Carchemish
Landmark · Carchemish → Syria / Türkiye border
A crossing on the Euphrates where Babylon broke the army of Egypt.
People
- Josiah
- Necho II
- Nebuchadnezzar II
- Jeremiah
At a glance
- Realm
- Euphrates frontier (Hittite, then Assyrian)
- Role
- River crossing and battlefield
- Peoples
- Arameans and Hittites under Assyria
- First mention
- 2 Chronicles 35 (Necho’s march)
The story
Carchemish held a strategic ford of the upper Euphrates, long a Hittite city and then an Assyrian stronghold, the gateway between Mesopotamia and the western lands. Whoever controlled it controlled the road of armies.
In the year 605 the young Nebuchadnezzar met Pharaoh Necho and the last of the Assyrian army at Carchemish and shattered them, ending Egypt’s bid for empire and clearing the road that would carry Judah into exile. Josiah had already died trying to block Necho’s march to this campaign, and Jeremiah made the name of Carchemish the sign that Egypt’s day was done.