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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Nebuchadnezzar Biography NEBUCHADNEZZAR, or, more correctly, NEBUCHADREZZAR (Heb., from Bab. Nabu-kudurri-usur, Nabu [Nebo], protect the boundary). The great King of the Chaldæan Empire, who ruled 605-562 B.C. He was the second of the name, Nebuchadnezzar I having been a distinguished monarch of the fourth dynasty of Babylon, reigning c.1160-1140 B.C. He was the son of Nabopolassar, Viceroy of Assyria in Babylonia, who, after the death of Asurbanipal, gained control. of the Babylonian portion of the latter's empire in 625 B.C. The family was Chaldæan, hence the use of this name for the dynasty and for the land in later ages. (See CHALDÆANS.) Nabopolassar entered into alliance with the other great enemy of Assyria, the Medes, marrying his son to a daughter of the Median King Cyaxares, and apparently also with Psammetichus of Egypt. Nineveh was saved in 625 by the appearance of Assyria's ally, the Scythian King Madyas, who drove away the Medes. But a second attack by the Medes, supported no doubt by the Chaldæans, led to the fall of Nineveh in 606 B.C. The Assyrian Empire was forthwith partitioned: the Medes took possession of the upper Tigris valley and the lands to the north and east of the Euphrates: Nabopolassar made firm his control of the Euphrates valley; and from the west Necho, King of Egypt, advanced to the great river to reclaim for his land its ancient dominion in Syria. The division of spoils between Media and Babylon seems to have been prearranged, but Egypt's intrusion could not be suffered, and Nabopolassar sent Nebuchadnezzar against Necho. The latter seems to have been defeated at Carchemish (605 - B.C.). But he was recalled by the news of the death of his father. Unfortunately we possess but scanty materials for the study of the continuation of Nebuchadnezzar's military and political career. The sources are, besides a few inscriptions, the partial accounts found in the Bible, Josephus (quoting Berosus; Ant., x, 6-11, c. Ap., i, 21), and Herodotus (containing obscure information concerning Egypt; ii, 151 et seq.) and a fragment of Menander. The books of Kings, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel enable us to follow to some extent Judah's relation to its new lord. At first King Jehoiakim submitted, but about 600 B.C. rebelled. After some delay Nebuchadnezzar sent his army against Jerusalem, which fell in 597, Jehoiakim dying during the siege. His son, Jehoiachin, suffered the Imperial chastisement of exile along with 10,000 citizens, an uncle, Zedekiah, being appointed to the throne by the conqueror. But the new King succumbed at last to the temptations to revolt offered by his neighbors, especially by Hophra (see APRIES), the ambitious King of Egypt, and drew upon himself the wrath of the great King. Jerusalem stood a siege of 16 months, but fell in 586 B.C. Zedekiah was blinded, the city was in part destroyed, almost 4000 Jews were carried away into exile and a smaller number in 581 B.C. (See JEWS.) This campaign broke the refractory spirit of the Syrian states, Tyre alone holding out and suffering a famous siege of 13 years, which ended in a truce and the rather ignominious departure of the Chaldæan an army, which had labored in vain outside its walls. In 568 B.C. occurred a campaign which carried Nebuchadnezzar into the heart of Egypt, where, however, he obtained no permanent results. But it is the glory of this King that he prided himself not on the arts of war (he seems to have prosecuted them only at necessity), but on his works of peace. Most of his inscriptions are devoted to his building operations, especially in Babylon, which, destroyed as it had been by Sennacherib and since then racked by civil war, he rebuilt and restored to more than its pristine glory. The excavations of the Germans under Dr. Koldewey have uncovered the extent and grandeur of the fortifications, the palace, the temple of Marduk, and the great Procession Street, which Nebuchadnezzar reared out of patriotism and an eminent devotion to the gods. The sister city Borsippa shared in his benefactions, and he built or repaired temples in Sippara, Cutha, Uruk, Larsa, Ur, and other cities. Nebuchadnezzar's outward successes seem to have been based upon noble kingly qualities. His son Amil Marduk (see EVIL MERODACH) succeeded him, but was assassinated after a reign of two years (562-560). He was followed by his brother-in-law, Nergalsharusur (Neriglissor), the son of Belshumishkun (560-556). Labashi Marduk, his son and successor, was murdered after only nine months' reign. He was the last descendant of Nebuchadnezzar who sat upon the throne, Nabonidus (q.v.), the last King of Babylon, being a native Babylonian and not a Chaldæan. For Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions, consult: Ball, in the Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archæology, vols. x-xi (London, 1888-89) ; H. Winckler, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek. Vol. iii, part ii (Berlin, 1892) ; Langdon, Building Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Paris 1905); id.. Neobabylonische Königsinschriften (Leipzig, 1912). For excavations in Babylon, consult Koldewey, in Mittheilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellsehaft (Berlin, 1899-1913), and id., Das Wiedererstehende Babylon (Leipzig, 1913). See also BABYLONIA and the literature quoted under that article. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 679. |