CHAPTER VI. RENASCENCE AND FALL OF BABYLON

“Belshazzar’s grave is made, His kingdom passed away, He, in the balance weighed, Is light and worthless clay, The shroud his robe of state, His canopy the stone; The Mede is at his gate, The Persian on his throne.”--BYRON’S “VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.”

Nowhere is there a more striking illustration of national regeneration than is furnished by the story of the new Babylonian Empire. Freed from Assyrian thraldom, Babylon, the old, old city, came forward to take the place of the fallen Nineveh as the world-metropolis.

It has been customary to think and speak of the new Babylonian Empire as evidencing the rejuvenation of an old people. In one sense this view has full validity. But it must not be supposed that the new Babylonians who came to power when Nineveh fell were the _bona fide_ descendants of the rulers of old Babylonia. New blood had made itself felt in the old race; indeed, without its influence it is highly improbable that the rejuvenation could have been effected. The outsiders who made their influence felt with such potency to restore and rejuvenate the old empire, are known as the Chaldeans. The precise origin of this people is in doubt. It is held to be established, however, that they were Semitic, and hence could claim cousinship with the Babylonians and Assyrians. They inhabited the Sea Lands to the south of Mesopotamia at an early date, and have been supposed to come originally from Arabia. They are heard of from time to time in Babylonian and Assyrian annals as a half-barbaric and often troublesome people, divided into various tribes or clans or petty principalities, bearing such unfamiliar names as Bit-Silani, Bit-Sa’alli, and Bit-Sala.

It is supposed by modern orientalists that the Chaldeans long had their eyes upon the fertile regions of the North, and even, from time to time, been presumptuous enough to cross swords with the Babylonians and Assyrians in the hope of dethroning them. Certain it is that the rulers of the North had at various times waged war against their less civilised cousins of the Sea Lands. Yet the evidence does not seem to be very clear as to the precise share which the Chaldeans took in the new movement inaugurated in Babylon with the death of the last really powerful Assyrian king, Asshurbanapal. The name of the new ruler who now came to power in Babylon was Nabopolassar; but it cannot be asserted with confidence that he was of Chaldean origin. It is held, however, that the influences that dominated the kingdom under his reign were clearly Chaldean; though considering the vagueness that surrounds the entire subject, it must be admitted that this assertion is much easier to make than to prove. Still, all that we know about the degeneration of old nations elsewhere, and the extreme difficulty of resuscitating a senescent people, except by a mixture of races, tends to confirm the theory that a race relatively new to civilisation was chiefly instrumental in working the miracle of Babylonian regeneration.

In any event, the people who for something less than a century made Babylon a great centre of world-influence were known to their contemporaries and to succeeding generations as Chaldeans rather than as Babylonians. Just to what extent the old Babylonian people shared in the new work, can perhaps never be known; but the question is relatively unimportant, because in any event it was a people of the same old Semitic stock that carried on the historic story.

The most brilliant period of the new Babylonian Empire came soon after the fall of Nineveh, in the reign of the world-famous king, Nebuchadrezzar, the monarch who built the marvellous wall about the city and the fabulous hanging gardens; the conqueror who overthrew the Phœnicians and carried the Israelites into captivity.

A peculiar interest attaches to the period of the immediate successors of Nebuchadrezzar because the Babylonian captivity of the Israelites still continued, to which the Hebrew writers made such extended references. The famous account in the Book of Daniel of the feast of Belshazzar, with its brief but graphic reference to the alleged tragic end of the Babylonian king, and the overthrow of Babylon itself at the hands of “Darius the Mede,” have furnished never-to-be-forgotten pictures to all subsequent generations. The modern archæologist has rudely shattered some of these treasured images. Thus the Book of Daniel makes allusion to the overthrow of Babylon in these words: “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.… In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” (Daniel v. 1, 2, 30, 31.)

[Sidenote: [555 B.C.]]

But within the past generation inscriptions have come to light proving, to the amazement of a keenly interested world, that no king named Belshazzar ever reigned in Babylon; and that the name of the monarch overthrown by Cyrus the Persian or Elamite--not by “Darius the Mede”--was Nabonidus. Nabonidus had a son, Belshazzar, but he never ruled. This Nabonidus was not the son of Nebuchadrezzar or his immediate successor, three successive rulers after Nebuchadrezzar having reigned before he came to the throne. It is clear from inscriptions of Nabonidus and of Cyrus his conqueror that Babylon was overthrown without a struggle. A cylinder inscription by Cyrus tells the story: the first part of which, translated by the Rev. C. J. Ball, is as follows: “The continual offering he made to cease … he (es)tablished in the cities the worship of Merodach, the King of the Gods, he exalted (?) His name … by a yoke unrelaxing he ruined them all. At their lamentation the Lord of the Gods waxed very wroth … the Gods who dwelt among them forsook Their abode. In wrath because he brought them into Shu-anna (_i.e._ Babylon), Merodach … He turned towards all the districts whose dwellings were thrown down. And (to) the people of Shinar and Accad, who were become as dead, He turned (His regard?): He showed compassion upon all the lands together. He looked for, He found him, yea, He sought out an upright Prince, after His own heart, whom He took by his hand, Cyrus, king of the city of Anshan; He named his name; to the kingdom of the whole world He called him by na(me). The land of Qutû (and) all the Umman-Manda he humbled to his feet; the Blackheaded folk, whom his hands subdued,--in faithfulness and righteousness he looked after them. Merodach, the great Lord, the guardian of His people, joyfully beheld his good deeds and his upright heart. To His own city Babylon his march He commanded; He put them on the road to Tin-tir (_i.e._ Babylon); like a comrade and helper He marched at his side. His great hosts, whose number like the waters of a river could not be known, with their weapons girded on, advanced beside him. Without skirmish or battle He made him enter Shu-anna. His own city Babylon He spared from distress; Nabonidus the king, who feared him not, He delivered up to him. The people of Tin-tir in a body, the entire land of Shinar and Accad, the nobles and grandees, bowed down before Him, kissed His feet, rejoiced at His accession; their faces brightened.”

