Nabonidus

Nabonidus (năbənīˈdəs), d. 538? B.C., last king of the Chaldaean dynasty of Babylonia. He was not of Nebuchadnezzar's family, and it is possible that he usurped the throne. He was absorbed in antiquarian and religious speculations, and he built temples while the state was left undefended. He was unpopular with both the priests and the people. When the Persian threat of Cyrus the Great grew strong, Nabonidus allied himself with Croesus of Lydia and Amasis II of Egypt, but to no avail. In 538 B.C. the kingdom fell to Cyrus with no resistance. Nabonidus' scholars preserved information valuable to modern archaeologists. Cuneiform records indicate that Belshazzar was Nabonidus' son and his coregent during the last years of Babylon.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Nabonidus

the last Babylonian king; ruled from 556 to 539 B.C. An Aramaean by origin, Nabonidus strove to unite all the Aramaean tribes of Southwest Asia into a single state to wage a struggle against Persia. In the course often years, he conquered Taima and other regions of Arabia and left his son Belshazzar as vicegerent in Babylon. Nabonidus carried out religious reforms and patronized the cult of the moon god Sin. Babylon fell to the Persians in the autumn of 539 B.C., and Nabonidus was taken prisoner.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Whether the Medes initially held it as part of a compromise between Cyaxares of Media and Nabopolassar of Babylon or whether the Medes simply seized it during the wars in Assyria is irrelevant because this only seems to have become an issue either late in Nebuchadnezzar's reign, or more likely, around the time of the ascendancy of Nabonidus to the throne.

HOW ANCIENT STATES RISE AND FALL: PRE-DEMOCRATIC REGIME TYPOLOGY, REPRESENTATION, AND DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL BALANCES OF POWER

temples have fallen in ruins while Nabonidus has imposed on its people

Reflections on the ambiguous universality of human rights: Cyrus the Great's proclamation as a challenge to the Athenian democracy's perceived monopoly on human rights

It seems that Marduk feels neglected and so causes the fall of Nabonidus and his kingdom.

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost (proper 24): October 16, 2005

Finally there is the drunkenness of distaste experienced by Paul, who is shaken with violent sensual passion, that of "mouvizes" (the best phonetic French equivalent of "movies") and, through them, sublimated sensual drunkenness, transcended for a blonde star come from beyond the world.(7) As the monologues of Stephen Daedalus give us back his reflection on his dependence with regard to the world and his quest of the known toward the desired unknown, so (and differently, admittedly) the voices of the Nabonidus sons form the triptych of an education and of a voluntary birth into the world.

The art of the novel in 'Saint Glinglin.' (Raymond Queneau)

as restorer of the temple of Marduk following the alleged depredations of Nabonidus,(34) and the Achaemenids are also known to have authorized the collection and promulgation of the laws of subject nations; the Demotic Chronicle provides a report of the codification of Egyptian law at the initiative of Darius I.(35) In Judah too, the central temple in Jerusalem - in which the Hebrew language was used - was rebuilt with government support, which it received to the exclusion of other traditional holy places; and the so-called "Law of Moses", more or less our Pentateuch, was - whatever the age of its sources - now finally compiled in the Hebrew language (and also in an Aramaic recension, like the Egyptian code?), and imposed on the Judahites with Achaemenid support.(36)

Language, power and identity in ancient Palestine

Stein reexamines a badly weathered stone inscription written in Aramaic from Tayma that has long been thought to reflect Nabonidus' "cult reforms." This article relates some of his preliminary conclusions.

Babylonien und seine Nachbam in neu- und spatbabylonischer Zeit: Wissenschaftliches Kolloquium aus Anlass des 75. Geburtstags von Joachim Oelsner, Jena, 2. und 3. Marz 2007

In the time of King Nabonidus, who left Babylon to take up residence in exile here, there was plentiful of water in the form of a shallow lake to the north of the town.

Hadaj: Fathoming Mideast water's history

Two inscribed monuments found at Harran detail the influence of the Moon god's emporium on King Nabonidus of Babylon (555-539 B.C.).

Moonlit highways

The Prayer of Nabonidus has long been known since Milik published it in preliminary form in 1956.

Qumran Cave 4. XVII. Parabiblical Texts. Part 3

The fable in chapter 4 turns to real historical figures: here Snell reconstructs the thoughts of Nabonidus as he decided to return to Babylon to face Cyrus.