Nebuchadnezzar II

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User Hedning on sv.wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire

c. 642 BC – 562 BC · 80 years · Babylon · Middle East

Destroyed Jerusalem and began the Babylonian exile; rebuilt Babylon with the Ishtar Gate and is credited with the Hanging Gardens.

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 7th century BC

Portrait: User Hedning on sv.wikipedia · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Contemporaries around the world

Europe

Solon — Athenian lawgiver and poet, 12 years younger
Sappho — ancient Greek lyric poet, 12 years younger

Middle East

Cyrus the Great — founder of the Achaemenid Empire, 42 years younger
Thales of Miletus — philosopher and mathematician, 18 years younger
Ashurbanipal — king of Assyria, 43 years older

Asia

Mahavira — spiritual teacher of Jainism, 43 years younger

The world in their lifetime

612 BC Fall of Nineveh — aged 30, Middle East
587 BC Destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar — aged 55, Middle East
c. 563 BC Birth of the Buddha — aged 79, Asia