The accounts given by Nabonidus himself confirm this record of Cyrus. It would appear, then, that the Hebrew chroniclers, gifted rather with the poetical imagination than with the calm historical sense, confused the Babylonian conquest of Cyrus with a later campaign of his successor, Darius. But no mere substitution of the cold facts of history can ever rob the world of the beautiful traditional picture of the feast of Belshazzar. Here, as elsewhere, myth must be allowed to hold its own as the embodiment of the spirit of history. Myth and history coincide as to the fact that the old dynasty in new Babylonia was overthrown. And with that overthrow the sceptre of world-influence passed from the hands of the Semitic race forever.

CONTEMPORARY CHRONOLOGY

[Sidenote: [615-538 B.C.]]

The epoch of the new Babylonian Empire covers a period of time from about 615 to 538 B.C., approximately three-quarters of a century. We have already, at the beginning of this book, outlined the position of contemporary civilisations during the entire sweep of Assyrian and new Babylonian history; but it may be well briefly to recapitulate the position of other nations during the epoch of new Babylonian domination, that a clearer picture of the time may be before the eyes as we view the details of Babylonian history.

While reading of the achievements of Nebuchadrezzar and his successors, then, it will be well to recall that:

_Egypt_ under the XXVIth Dynasty enjoys a brief period of rejuvenescence as a world-power; curiously linked in time with the new awakening of her old-time rival, Babylonia;

In _India_, at about this period, Buddha lives and founds the religion that is to bear his name;

_Greece_ and _Rome_ are in a relative youth, not yet reckoning time from a fixed era, and only beginning to make secure records on which future generations may build. Their civilisation does not compare in importance with that of Babylon, which is the recognised centre of culture, looking upon these “new” nations in the west as utter barbarians;

_Phœnicia_ is far past the zenith of its power; Samaria has fallen; Jerusalem is to become subject to Babylon itself;

In _Asia Minor_, Sardis, the capital of Lydia, is waxing in power.

But the coming nation of the epoch is _Persia_, which turns the tables on its fellow, Manda, hitherto the stronger of the half-civilised pair of nations, and which finally, under Cyrus, captures Babylon itself, and assumes undisputed sovereignty over the whole of southwestern Asia.[a]

NABOPOLASSAR AND NEBUCHADREZZAR

[Sidenote: [626-562 B.C.]]

Nabopolassar (Nabu-apal-usur, _i.e._ “Nabu protect the heir”), according to the Ptolemaic canon, reigned from 625 B.C. (the date of his accession thus being 626) until 605 B.C., in which year he died, shortly before the victory won by his son Nebuchadrezzar over the Egyptians at Carchemish, having been in ill health before Nebuchadrezzar started for Syria. We have seen how immediately upon his accession to the throne of the Pharaohs, Neku II profited by the impotence of the Assyrian kingdom, which was enfeebled to the last degree by long years of Scythian incursions, to penetrate into the Hamath district.

[He encountered the army of Judah at Meggido--the same historical locality where, a thousand years before, Tehutimes III had vanquished the combined forces of Syria and Phœnicia. The king of Jerusalem was slain on the field, and his army, retreating in terror to the capital, made his young son, Jehoahaz, king, ignoring the claims of Eliakim, the eldest, probably because he was in favour of submitting to Neku. Pharaoh now proceeded, unmolested, to Riblah in Cœle-Syria, where he made his headquarters, and confident in his mastery over Judah, ordered Jehoahaz to appear before him. When the new king arrived he was thrown into chains and Eliakim put in his place under the name of Jehoiakim.]

Neku’s ambition was next directed to the conquest of the whole of northern Syria; a project which he actually accomplished to a great extent during the years 608 to 606, whilst the Babylonians, with their Median allies, were besieging Nineveh. He must certainly have advanced as far as Carchemish, since that was the spot where the Egyptian and Babylonian forces met in 605. The fate of Syria was sealed thereby; it became a province of Babylonia even as it had once been a province of Assyria, and Judah became a vassal kingdom to Babylonia.

[Sidenote: [602-587 B.C.]]

Thus Nabopolassar, who died in 605, while his son was on the march for Syria, only just missed the satisfaction of seeing the new kingdom of Babylonia which he had founded enter upon the heritage of the Assyrian Empire, out of which the western province could least of all be spared. He did not see it: instead the news of his father’s death reached the young Nebuchadrezzar (Nabu-kudur-usur, _i.e._ “Nabu protect the crown”) shortly after the victory of the Egyptians, which decided the fate of Syria for the time being; and leaving his generals to follow up the victory, he had to return to Babylon in hot haste to assume the royal dignity that awaited him. There he received the crown at the hands of the great nobles without encountering any obstacles, and for the long period of his glorious reign, which lasted forty-two years (604-562) he guided the destinies of his country, extended and strengthened its borders, and thus made Babylonia a great power, and Babylon one of the most splendid and illustrious cities of ancient times. If we further take into consideration that it was he who likewise conquered Syria for Babylonia, we cannot but acknowledge his claim to be counted the first ruler who entered upon the full possession of Assyria and consolidated it.

