Nabopolassar was the first king of the Neo-Babylonian empire and father of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562). He liberated Babylonia from Assyrian rule and conquered the middle Euphrates and then, with help from his ally Cyaxares, king of the Medes, he set about conquering Assyria, which fell between 614 and 610 BCE. Nabopolassar then took up arms in the Levant against the Saite of the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, who had come to the aid of Assyria. He renovated Babylon and bequeathed to his son an empire roughly equivalent to the Assyrian empire.