Nabonidus

“ Amraphel's lip curled. Nevertheless he helped the old man to sit down with his back to the wall. Then, when Nabonidus had blinked a little and grown steadier as to his head, the high-priest stood over him and spoke:
"Thou, O weak one, hast been king of the Great City. King of her shalt thou be nevermore. Here thou art, alone, unheard, unseen, in my power and the power of the captive Jew. Death hangs over thy head; yet by one means thou mayst save thyself. Wilt thou hear?" ”

“ When it is necessary we will strive with our lives to defend the city; but how it will go with us, only the great gods know."
Nabonidus heard him and sighed. He could not but believe this man, this friend, this faithful servant of his; and his moment of passion was over. As he came back to his chair three slaves entered the room, bringing with them trays of food and a jar of wine. These were placed on the fixed table, and a light couch was brought in and set before it for the king. Nânâ was supposed to sit in his lord's presence. ”

“ Perhaps it was as well that Nabonidus, in his pathetic faith, should not have heard the comments of the tired temple-servants as they worked through the night, preparing for the next day's services. Twenty new gods asleep in Babylon—twice twenty demons at work in the minds of men. Could the outcome of the fast-approaching struggle still look doubtful to any reasonable thinker whose heart was on neither side?
Belshazzar and his father drove home together from the square of Marduk. Weary as he was, Nabu-Nahid was in a joyous frame of mind. ”

“ Naturally there is no suggestion that the Nabonidus who is given as the first witness, with the title “he who is over the city,” was the son of Nabû-balaṭ-su-iqbî, afterwards king of Babylon. The scribe of the second tablet calls him “the son of the king,” but there is no indication, from Babylonian sources, that he was one of the sons of Nebuchadnezzar. ”

“ The latter building had been destroyed by the Medes.
The religious innovations of Nabonidus made him exceedingly unpopular throughout Babylonia, for he carried away the gods of Ur, Erech, Larsa, and Eridu, and had them placed in E-sagila. Merodach and his priests were displeased: the prestige of the great god was threatened by the policy adopted by Nabonidus. As an inscription composed after the fall of Babylon sets forth; Merodach "gazed over the surrounding lands ... looking for a righteous prince, one after his own heart, who should take his hands.... He called by name Cyrus." ”

“ The seat of empire was now transferred to Babylonia. Nabopolassar was followed by his son Nebuchadrezzar II., whose reign of 43 years made Babylon once more the mistress of the civilized world. Only a small fragment of his annals has been discovered relating to his invasion of Nabonidus.Egypt in 567 B.C., and referring to “Phut of the Ionians.” Of the reign of the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, however, and the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus, we now have a fair amount of information. ”

“ Obviously the scribes of Nabonidus were not anxious to diminish the antiquity of the foundation-inscription of Narām-Sin, which their royal master had unearthed; and another reason for their calculations resulting in so high a figure is suggested by the recent discoveries: they may in all good faith have reckoned as consecutive a number of early dynasties which were as a matter of fact contemporaneous. But, though we may refuse to accept the accuracy of this figure of Nabonidus, it is not possible at present to fix a definite date for the early kings of Agade. ”

“ Of Evil-Merodach we have found only two examples (Fig. 50) , one of 3 lines, exactly analogous to the stamps of Nebuchadnezzar. Neriglissar (Fig. 51 G) has 3– and 4–lined stamps, with the text, “Neriglissar, King of Babylon, fosterer of Esagila and Ezida, who accomplishes good deeds.” Of Nabonidus (Fig. 51 H) are 3– and 6–lined stamps, with the text, “Nabonidus, King of Babylon, the chosen one of Nabu and Marduk, son of Nabubalatsuikbi, the wise prince, am I,” and “Nabonidus, King of Babylon, fosterer of Esagila and Ezida, son of Nabubalatsuikbi, the wise prince.” ”

“ And presently Nabonidus, with a faint sigh, lifted up his voice again:
"Belshazzar, thou seest surely the danger that all are in. Of my own free will I go forth to Sippar; yet I have little thought that I shall return thence again. All things are in the hands of the great gods. If it is decreed that I perish at the hands of my enemies, I pray only that Ânû will hold for me a place in the silver sky. Through seventeen years I have ruled over the Great City, and in that time I have never willingly wronged any man. Why it should be that men wrong me, I know not ”