Amid all the many and sometimes detailed inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar which have been found in the ruins of Babylon and other cities, not one contains any account of his campaigns; but from a passage in the preamble of the great inscription of the kingdom, we see that in spite of his preference for building and other peaceful labours he was a mighty warrior. It runs: “Under his mighty protection (_i.e._ that of the god Marduk) I have passed through far countries, distant mountains, from the upper sea even to the lower sea (_i.e._ probably from the Gulf of Issus to the mouth of the Nile) far-reaching ways, closed paths where my step was stayed and my foot could not stand, a road of hardships, a way of thirst; the disobedient I subdued and took the adversaries captive, the land I guided aright, the people I caused to be seized; I carried away the bad and the good among them, silver and gold and precious stones, copper, palm wood and cedar wood, whatsoever was costly, in gorgeous abundance; the products of the mountains and that which the sea yielded, brought I as a gift of great weight, as a rich tribute into my city of Babylon before his (the god’s) face.” And although the different campaigns of which we know are distributed over almost the whole of his long reign, we find mention of only one short war against Aahmes of Egypt in the thirty-seventh year of it.

With regard to these wars, most of them aimed at completing the work begun at the battle of Carchemish, and more particularly at preventing further interference on the part of Egypt, and at banishing her influence completely from Babylonian territory, which had now been extended to her very frontier. It was probably in the third year after Nebuchadrezzar’s battle (therefore in 602 B.C.) that Syria was completely incorporated into the Babylonian kingdom, leaving him free to think of displaying his power in the eyes of Jehoiakim, whom Neku had set up as king in Jerusalem, by advancing against him with an army. The desired result promptly followed, and from 601 to 599 Jehoiakim became tributary to the king of the Chaldeans. In the fourth year, 598, the king of Judah withheld the tribute, probably at the instigation of Egypt. When the Babylonians invaded Judah (probably at the beginning of 587) Jehoiakim was just dead; his son Jehoiachin (known also as Jeconiah) was besieged at Jerusalem and, seeing further resistance useless, surrendered to Nebuchadrezzar. He was carried away captive to Babylon with his family and nearly all the princes, warriors, masons, and smiths; but, once there, their lot was no hard one, for they were permitted to settle without molestation and to exercise their own religion. A great number of them lived thus at Tel-Abib (_i.e._ “heap of ruins”) on the canal Chebar [a canal found near Nippur and now called Kabaru] as we know from the chronicles of Ezekiel, who was one of them. Jerusalem was not destroyed, but Jehoiachin’s kinsman, Mattaniah (another son of Josiah), was set over the few inhabitants that remained there as a vassal of Babylonia, under the new name of Zedekiah (595-587). The newly installed sovereign was a weak man, who by his own good will would have been a loyal vassal; but ultimately in spite of the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, who fully realised the true state of affairs, he threw in his lot with the war party, who relied on the help of Egypt, and rebelled against Babylonia.

In 589 Psamthek II (Neku’s successor) himself was succeeded by the young and warlike Uah-ab-Ra (the Hophra of the Bible and the Apries of the Greeks), who sent a fleet to the assistance of the Phœnicians in an attempt they made to revolt. Thereupon Nebuchadrezzar marched his troops into Syria and set up his headquarters at Riblah, the old headquarters of Neku, so as to operate from thence against Zedekiah, Tyre, and Pharaoh. How Jerusalem was besieged (589-587) and destroyed, how in the meantime Uah-ab-Ra’s army was vanquished, and how Tyre was then invested (the siege lasting thirteen years) and forced to pay tribute, if no more--all these events are likewise known to us only from other sources than cuneiform inscriptions, and the detailed description of them, at least in so far as they relate to the downfall of the kingdom of Judah, and thus form a part of (not the opening era of) Jewish history, lies ready to every reader’s hand in the books of the Bible of which we have given a brief outline. As for Tyre (after the siege) she remained under the rule of her own kings, though as a vassal to Babylonia. All the worse was the fate which, in 587, overtook Judah, whose hopes had been so cruelly deceived, for not only was the city utterly destroyed (see the moving laments in the so-called Book of Lamentations), and the king, blinded and fettered, carried away into captivity after seeing his sons slain before his face; but with the exception of the poor, the day labourers absolutely necessary for the cultivation of the soil and vineyards, all who had escaped the previous deportation were carried away by the Babylonian king to the “waters of Babylon” (Psalm 137).

[Sidenote: [587-568 B.C.]]

[While his soldiers were keeping their long and weary station under the walls of Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar turned his attention to another important matter. Because the people of Judah and Tyre had looked to Egypt for assistance, they had given the Babylonian king much trouble. Egypt, therefore, must suffer for this; so that she would not feel inclined to repeat her action of sending an army to Zedekiah’s aid. A new Egyptian campaign was planned.]

