Amel-Marduk (Guardians)

Amel-Marduk was the King of Babylon, succeeding his father Nebuchadnezzar II to the throne. During his reign, Amel-Marduk permitted the return of the Jews to Israel in 556 B.C. and was a major participant in the Persian-Median Wars, serving alongside the Median King Astyages against Cyrus and the Persians. While successful on the battlefield and ensuring a difficult peace after the Siege of Susa in 543 B.C., Amel-Marduk's domestic policies were unpopular with much of the Babylonian nobility and priesthood. He survived an attempted coup from his son-in-law Neriglissar but was assassinated in 541 B.C., leaving the Empire to collapse into squabbling city-states that were consumed by the rising Persian Empire. He is remembered in Judaism primarily for his role in allowing the Jews to return to their homelands.