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Nabopolassar, adding, at the same time, at some distance from the city on the E., a new and enormous rampart, 'mountainhigh,' together with another protecting moat; and lastly, how he not only rebuilt the palace of Nabopolassar, but also constructed in fifteen days a yet more magnificent palace, surrounding it with lofty walls, and so making it into a kind of fortress. 'That house, for admiration I made it, for the beholding of the hosts of men I filled it with magnificence. Aweinspiring glory, and dread of the splendour of my sovereignty, encompass it round about; the evil, unrighteous man cometh not within it. I kept far from the wall of Babylon the hostile approach of the foe; the city of Babylon I made strong as the wooded hills' (ix. 29-44). And he ends with a prayer to Marduk, his 'lord,' beseeching him, as he loves and has adorned his abode, to grant him long and prosperous life in the palace which he has built, and to permit his descendants to rule in it for ever (ix. 45-x. 18).

In addition to the works here described, Nebuchadnezzar also constructed many others: for instance, a huge wall, with outside moats, called the 'Median wall,' for protection against invaders from the north, and quays, dykes, and canals for the commerce or irrigation of the country.

Secondly, Nebuchadnezzar, judged by the standard of his age and country, was pre-eminently a religious king. It is true, his treatment of Zedekiah was cruel; but it must be remembered that Zedekiah, even in the judgement of Ezekiel (xvii. 18, 19), had broken faith with him, and acts which would not be tolerated among civilized belligerents now, were not proscribed then by the manners of the age. As Prof. Hommel2 says, 'In his inscriptions we see on the one hand the fatherly care of a prince zealously considerate for the welfare of his land, on the other a genuine and heart-felt piety, which does not at all

1 So also Berosus, ap. Jos. c. Ap. i. 19. The famous 'hanging garden' (кpeμaσròs rapádeiσos, ibid.), or park with trees arranged on rising terraces (not mentioned in the Inscription), was connected with this palace. See Maspero, op. cit. p. 782.

2 Gesch. Bab. und Ass. (1885), p. 764.

produce the impression of consisting simply of empty phrases.' His longer inscriptions invariably begin with an acknowledgement of what he owes to Marduk and Nebo, and end with a prayer for further blessings. In the introduction of the India House Inscription, Nebuchadnezzar quotes a prayer which he had addressed to Marduk, perhaps at the time of his accession, for help and guidance in his rule:

O Eternal Ruler! Lord of all that is!

Grant that the name of the king whom thou lovest,

Whose name thou hast mentioned (i.e. whom thou hast called to the throne), may flourish as seems good to thee.

Guide him on the right path.

I am the ruler who obeys thee, the creation of thy hand.

It is thou who hast created me,

And thou hast entrusted to me sovereignty over mankind.
According to thy mercy, O lord, which thou extendest over all,
Cause me to love thy supreme rule.

Implant the fear of thy divinity in my heart.

Grant to me whatsoever may seem good before thee,

Since it is thou that dost control my life1.

And here is a prayer addressed by him to Shamash, the sungod (whom the Assyrians called 'the judge of heaven and earth'), upon occasion of his restoring his temple in Sippar—

Shamash, great lord, look graciously with gladness upon my deeds; Length of days, enjoyment of life, security of throne, and permanence of rule, grant me as thy gift;

Accept favourably in thy faithfulness the lifting up of my hands.

Elsewhere also Nebuchadnezzar describes himself as one into whose hands Nebo, 'overseer of the hosts of heaven and earth, has committed a righteous sceptre for the government of men,' and as ‘the king of righteousness, the humble, the submissive, who loves justice and righteousness,' and who 'places in the mouth of men the fear of the great gods3.'

1 Jastrow, Religion of Bab. and Ass. (1898), p. 296; KB. iii. 2, P. 13.

2 KB. iii. 2, pp. 61, 63.

3 Ib. pp. 13, 63.

Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Amêl-Marduk ('man of Marduk'), the Ěvil-Merodach of 2 Ki. xxv. 27 ff. (B.C. 561-559). The only inscriptions of this reign, which we at present possess, are contract-tablets. Amêl-Marduk, after a 'lawless and dissolute' reign of two years1, was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-uzur (Neriglissar), who then seized the throne. Nergal-shar-uzur, like Nebuchadnezzar, was a devoted worshipper of Marduk, and restored temples and other buildings2. After reigning for four years (B.C. 559--555) he was succeeded by his youthful son Lâbashi-marduk, who, on account of the evil qualities which he displayed (dià tò #odλà ἐμφαίνειν κακοήθη), was after nine months beaten to death (åπeтνμπavíσon) by his friends3. The conspirators then placed one of their own number, Nabonnēdus (Nabu-na'id), on the throne: in the king's own words, which here supplement the brief narrative of Berosus by some graphic details1—

They all conducted me to the palace, cast themselves at my feet, and did homage to my royalty. At the command of Marduk, my lord, I was exalted to the sovereignty of the land, while they cried out, 'Father of the country! there is none his equal !'

Nabu-na'id, as Abydenus says, was 'no relation' to his predecessor: he was not, like Nebuchadnezzar, a Chaldaean, but a native Babylonian, the son of one Nabu-balāṭsu-iķbi, as the inscription on a brick from Babylon testifies —

Nabu-na'id, king of Babylon, the chosen of Nebo and Marduk, the son of Nabu-balāṭsu-iķbi, the wise prince, am I.

