Babylon invades Egypt

Description

A push toward Egypt (601/600 BC)

Nebuchadnezzar tested Egypt early. Around 601/600 BC he marched west, pressed down through Philistia, and drove toward the Nile Delta. The fighting was fierce. Babylonian troops took heavy losses. Egypt held its ground and forced Babylon to pull back and regroup. The campaign shook both sides. Babylon paused large operations for a time to rebuild its army. Egypt gained breathing room but knew the Babylonian king wasn’t done.

A later strike (568/567 BC)

Decades later, in Nebuchadnezzar’s 37th year, Babylon returned. Records mention a campaign “against Egypt” during the reign of Pharaoh Amasis. Most historians read this as a hard raid or brief incursion, not a permanent takeover. Picture fast-moving columns crossing from Gaza along the coast road and into the Delta, burning supply depots, grabbing spoils, and punishing Egypt for backing Babylon’s enemies. The action hurt, but it didn’t topple the pharaoh or turn Egypt into a Babylonian province.

What it meant

Babylon could batter Egypt, but it couldn’t hold it. The Delta’s canals, swamps, and tangled waterways favored local defenders. Long supply lines from Mesopotamia made permanent occupation risky and expensive. So Nebuchadnezzar struck, took what he could, and withdrew. That pattern fits the prophets’ warnings: Egypt would feel Babylon’s bite yet not fall for good (Ezekiel 29-30). The empire that finally planted its flag in Egypt was Persia under Cambyses in 525 BC, years after Nebuchadnezzar was gone.

In short: Nebuchadnezzar fought Egypt twice—once with major losses, later with a sharp incursion. He bloodied Egypt, shook its confidence, and proved Babylon could reach the Nile. But he didn’t rule it.