Belshazzar did not live out the night, being killed as the city fell during the night of October 5, 539 B.C.E., when, according to the Nabonidus Chronicle, “the army of Cyrus (II) entered Babylon without a battle.” (Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, pp. 109, 110; see also Da 5:30.) With the death of Belshazzar and the apparent surrender of Nabonidus to Cyrus, the Neo-Babylonian Empire came to a close.​—See CYRUS; NABONIDUS.

In another document, the Nabonidus Chronicle, a statement is found with regard to Nabonidus’ seventh, ninth, tenth, and eleventh regnal years. It reads: “The king (was) in Tema (while) the prince, the officers, and his army (were) in Akkad [Babylonia].” (Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, by A. K. Grayson, 1975, p. 108)