Nabu-na'id was the last native king of Babylon: he was still on the throne when the city was taken by Cyrus, B.C. 538. As

1 Berosus, in an extract ap. Joseph. c. Ap. i. 20.

2 KB. iii. 2, pp. 71-79.

Berosus, .c. His successor speaks of him as one who 'knew not how to rule, and placed himself on the throne against the will of the gods' (Messerschmidt, Die Inschr. der Stele Nabuna'ids, 1896, p. 29). • Messerschmidt, p. 29 (col. V. 11. 1—13).

Ap. Euseb. Praep. Ev. ix. 41, 3 (πроσńкоνтá оi ovdév).
KB. iii. 2, p. 119, No. 1 (similarly No. II, and pp. 97, 121).

DANIEL

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his inscriptions shew1, he devoted himself to restoring the ancient shrines and temples of the country, and excavated the substructures of such ancient sanctuaries as those at Larsa, Uruk, Ur, Sippar, and Nippur, until he reached the foundation-stones of the kings who had either originally built or subsequently restored them. The dates given by him for several of the kings thus mentioned by him have been of importance to modern scholars in fixing the chronology of ancient Babylonia. Belshazzar (Bêl-shar-uzur) was Nabu-na'id's son: he is named on several contract-tablets2, in all except one, with the adjunct, 'the king's son,'—a title something like that of 'Crown Prince.' There are also two of Nabu-na'id's own inscriptions in which, after describing his restoration of different temples, he closes with a prayer on his son's behalf—

And as to Bêl-shar-uzur, the chief son, the offspring of my body, the fear of thy great divinity do thou set in his heart; may he not give way to sin; with life's abundance may he be satisfied 3.

Other references to Belshazzar are contained in the 'Annalistic Tablet' of Cyrus, found by Mr Pinches in 1879 among the collections in the British Museum, which also throws valuable light upon the political events of Nabu-na'id's reign, and upon the manner in which ultimately Cyrus gained possession of Babylon. The top of the tablet is broken off or mutilated; but the most important parts are, happily, intact. Thus, in Nabu-na'id's 6th year (B.C. 549) it is stated that Kurâsh (Cyrus), 'king of Anshan' (a district E. of the Tigris, in the S. or S. W. of Elam), was engaged in war with Ishtuvegu (the Astyages of Herodotus, king of Media); the troops of Ishtuvegu, however, revolted, and delivered their king into the hands of Cyrus (cf. Hdt. i. 127), who then attacked and took his capital Agamtânu (Ecbatana). In his 7th year Nabu

1 KB. iii. 2, pp. 81–113.

2 Eight are referred to by Prince, p. 263 f.; three of these are translated in RP.2 iii. 125-7. The notices are all incidental; e.g. a house is let for three years to 'Nabo-kin-akhi, the secretary of Belshar-uzur, the king's son.'

3 KB. iii. 2, p. 97; similarly pp. 83, 89.

na'id was in Tevâ,-probably some favourite residence in the country, and did not come to Babylon, so that the great annual procession of Bel and Nebo on New Year's Day could not take place: 'the king's son,-i.e. Belshazzar,—the nobles, and his soldiers were in the country of Akkad' (north Babylonia). The 8th year is without incident. In the 9th year the statements respecting the king and 'the king's son' are repeated: it is also added that in Nisan (March) Cyrus, 'king of Persia,' collected his troops, and crossed the Tigris below Arbēla (a little E. of Nineveh), and in Iyyar (April) attacked and conquered a country, the name of which is now lost. In the 10th and 11th years the statements respecting the king and 'the king's son' are again repeated. The part of the tablet relating to the 12th to the 16th years is lost: under the 17th year (B.C. 538) we have the account of Cyrus' conquest of Babylon:—

12 In1 the month of Tammuz2 [July], when Cyrus, in the city of Upê (Opis), on the banks of 13 the river Zalzallat, had delivered battle against the troops of Akkad, he subdued the inhabitants of Akkad. 14 Wherever they gathered themselves together, he smote them. On the 14th day of the month, Sippar was taken without fighting. 15 Nabuna'id fled. On the 16th, Gubaru5, governor [piḥu,-whence the Heb. pehah] of the country of Guti", and the soldiers of Cyrus, without fighting 16 entered Babylon. In consequence of delaying, Nabu-na'id

4

1 The translation is based on that of Hagen in Delitzsch and Haupt's Beiträge zur Assyriologie, ii. (1894), pp. 205 ff. The translation in RP.2, v. 158 ff., is in many respects antiquated. See further on the inscription Whitehouse, Expos. Times, June, 1893, p. 396 ff.

Probably (Meyer, ZATW. 1898, p. 340 f.) an error of the engraver for Tishri (October); for Elul (September) has been already reached in 1. 10.

On the Tigris, about 110 miles N. of Babylon.

Near the Euphrates, about 70 miles N.W. of Babylon.

5 Evidently the prototype of the 'Assyrian' Gobryas, who, according to Xenophon, having a grudge against the King of Babylon for the murder of his only son, joined Cyrus (Cyrop. Iv. vi, v. ii); and is mentioned by him in his (unhistorical) account of the capture of Babylon, as a principal leader of those who first entered the city, while the inhabitants were feasting, and made their way into the palace (VII. v. 8, 24-32).

A part of the mountainous region W. of Media, and N. of Babylonia.

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