The Neo-Babylonian Empire or the Chaldean Empire is a period of Mesopotamian history that begins in 626 BCE and ends in 539 BCE.

During the preceding three centuries, Babylonia had been ruled by their fellow Akkadian speakers and northern neighbors, Assyria.

Throughout that time Babylonia had enjoyed a prominent status.

The Assyrians had managed to maintain Babylonian loyalty through the Neo-Assyrian period, whether through granting of increased privileges, or militarily, but that finally changes in 627 BCE with the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler, Assurbanipal, and Babylonia rebels under Nabopolassar the Chaldean the following year.

In alliance with the Medes, the city of Nineveh is sacked in 612 BCE, and the seat of empire is again transferred to Babylonia.

This period witnesses a great flourishing of architectural projects, the arts and science.Neo-Babylonian rulers are deeply conscious of the antiquity of their heritage, and pursue an arch-traditionalist policy, reviving much of their ancient Sumero-Akkadian culture.

Even though Aramaic has become the everyday tongue, Akkadian is restored as the language of administration and culture.

Archaic expressions from 1,500 years earlier are reintroduced in Akkadian inscriptions, along with words in the now-long-unspoken Sumerian language.

Neo-Babylonian cuneiform script is also modified to make it look like the old 3rd-millennium BCE script of Akkad.Ancient artworks from the heyday of Babylonia's imperial glory are treated with near-religious reverence and are painstakingly preserved.

For example, when a statue of Sargon the Great is found during construction work, a temple is built for it—and it is given offerings.

The story is told of how Nebuchadnezzar in his efforts to restore the Temple at Sippar, had to make repeated excavations until he found the foundation deposit of Naram-Suen, the discovery of which then allowed him to rebuild the temple properly.

Neo-Babylonians also revive the ancient Sargonid practice of appointing a royal daughter to serve as priestess of the moon-god Sin.We are much better informed about Mesopotamian culture and economic life under the Neo-Babylonians than we are about the structure and mechanics of imperial administration.

It is clear that for Mesopotamia the Neo-Babylonian period was a renaissance.

Large tracts of land are opened to cultivation.

Peace and imperial power make resources available to expand the irrigation systems and to build an extensive canal system.

The Babylonian countryside is dominated by large estates, which are given to government officials as a form of pay.

These estates are usually managed through local entrepreneurs, who take a cut of the profits.

Rural folk are bound to these estates, providing both labor and rents to their landowners.Urban life flourishes under the Neo-Babylonians.

Cities have local autonomy and receive special privileges from the kings.

Centered on their temples; the cities have their own law courts, and cases are often decided in assemblies.

Temples dominate urban social structure, just as they do the legal system, and a person's social status and political rights are determined by where they stand in relation to the religious hierarchy.

Free laborers like craftsmen enjoy high status, and a sort of guild system comes into existence that gives them collective bargaining power.