden bows.
These combined forces marched on the capital city in 539 b.c. The fortress sat roughly 50 miles south of modern Baghdad. Babylonian chronicles record the invading army crossing the river channels without a prolonged siege. The Euphrates water flowed directly through the city center. Invading troops diverted the river and walked beneath the 40-foot outer walls.
They stepped onto the dry riverbed and entered the urban core. The soldiers passed the blue glazed bricks of the Ishtar Gate. They took control of the most fortified urban center in the ancient world. The empire collapsed in one night. Desert sand eventually swallowed the ruined palaces. Jackals and desert owls claimed the empty mud trenches.
Time reduces the strongest brick walls into dens for wild animals.
This animal takeover represents the final stage of ruin. The river shifted its course away from the dead streets. Nomads refused to pitch tents near the fallen stones. The flat expanse remains an empty stretch of broken clay.