A fragment at the beginning of which a prayer (“Thou destroyest my enemies and makest my heart to rejoice”) was set down, assigns the above-mentioned campaign in Egypt to the year 568 (_i.e._ the thirty-seventh year of the reign). The passage which refers to it,--“Year 37 of Nebuchadrezzar, king of (Babylonia to the land of) Misir, (_i.e._ Egypt) to give a battle, he marched and (his troops A-ma)-a-su, the king of Misir assembled and …” leaves no doubt that Aahmes or Amasu is the king here meant, for only the year before, in 569, Aahmes had revolted against Uah-ab-Ra and forced him to recognise him (Aahmes) as co-regent. He soon afterward became sole ruler in Egypt; and, as such, he died in the year 528, shortly before the conquest of Egypt by the Persians. Nebuchadrezzar meanwhile contented himself with humbling the pride of Egypt, and refrained from conquering the country, which even had it been successfully done would but have raised difficulties for the Babylonian kingdom to cope with. His chief aim, to keep Syria and Palestine clear of Egyptian influence, was attained by the campaign.

Of Nebuchadrezzar’s other military expeditions, the one mentioned (Jeremiah xlix. 28-33) against the Bedouins of Kedar and the Arab tribes, which had settled to the east of Palestine, leads us again to the borders of the Occident. The town of Teredon, at the mouth of the Euphrates, was founded at this time as a bulwark against the Bedouins, and by reason of its situation became, like Gerrha, on the Persian Gulf, and Thapsacus, Tiphsah, on the middle Euphrates, a mercantile station of some importance. Not until the time of the New Kingdom of Babylonia did a flourishing trade develop along the Euphrates, with Armenia and the east coast of Arabia for its extreme poles; and from the reign of Nebuchadrezzar dates the part played by Babylon, his capital, as the greatest emporium of the ancient world, and the proverbial meaning which the name of Babylon has retained down to our times, to signify the worst aspects (luxury and license) of a capital city.

From Babylon and the mention of her trade it would be a natural transition to the buildings erected by Nebuchadrezzar, if we were not first bound to mention the northwest and east, which are of extreme importance from an historical point of view, and in which Nebuchadrezzar took the part of a mediator, if no more, between the Medes and the Lydians.

[Sidenote: [604-560 B.C.]]

To return to the buildings erected by Nebuchadrezzar, which, up to this time form the subject of nearly all the inscriptions discovered, the latter all show his character in a favourable light. In all we find evidence of the paternal care of a prince zealous for the welfare of his dominions, and of a sincere and heartfelt piety which by no means leaves the impression that it is a mere form of speech. We can listen to his own words prefixed to his account of the buildings he erected and revealing something of his heart.

“Since the Lord, Marduk, created me, and made fair preparation for my birth from the womb, from that time forward, when I was born and created, I have visited the holy places of God, and walked in the ways of God. To Marduk, my Lord, I prayed; I took up my parable in prayer to him, the speech of my heart came (before him) to him I spoke: ‘Eternal, Holy, Lord of all things, for the king, whom thou lovest, whose name thou callest according to thy good pleasure, guide his name well, lead (or guard) him in a straight path. I, the prince, who obeyeth thee, am the work of thy hands, thou didst create me, thou didst commit unto me the royal dominion over the whole people, according to thy grace, O Lord which thou sendest forth upon all. Teach me to love thy august sovereignty, let the fear of thy divinity be in my heart, bestow (upon me) that which is pleasing unto thee, thou who preparest my life.’ Thereupon the Highest, the Glorious, the first among the gods, the august Marduk, heard my supplication and accepted my prayers, he caused his great majesty to rule favourably, he caused the fear of God to abide in my heart, I fear his majesty.” And the conclusion runs: “Babylon, the capital of the land, I established with the hills of the forest. To Marduk, my lord, I prayed and lifted up my hand: ‘Marduk, lord, the first of gods, thou mighty prince, thou hast created me, thou hast committed to me royal dominion over the multitude of the people, I love the majesty of thy courts as my precious life. Save thy city of Babylon. I have made me no other capital out of all inhabited places. As I love the fear of thy divinity and seek thy majesty, so incline graciously to my supplication (literally, to the raising of my hands), hear my prayers. I am the King, the Restorer, who delights thy heart, the zealous ruler, the restorer of all thy cities. At thy command, O merciful Marduk, may the house which I have built endure to all eternity, may I satisfy myself in its abundance. May I come to old age therein, may I satisfy myself with my glory, may I receive the weighty tribute therein from the kings of all regions of the world and from all mankind. From the horizon of the heavens unto the meridian and at (?) the rising sun may I have no enemies nor possess any adversaries (lit. them that put me in fear). May my posterity bear rule therein over the black-headed people to all eternity.’”

Nebuchadrezzar, himself, attached the greatest importance to the restoration of the temples of E-sagila and E-zida, as being the most ancient sanctuaries of Babylon, and in his briefest inscriptions, the stamp-marks on bricks, whether used for the building of these two temples or any other edifice, always had added to his title of king, that of restorer of the temples of E-sagila and E-zida. Of greater interest to us, however, since we can still admire the ruins of it, is a temple which is only briefly referred to in a few words in the long inscription, but of which we have a detailed account in another, shorter inscription, namely, the Temple of the Seven Spheres of Heaven and Earth, which was built in seven stories near (or as a ziggurat of) E-zida at Borsippa.

