The most famous of the kings of Babylon, the second of that name. His father, Nabopolassar, ejected the Assyrians to restore Babylon's independence and to found Chaldaea or the Neo-Babylonian kingdom in 626 BC. Nebuchadnezzar extended these conquests to the Mediterranean, capturing Jerusalem twice, and on the second occasion, 586 BC, sacking it and deporting its people to exile 'by the waters of Babylon'. It was under his rule and that of a successor, Nabonidus (556-539 BC), that the civilization of Babylon reached its highest level. Nebuchadnezzar II was a great royal figure and is well known from the Bible accounts of his activities in Judea and Samaria. The Neo-Babylonian empire did not long survive his death. Nabodinus fought with the Marduk priesthood at Babylon and Cyrus conquered Babylonia in 539 BC, freeing the Jewish captives.