“ Besides this, was it not necessary that [pg 414] they should justify themselves for accepting a foreign ruler, of a different religion from their own?
Nabonidus gives no hint in his inscriptions that he was aware of any dissatisfaction at what he was doing. In all probability he was as religious as any of his predecessors had been, and his son Belshazzar was as the second ruler in the kingdom. Records exist showing that Belshazzar sent offerings to the temple at Sippar whilst he was in that neighbourhood, and the king's own offerings are sometimes mentioned with them. ”

“ Nabonidus’s was found in 1906 some 15–20′ W. of Eski-Ḥarran, a little nearer to it than to Hmeira, which is west of Eski-Ḥarran an hour and a half north-east of the ruins of Ḥarran. Parts of Mesopotamia have probably always harboured wandering tribes. Exactly how far the intervening lands beyond reach of the streams have done so it is difficult to make out. Fraser (Short Cut to India, p. 134) insists that in the undulating plains the direct rainfall is quite sufficient for agricultural purposes. ”

“ Presently Nânâ rose and made his obeisance.
"Lord king, I must go forth. The hour is late, and I have not yet numbered the night-guards. Before I go—let it please thee to take up thy abode from to-morrow in the palace of Sharrukin. Everything there was prepared for thee. Here, with Ludar, thou [Pg 376] art not safe. If thou wilt not escape from Sippar, come thou and take up thy dwelling with those that regard thee with loyalty and devotion." Nânâ was not an emotional man, but the feeling in these words was genuine, and Nabonidus was touched. ”

“ For the images themselves constituted a nation's chief weapon of offence, and there was always the chance that, if properly treated by their captors, they might transfer their influence to the other side. This close connexion between the god and his image survived into the Neo-Babylonian period, and Nabonidus' offence in the eyes of the priesthood was simply that he ignored the feeling. Historical evidence thus suggests that the astral aspect of divinity in Babylonia was not an original feature of its religious system, and that it was never adopted to the exclusion of more primitive ideas. ”

“ The real power lay in the hands of the nobles and generals, and Bel-sharuzur, the king’s son, directed affairs for them in his father’s name. Nabonidus meanwhile resided in a state of inactivity at his palace of Tima, and it is possible that his condition may have really been that of a prisoner, for he never left Tima to go to Babylon, even on the days of great festivals, and his absence prevented the celebration of the higher rites of the national religion, with the procession of Bel and its accompanying ceremonies, for several consecutive years. ”

“ Professor Sayce, in his Hibbert Lecture in 1888, gives a detailed account of the evidence which had overcome his original scepticism, and forced him to admit the accuracy of this very distant date. Since the discovery of the cylinder of Nabonidus, several tablets have been found and deciphered, containing lists of kings and dynasties of the same character as the Egyptian lists of Manetho. One tablet of the kings who reigned at Babylon takes us back, reign by reign, to about 2400 b.c. ”

“ At the end of the month Elul the gods of the land of Akkad who were above the atmosphere and below the atmosphere entered Babylon, the gods of Borsippa, Cutha, and Sippar did not enter. In the month Tammuz Cyrus made battle at Opis on the Tigris among the soldiers of Akkad. The people of Akkad raised a revolt; people were killed; Sippar was taken on the 14th day without fighting. Nabonidus fled. On the 16th day Ugbaru (Gobryas) , governor of the land of Gutium, and the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting—after Nabonidus they pursued (?) ”

“ If the hero of the dynasty who had conquered Egypt had not ventured to measure his strength with the Median princes, and if he had courted the friendship not only of the warlike Cyaxares but of the effeminate Astyages, it would not be prudent for Nabonidus to come into collision with the victorious new-comers from the heart of Iran. ”

“ When they saw their gods taken from their ancient shrines and gathered at Babylon in the great temple of Bel, as subordinate gods to magnify the worship of Bel, their resentment ripened into secret intrigue against their king, which resulted in the banishment of Nabonidus from his kingdom, the occupation of the throne by Cyrus, and finally the overthrow of the Babylonian empire. ”

