Cyrus stood on a hill which overlooked his own most recent excavations. The huge basin dug by Nitocris had all but drained by the time Cyrus arrived in Babylonia; the lake was now just a huge grassy basin with a reedy marsh in its bottom. Cyrus took advantage of this and, following Queen Nitocris’ example, excavated a channel from the river into the near-empty basin thus turning the course of the river so that it flowed into the emptied lake once more.

“Your majesty’s plan must have been divinely inspired!” Pactyas enthused, as he surveyed Cyrus’ latest excavations with the monarch, “We have turned the Euphrates into the basin; the river has now sunk so low that the stream is now easily fordable. Your armies will now be able to enter the city Lord, and surprise the enemy!”

Cyrus was pleased; the praise was not undeserved; using only the unwarlike part of his host, he had turned the very strength of Babylon’s own defences against her. Cyrus was also pleased with Pactyas, who, with his quick and adaptable mind had proven to be as excellent a supervisor for Cyrus’ building projects as he was an efficient leader of the military forces which Cyrus had placed under his command.

“Thank you Pactyas; you have done very well.” Cyrus responded; giving Pactyas due credit for the organizational skills he’d displayed working out the logistical requirements for Cyrus’ earthworks. Then with an amused look on his face he added, “I wonder what the Babylonians will think when they realize that they have been defeated in part by the earthworks of their dead queen, Nitocris; for had she not dug the basin for this lake, we would not have been able to divert the river so easily!”

Pactyas appreciated the irony,

“Indeed, your majesty! It is as if the gods themselves have prepared your path and everything you need to accomplish your purposes in advance!”

In Pactyas’ mind, this latest plan not only revealed Cyrus’ military genius; it also confirmed Pactyas’ growing certainty that his new master could be none other than the Son of Heaven; the living incarnation of Merodach.

“Ea be praised for his wisdom!” Cyrus exclaimed piously, “We shall sacrifice generously to him and to his consort, Enlil, as soon as we have taken the city!”

Just as Cyrus had planned, the water-level had dropped sufficiently now for Hystaspes and his men to wade along the riverbed and directly into the heart of the city. Hystaspes knew that the smaller brass gates which opened onto the river were the city’s weakest points; and he had anticipated having to fight hard for control of these points of entry into the city. He was absolutely astonished to discover that they were not only unguarded, but also unlocked, thus making it even easier than they had expected to get inside Babylon’s much-vaunted walls and into the very heart of the city. The guards who would normally have been on duty had been so eager to attend the city’s religious festival that they had not only left their posts; they had also forgotten to secure them.

When Cyrus had first assaulted the city, so confident were the Babylonians in the strength of their city’s defences that they had all simply withdrawn behind the inner wall and into the centre of the city where they carried on life more or less as normal. As the winter progressed, however, Cyrus’ army was having a hard time living off the land in the surrounding region while they waited for supply lines to be established between them and Persia.

By way of amusing themselves, occasionally Babylonian guards or other members of the citizenry would appear at the top of the walls, and, behaving rather like the rudest of the tourists who came to climb Babylon’s famous tower, they would gaze out at the besieging army and taunt them by flinging occasional items of food down at their enemy. Then, laughing hysterically at what they invariably considered to be their own remarkable wit, they would disappear back into the city’s interior; quite certain that these foolish Persians would be starved, frozen to death, or else gone by the time they should next choose to venture out again to mock them. But most of the time they stayed deep inside the city’s interior, where they felt completely safe; protected by height and strength of their city’s impregnable walls.

Throughout the siege the Assyrians deep inside the city had remained blissfully ignorant of Cyrus and his earthworks. Even when the final breakthrough between the river and the basin was achieved and, the water level in the river started to be drop visibly and rapidly, there were no Assyrian guards there to observe the phenomenon or to wonder at its nature.

As it happened, on the day that Cyrus’ earthworks were finally completed and the river was finally turned into Nitocris’ basin; when the water-level in the river had finally sunk low enough to allow the army to walk along the riverbed; the Assyrians were deep in the heart of the city celebrating the largest and most important religious festival of their ritual year; the week-long annual grand sacrifice to Baal-Ammon known as the Feast of the Dead.

So intent were they upon celebrating their feast that no-one even realized that the water level of their own river had dropped severely. Nor did anyone realize that the guards, not anticipating any kind of approach whatsoever from the river, had forgotten to lock the low brass gates which gave access to and from the river; until it was far too late. When Hystaspes’ forces thus caught the enemy unarmed in the midst of their celebrations, they were all taken completely by surprise and easily defeated.

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