Judah

Region of Palestine named after one of the tribes of Israel. It became an independent Hebrew kingdom in 922 BC, when civil war led to the division of Israel, and remained loyal to King Rehoboam and the Davidic dynasty. Judah remained a separate state, often at war with Israel and other neighbors, until it was conquered by the Assyrians in about 730 BC. King Josiah briefly restored independence in about 630 BC, but died fighting the Egyptians. Judah became a vassal state of the neo-Babylonian empire in 605 BC, but rebellions in 597 and 587 BC led to the annexation of the kingdom and the deportation of its population to Babylonia.