But although Nebuchadrezzar devoted most thought to his beloved Babylon (and to Borsippa) he in nowise neglected other seats of worship of the country. The temple of the Sun, at Sippar, the temple of a god as yet unidentified, in the city of Baz (Paszitu), the temple of Idi-Anu (the Eye of Anu), at Dilbat, the temple of Lugal-Amarda (Marad), E-Anna, the temple of Ishtar, at Erech, the temple of the Sun, at Larsa, and the temple of the Moon, at Erech, are enumerated one after another as having been rebuilt by Nebuchadrezzar. With better right than his father he calls himself on one of the Abu-Habba cylinders “the ruler of Sumer and Accad, who laid the foundation of the land” (or as Winckler translates it, “made fast the foundations of the land”), for in truth his new creations extended over the whole territory that had been Sumer and Accad as we are familiar with it in ancient Babylonian history, from the reigns of Ur-Ba’u of Ur onward. Under him, after a long sleep (lasting in places for a thousand years) among her ruins, the whole of Babylonia kept the festival of her resurrection, and joyous sacrificial hymns resounded through the length and breadth of the land during Nebuchadrezzar’s long and prosperous reign, as in the days of her distant prime.

To complete the picture of Nebuchadrezzar’s capital, we must in conclusion cast a glance at the vast fortifications with which this king girdled the city he had created, and so insured it against the most formidable assault. Nebuchadrezzar did not rest satisfied with completely restoring and enlarging these fortifications (a work that his father had begun, since they had again been impaired); he included a strip of arable land some four thousand cubits (about two to three kilometres) in breadth, on the farther side of the rampart Nimitti-Bel, within another “mountain high” wall, and made it a part of the outworks, thus casting a gigantic threefold girdle of ramparts (or walls) and moats about the city. Nor was that enough: “To quell the countenance of the enemy that he should not harass the (threefold) encompassment of Babylon, I surrounded the land with mighty streams, comparable unto the waters of the sea; to cross them was as it were to cross the ocean. To render an inundation from their midst (the midst of these artificial courses) impossible, I heaped up masses of earth, I set up brick dams round about them.”

And herewith we must take leave of this truly great ruler, and turn to his successors, who, unhappily, did not resemble him, and of whom the last, Nabonidus by name, could alone be compared to him in his zeal for the restoration and adornment of the various temples of the country, though in all other respects he fell far below the greatness of his mighty ancestor. This inferiority is the reason that the New Babylonian Kingdom hurried so swiftly to its unexpected end.

THE FOLLOWERS OF NEBUCHADREZZAR

[Sidenote: [560-555 B.C.]]

We know from the Ptolemaic canon, Hommel goes on, that after Nebuchadrezzar’s death (562) Illoarudamos (probably a clerical error for Illoarudakos, _i.e._ Amil-Marduk), the biblical Evil-Merodach, ascended the throne and died in the second year of his reign (560). Berosus calls him a son of Nebuchadrezzar, and describes his short reign as unjust and licentious, this being the reason why he was murdered by Neriglissor (Nergal-shar-usur), his sister’s husband, and thus son-in-law to Nebuchadrezzar. As a matter of fact, in direct confirmation of the chronological statements of the Ptolemaic canon, the only contract tablets that have been discovered of the reign of this king, date from his accession, about July 22, 560 B.C. He is mentioned in the Old Testament, in the last four verses of the 2nd Book of Kings; “And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison. And he spake kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; and changed his prison garments, and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.” It is evident that the Bible here refers to Amil-Marduk, for on the twenty-seventh Adar 560 this king was still upon the throne (see the above date, 4th Abu), whilst the first well-authenticated date of Neriglissor is 25th Marsheshwan, _i.e._ about 10th November of that same year.

From the reign of Amil-Marduk we have no inscription, but we are in better case as regards his successor, Nergal-shar-usur (the Nergal-sharezer of the Bible; Berosus, Neriglissor, Ptolemaic canon, Neriga-solasar). He reigned from 559-556, for there are two inscriptions on cylinders and a brief inscription on brick which we may assign to this reign. The subject appears to be some restoration in the shrine of E-zida at Babylon. Where the inscription again becomes legible, the king gives an account of the construction of a canal, the waters of which had gone away and withdrawn, and of palace building.

The following questions are suggested by these inscriptions. Firstly, who was his father, the Bel-shum-ishkum twice mentioned in them? Let it suffice here to note the possibility that he may be identical with a former king of Assyria, the son of Asshurbanapal, who certainly did not reign more than a few months. The chronology presents no obstacle to the acceptance of this hypothesis. Let us then assume that Bel-shum-ishkum was born about 645; he would then be about twenty years of age at the death of Asshurbanapal, and about forty at the fall of Nineveh, after which he probably found a refuge at the Babylonian court. By that time (606) his son Nergal-shar-usur might very well be about eighteen years old; if we take this for granted, then the latter was thirty-seven in the year 587, in which two persons of the same name (Nergal-sharezer, Jeremiah xxxix. 3) are mentioned among Nebuchadrezzar’s nobles (one among the “princes” in general, the other amongst the officials of highest rank), sixty-four at his accession in 560 B.C. and not quite seventy when he died, which gives a great show of probability to his identity with one or other of these two Nergal-sharezers. Another question to which it would be very interesting to find an answer is that of the wars of Nergal-shar-usur, for, short as his reign was, it is evident from the two cylinder inscriptions that he did wage wars. Unfortunately we have no more exact information on the subject; but if we consider that as early as the year 555, that is, only a year after Nergal-shar-usur’s death, disorders of such magnitude had broken out in Mesopotamia, due to the “Manda warriors” under the leadership of their king Ishtuvegu (Astyages), that is to say, to Median hordes, that the Babylonians appealed to Kurush (Cyrus), king of Anshan, who did, in fact, succeed in driving the Medes back, we may be sure that the earliest incursions of the Manda into Babylonian territory (of which Mesopotamia had formed a part since the fall of Nineveh) took place in the reign of Neriglissor. This hypothesis is directly confirmed by the tenor of Nabonidus’ account of the invasion. In that case Neriglissor’s warlike enterprises were not crowned with brilliant success, or at all events did not expel the Manda from Mesopotamia altogether.