“ They had returned to their city, Jerusalem, and had rebuilt their temple there under the auspices{v1-278} of Cyrus, that Persian conqueror who, we have already noted, in 539 B.C. overthrew Nabonidus, the last of the Chaldean rulers in Babylon. The Babylonian Captivity had lasted about fifty years, and many authorities are of opinion that there was a considerable admixture during that period both of race and ideas with the Babylonians. ”

“ After the destruction of the Scythians Cyaxares regained the supremacy, renewed his attack on Assyria, and in 606 B.C. destroyed Nineveh and the other capitals of the empire (Herod. i. 106; Berossus ap. Euseb. Chron. i. 29, 37, confirmed by a stele of Nabonidus found in Babylon: Scheil in Recueil de 681 travaux, xviii.; Messerschmidt, “Die Inschrift der Stele Nabonaids,” in Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, i., 1896) . ”

“ We must, therefore, proceed by inference. There are two or three recorded events earlier and later than our date, which are of service. First, we learn from Babylonian annals that Kyaxares, besides overrunning all Assyria and the northern part of Babylonia after the fall of Nineveh, took and pillaged Harran and its temple in north-west Mesopotamia. Now, from other records of Nabonidus, fourth in succession to Nebuchadnezzar, we shall learn further that this temple did not come into Babylonian hands till the middle of the following century. ”

“ From Susa (Shushan) on the Choaspes, his capital city, he ruled over the fertile and populous region lying eastward of the Lower Tigris which bore the name of Elam or Susiana. This realm was one of the most ancient in Western Asia. ... Nabonidus became king of Babylon in the year 555 B. C. He had raised himself to the throne by conspiracy and murder, and his position at first was insecure. The eastern provinces, Syria and Phœnicia, rose in revolt against the usurper, while the Medes on the north began a harassing warfare and threatened an invasion of Babylonia. ”

“ Gospel of Egyptians only work attributed to (Hippolytus) , ii. 79; their allegorical interpretation of all literature, ii. 81; quote Homer, Pindar etc., ii. 83; treat poets as Puritans do Scripture, ii. 85 Nabonidus, King of Chaldaea, his date for inscription of Sargon of Accad, i. 114 n. 1 Nahnaha, name of Manichaean Mother of Life, ii. 300 n. 2, 309, 323 n. 4 Name, of Alexander still famous in East, i. 14 ”

“ Nabonidos restored the temple at Haran, and it is thus that he celebrates the event:—“May the gods who dwell in heaven and earth approach the house of Sin, the father who created them. As for me, Nabonidos, king of Babylon, the completer of this temple, may Sin, the king of the gods of heaven and earth, in the lifting up of his kindly eyes, with joy look upon me month by month at noon and sunset: may he grant me favourable tokens, may he lengthen my days, may he extend my years, may he establish my reign, may he overcome my foes, may he slay my enemies, may he sweep away my opponents. ”

“ Nabonidos, the last Chaldæan-Babylonian king, prays to the Moon-god: "Keep me from sin against thy great Godhead, and a life of far-off days grant unto me as a gift," while for Belsazar, his first born, he prays: "Cause the fear of thy sublime godhead to dwell in his heart that he consent not to sin; may he be satisfied with abundance of life!" The formal curses at the end of the royal inscriptions show, on the other hand, that destruction of posterity and sudden death were regarded as punishments for offences against gods and men. ”

“ Nabu, the wise, all-knowing god, sacred in Borsippa, was also popular in literature and learning. In addition to being patron of intelligence and wisdom, he was also patron of agriculture. When his favor was given, storehouses were heaped high with grain; when his favor was withdrawn, famine afflicted the land. From the twelfth century B.C. onwards his name appears in royal names such as Nabo-polasar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nabo-nidus, and in the ninth century B.C. the worship of this god only was preached: "Put thy trust in Nebo; trust not in another God." ”

“ Nabonassar, the king of that country, had died, and been succeeded by his son, Nabû-nadin-zēri, who, however, only reigned two years, and gave place to Nabû-šum-ukîn, who murdered him. This last, however, only held the throne for somewhat more than two months, and Ukîn-zēr, chief of the Chaldean tribe Bît-Amukkāni, took possession of the throne, and ruled for three years—much against the inclination of the Babylonians, who, to all appearance, had no love for the Chaldean tribes inhabiting certain tracts of the country. ”