NEBENIUS, KARL FRIEDRICH (1755-1557). A German statesman and econo mist, born at Rhodt, near Landau. In 1519 he took a prominent part in working out the Baden Constitution, and for many years was the princi pal statesman of the Grand Duchy. In 1S33 he was made Privy Councilor of State. and soon afterwards became Minister of the Interior and president of the Cabinet Council. Owing, how ever, to reactionary influences, be did not keep this position very long. In 1545 he again joined the Cabinet, hut the devolution of 1849 compelled him to resign, and thereafter lie devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits. 11e published, aamong gamy treat ises on political economy: Beinerkungcn aibcr den Zusiand Crossbrilanniens nub staff (sir irtseha MOH r 1815) ; r itchnische nsta It% n (1533) ; and wrote a Gcschichte !yak, which appeared posthu mously (1574).
NE'BO (from Bab. nubu. to call, name, pro claim). A deity of the Babylonians and Assyri ans, mentioned in Isaiah xlvi. I. The name also occurs in the Old Testa MUD t as a term. (See NERO, :\1OUNT.) 1n cuneiform litera ture the form is :calm or Nabium. After Baby lon became the centre of the Babylonian Empire, Nebo took rank immediately after Marduk (see MElionAcn), the head of the pantheon. lie ap pears originally to have been the local patron deity of Borsippa, opposite the ancient city of Babylon, and there are grounds for believing that Borsippa was older than Babylon. This may have
been one reason for the prominence which Nebo retained beside the powerful Mardnk. In time Borsippa became a suburb of Babylon and the union between the two was symbolized by erecting a shrine to Nebo in Marduk's temple at Babylon to which Nebo was carried in solemn procession on the New Year's Day, while the statue of Marduk was on the return trip carried part way back to E-zida ('the true house'), Nebo's temple in Borsippa. To express further the relationship to Marduk, Nebo was regarded as the son of Marduk. Originally an agricultural deity, Neho became in time the god of wisdom, and it is in this capacity that be was chiefly worshiped by the Assyrians. To Nebo and his consort Tash mitum Assyrian rulers ascribe the art of writ ing on stone and tablets, and all learning is eventually traced back to him. In this respect lie supplanted an earlier god of wisdom, Ea, whose cult reaches back to a still higher an tiquity than that of Neho or Marduk. Consult Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Bos ton, 189S).