THE REIGN OF NABONIDUS (556-538 B.C.)

On the death of Neriglissor in 556, he was succeeded, according to Berosus, by his son Labassarachos or Labarosoarchodos (in inscriptions Labashi-Marduk), but it appears that a Babylonian of high rank, Nabu-naidu (“Nabu is glorious”), the son of Nabu-balatsu-iqbi (“Nabu hath foretold his life”), was immediately proclaimed king by an opposition party, and although Labashi-Marduk made head against Nabu-naidu (or Nabonidus, as he is usually known) for nine months, the latter dates the beginning of his reign from the death of Neriglissor. According to Berosus, Labashi-Marduk was a child, and fell victim to a conspiracy, having already betrayed tokens of a bad disposition.

According to the Ptolemaic canon, Nabonidus reigned seventeen years, which agrees with the circumstance that the latest of the numerous contract tablets belonging to his reign up to this time discovered are dated the 5th of Ulul (the middle of August) in his seventeenth year. He concerned himself chiefly with the restoration of old temples elsewhere than in Babylon, as those at Ur, Larsa, Sippar, and even at Kharran in Mesopotamia, that is, the oldest sanctuaries in the country; while in Babylon, where he certainly resided, if only at intervals, he seems to have done nothing except to proceed with the building of the walls on the river bank.[29] Nabonidus was actuated not merely by religious motives, but by an interest in history and archæology, which grew to be an absolute mania with him. His inscriptions give us minute information as to how he dug and hunted for the foundation cylinders of these primitive temples, nor does he fail to deal many a sly hit at his predecessors (Nebuchadrezzar, for example), who had not always conscientiously done this, and had consequently many a time built something that was not in the original plan. When, after long search, Nabonidus found these cylinders, often buried deep down in the ground, he reproduced the tenor of them exactly, frequently giving the precise number of years between his own reign and that of the ancient Babylonian king in question, and so providing us with the most valuable data for determining the earliest periods of Babylonian history. In this way we have learned the date of Naram-Sim, the ancient king of Agade, of Shagarakti-Buriash [sometimes read Shagarakti-Shuriash], and lastly, as it would appear, of Khammurabi (although in this case the computation is incorrect), together with many other data of historical importance. For this reason the reign of Nabonidus is to us among the most important in Babylonian history, but his passion for archæology--which seems to have made him forget the world entirely, and, in particular, overlook the danger with which the victories of Cyrus menaced Babylonia--was of less service to himself, and ultimately cost him his throne and liberty.

[Sidenote: [555-547 B.C.]]

We have already mentioned the fragment of the Babylonian chronicle treating of the reign of Nabonidus and the conquest of Babylon and the whole Babylonian empire by Cyrus. We will now regard the public events of the reign of the last native king of Babylonia in the light of this text. In the first year mention is made of a military expedition with the object of subjugating a prince of whose name, unfortunately, nothing (or at most the termination, _shu’ishshi_) has been preserved, but whom we should, perhaps, be justified in regarding as the chieftain of a Median tribe.

From the first section of the cylinder-inscription of Abu-Habba we see that if, after the deliverance of Kharran, Nabonidus summoned his troops from the frontier of Egypt and onward to the Gulf of Issus and the Persian Gulf, to the work of building, or the collection of building material; these were not military enterprises in the strict sense of the term (and this is characteristic), but merely expeditions for peaceful ends, which were all the easier for Nabonidus to achieve, because, since the reign of Nebuchadrezzar the Babylonians had held undisputed possession of the “Occident” right up to the Egyptian frontier. The only exception to this rule seems to be the account of the beginning of the first year (or the beginning of his reign) given in the chronicle, where, among other things, it is said, “the king summoned his warriors.” But this expedition was, in all likelihood, only the less laborious gleaning left to Nabonidus after the conquest of the Medes by Cyrus.

The next event narrated in the chronicle is the final defeat of the Medes by Cyrus, which cannot, therefore, have taken place later than the sixth year of the reign of Nabonidus, that is, 550 B.C., and may have been earlier.

The account of the seventh year is difficult to understand, but this much is plain, that in those years Nabonidus was not present at the New Year’s celebration at E-sagila, nay, that the festival in question did not take place at all. We do not know why this was so, but we may conjecture that the reason was a hierarchical revolution, a kind of vote of want of confidence in the king, who was pursuing his works and researches in the temples of Sippar, Ur, Larsa, and other cities, heedless of the danger that menaced the country from Cyrus.

[Sidenote: [547-538 B.C.]]

Of greater importance, historically, is the account of the ninth year (547 B.C.). After repeating the statement concerning the non-celebration of the feast of Bel, it proceeds: On the 5th of Nisan the king’s mother died in the fortified camp on the far side (Sha am? = sha ammat) of the Euphrates above Sippar; for three days mourning prevailed and lamentation, in the month of Sivan there was mourning (official) for the queen-mother throughout the (whole) land of Accad. In the Nisan (of this year) Kurush (Cyrus), king of the land of Parsu, had summoned his warriors and crossed the Tigris below Arbela, in order to invade Asia Minor in the following month, Airu, “from the king he took away his silver and goods, his own children he caused to mount the [funeral pyre], after his children and the king (he himself, Cyrus?) were therein.”

We know from Herodotus that an expedition of Cyrus against King Crœsus of Lydia took place at this very time, and ended with the siege and reduction of Sardis and the fall of the kingdom of Lydia, after an indecisive battle had been fought in Cappadocia, near Pteria (Boghaz-köi), a place since made famous by the discovery of a Hittite bas-relief. Nabonidus had joined the alliance between Lydia, Sparta and Aahmes of Egypt, on which Crœsus relied when he began the war against Cyrus; probably he thought he could make an easy conquest of Media and Elam after the defeat he expected Cyrus to suffer in Asia Minor. The Babylonians do not seem to have taken any active part in the struggle after Cyrus’ speedy victory over the Lydians, but nevertheless with that victory the fate of Babylonia was practically sealed. For it was obvious that Cyrus, who had not only ruled over the whole of Media, since the taking of Ecbatana, but was also undisputed master of Armenia right up to the western coast of Asia Minor, and thus had really become emperor (or great king) would take the first opportunity of seizing upon Babylonia and its wealthy Syrian provinces. Moreover, from this time forth he had the best of reasons for regarding Nabonidus as a disloyal neighbour who deserved condign punishment.

In the tenth and eleventh years the chronicle first notes the omission of the Feast of Bel in exactly the same terms as in the case of the seventh and ninth years, and when the narration begins we find ourselves in the seventeenth and last year of the reign of Nabonidus (539 B.C.). After a series of sentences which are very much defaced the narrative proceeds: “In the month of Tammuz (June-July, 539), Kurush [Cyrus] fought a battle at Kish (?) above the canal of Illat (?) against the warriors of the land of Accad; the people of the land of Accad rose up against the ranks of soldiers, on the 14th day (of Tammuz) the city of Sippar was taken without a battle, Nabonidus fled. On the 17th day (_i.e._ about July 5, 539), Ugbaru (Gobryas), governor of Guti (_i.e._ the district to the east of Arbela), and the warriors of Kurush marched into E-ki (Babylon); when Nabonidus thereupon entrenched himself in E-ki (Babylon) he was taken captive. Even unto the end of the month the _tukkimi_ (troops?) of the land of Guti encompassed the gates of E-sagila, yet were not weapons of any sort laid upon E-sagila and the (other) temples, nor was the embellishment (_i.e._ the images and vessels of the temple) taken away. On the 3rd of Marsheshwan (Arakhsamnu, _i.e._ about October 19), Kurush marched into E-ki, the streets were filled in view of his entry, he established peace in the city; Kurush proclaimed peace to the whole of Tintir (Babylon), he set Ugbaru (Gobryas), his vicegerent, as vicegerent over Babylon, and from the month Kislev even until Adar (November-December, 539--February-March, 538), he caused the gods of the land of Accad, which Nabonidus had caused to be brought into Babylon, to be carried back into their own places. In the same (?) month, on the 11th day, Ugbaru went over and the king dies; from the 27th of the month Adar, even to the 3rd of Nisan (the end of March, 538), there is mourning in Accad, all the people loose (lit. cleave) their hair (?); on the 4th, Kambujiya (Cambyses), the son of Kurush, goes to the temple of the city (?) of Khadkalamasummu.…” What follows is defaced beyond translation, and, to judge from the scraps of lines still decipherable, contains nothing of historic interest; for example, it goes on to speak of the temple of E-Anna at Erech.

[Sidenote: [538 B.C.]]

Thus we see that Babylon itself received King Cyrus with open arms, and that, even as the Kossæans had usurped and long maintained the mastery of Accad, so now the Persians superseded the native dynasty. The event was therefore no new thing, and, as a matter of fact, Babylonian history proceeds upon the old lines under Cyrus and his successors, so that it is hard to see why most narratives should break off at this point. The national literature and mode of writing continued to flourish, but the history of Babylonia and Assyria, of which the short-lived prosperity of the New Babylonian Kingdom was the last chapter, concluded with the entry of Cyrus into Babylon; the subsequent history of Babylonia is of local interest only, and has no further significance for the world.

Lastly, as regards the important original Babylonian inscription of the reign of Cyrus, which has been referred to before, it most fully confirms the correctness of the impression made by the narrative of the chronicle on every unprejudiced reader. The Babylonians, with the hierarchy of the city of Babylon at their head, were utterly weary of the feeble rule of Nabonidus, who does not seem even to have been of the blood-royal, and hailed Cyrus as deliverer. At the bidding of Cyrus the learned Babylonian scribes were charged to draw up an inscription, and from its contents and wording (which can hardly have been dictated by the king of Persia) we can clearly realise the view of the situation taken by the priestly circles of the country (which governed the populace). From the very beginning, defaced as it is, we perceive that Nabonidus is made the scapegoat for everything. He is represented with having sent forth “to Ur and the other cities oracles that did not beseem them” (_i.e._ the gods), with “thinking daily upon evil” (?), with having “caused the daily sacrifice to cease” and grossly neglected the worship of the god Marduk; further, with having “let the fortifications of Babylon fall into ruin, so that the lord of the gods was greatly incensed in lamentation thereat,” as well as “with wrath that he had brought in (into E-sagila) the gods (of other Babylonian cities), who were thus constrained to forsake their (former) temples.

Then it came to pass that Marduk “looked upon his friend,” and “laid hold of his hand, Kurush, king of Anshan, was his name called”; “he subdued the land of the Kuti and the whole host of the Manda hordes beneath his feet; he caused the black-headed people to fall into his hands; in righteousness and justice came he unto them.” The god Marduk “bade him to go to Babylon and take the road to Tintir, like a friend and comrade went he at his side, the multitude of his troops, whereof the number, like unto the waters of a river, was not known, girt on the weapons and marched at his side; he (Marduk) caused him to enter Shu-anna (Babylon) without strife or battle; Babylon, his city, he spared with difficulty; Nabonidus the king, who did not fear him, he gave over into his (Kurush’s) hands; all the people of Tintir, the whole multitude of Sumer and Accad, the princes and the ruler who submitted to his dynasty, kissed his feet and rejoiced in his royal dominion; their faces shone. The Lord, who (draweth nigh) with succour, who raiseth the dead to life, who in might bestoweth benefits upon the whole earth, graciously blesseth him (Cyrus) and hath respect unto his name. I, Kurush, King of the world, the mighty King, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Accad, King of the four quarters of the Earth, son of Kambujiya, the great King, the King of the city of Anshan, grandson of Kurush, the great King, the King of the city of Anshan, descendant (_libbalbal_) of Sispis, the great King, the King of Anshan, the eternal shoot of royalty, whose government Bel and Nabu love, to do good unto his heart and for the superabundance of his joy.” Cyrus then proceeds to lay stress upon his peaceful entry into Babylon and the gladness and rejoicing amidst which he took up his abode there, on how his troops occupied the city in peace and he himself visited the other cities in peace, how he repaired their ruins and loosed their chains (?), how Marduk was gracious towards him and his son Kambujiya (Cambyses), and how, “at Marduk’s august bidding all the kings who dwelt in royal chambers, from all quarters under heaven, from the upper sea even to the lower sea, and likewise the kings of the Occident who inhabit [the desert] and they that dwell in tents,” all brought weighty tribute and kissed his feet at Babylon.

“From … even unto the cities of Asshur and Ishtar-Damiktu (?), the city of Agade, the land of Ishnunnak, the cities of Zambaru, Mi-Turnu and Dur-ilu, even unto the region of the land of Kuti, the cities on the (bank of) Tigris, where their dwelling-place was from of old, I carried the gods that dwelt there back to their places,” “the gods of Sumer, and Accad, whom Nabonidus, to the great indignation of the lord of gods, had caused to be brought into Babylon, I set once more into their shrines in peace at the command of Marduk.”

Such is practically the tenor (and wording) of the Cyrus inscription, which, considered in connection with the chronicle which has come down to us from the reign of Nabonidus, sets this important matter of the transference of the new Babylonian Empire to Cyrus the Achæmeniad in an entirely new light. The termination of the political independence of Babylon came about in quite other guise than the end of Nineveh; there was no bloodshed, no siege, no judgment with fire and devastation. A further act of peace was the permission given by Cyrus to the Jews who dwelt in and about Babylon to return to the Holy Land. This is referred to in the prophecy of the great unknown prophet of the latter half of the Babylonian exile, the so-called Second Isaiah (Isaiah xliv. to the end). “The Lord that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations (the Medes and Lydians) before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut.”

The last words involuntarily recall to our minds the gates of Babylon, which opened of themselves to the clement conqueror. And this prophecy, no less than the conduct of the Babylonian priests, shows that Cyrus was preceded by a reputation for clemency; for what would their ready submission have availed the latter, had Cyrus been a savage conqueror like other semi-barbaric tribal chiefs? Pillage and many horrors would then have been the lot of Babylon when she opened her gates to the foreign king. It seems probable, however, that the Babylonians nourished the certain hope that Cyrus would spare them.

Thus the history of Babylonia closes peaceably upon the noble figure of Cyrus, the Achæmeniad prince, who commands our warmest sympathies. Planted in Babylonian soil at the beginning of time, the primitive civilisation of the Sumerians was brought to the flower by the Babylonian Semites, then further developed and transplanted to Asshur and Nineveh. There the conditions grew ripe under which Assyria became the ruling power of the world. After the fall of her empire, the ancient mother-country became for a brief season the centre of the civilisation which had taken its rise there two thousand years before, and this civilisation now passed on as a legacy to the Persians, not to die among them, but to revivify and educate, even as, on the other hand, it drew fresh strength from the youthful vigour of the Indo-Germanic race, untutored as yet, but abundantly endowed with all intellectual gifts.[b]

FOOTNOTES

[29] [The authorities seem to be in dispute as to Nabonidus’ place of residence. Professor Rogers says (_History of Babylon and Assyria_, Vol. II, p. 361), “He [Nabonidus] did not reside at Babylon at all, but at Tema, probably an insignificant place, with no other influence in history.”]