NEBUCHADNEZZAR, uavb'4-kPd-n5z'zi•r, or, more correctly. NEBUCHADREZZAR (Deb., from Babylonian N./ hu-k wilfirri-el,•rur. Natio [Nebol protect the boundary). The great King of the Nco-Babylonian Empire, who ruled e.6114-61 MC% was the second of the name. Nebuchadnezzar I. [laving b14`11 a list Babylonian mon arch of the ,erilad half of the twelfth century R.C. lle was the son of Nahopolassar, Viceroy of As ria in Itabylonia, who upon the death it As surbanipal Iu.c. 62.1) gained control of the Babylonian portion of the empire. The family was Chaldean, that is, of a South Baby lonian race, hence the use of this name for the dynasty and for the land in later ages. Nabopo lassar entered into alliance with the other great enemy of Assyria, the Modes, marrying his son to a daughter of the :Median King. Cyaxares. At this time a horde of barbarians, commonly called Scythians by historians, appeared upon the scene as assailants of the Assyrian Empire, and about B.C. 607 Nineveh fell before the combined as sault. The Assyrian Empire was forthwith partitioned; the suedes took possession of the Upper Tigris Valley and the lands to the north and east of the Euphrates; Nabopolas ear made firm his control of the Euphrates Val ley: 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 intrusion could not be suffered, and Nabopolassar sent Nebuchadnezzar against Necho. The latter was utterly defeated at Carehemish (me.. 605), and Nebuchadnezzar advanced as far as Egypt to recover Syria. But he was recalled by the news of the death of his father, and accomplished the remarkable feat of leading his army by a forced march across the desert to Babylon to secure the succession. Unfortunately, we possess but scanty materials for the study of the continuation of military and political career. The sources are the partial accounts found in the Bible, Josephus (quoting Berosus; Ant., x. 6-11; c. dp. i. 21), and Herodo.tus (contain ing obscure information concerning Egypt ; ii. 151 seq.), and a fragment of Menander. The books of Kings, Jeremiah. and Ezekiel enable us to follow clearly relation to its new lord. At first King Jehoiakim submitted, but about B.C. 600 rebelled. After sonar delay Nebu chadnezzar 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 the upper classes, an uncle, Zedekiali, being appointed to the throne by the conqueror. But the new King
succumbed at last to the temptations to revolt offered by his neighbors, and especially by Hophra, the ambitious King of Egypt, and drew upon him self the wrath of the Great King. Jerusalem stood a siege of sixteen months, and upon its fall (a.c. 586) was razed to the ground, while a second de portation was made, Zedekiah undergoing a cruel physical punishment. This campaign broke for good the refractory spirit of the Syrian States, Tyre alone holding out and suffering a famous siege of thirteen years, the end of which was an honor able capitulation. In B.C. 567 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, in which he was so illustrious (he seems to have prose cuted them only at necessity), but on his works of peace. With two fragmentary exceptions, his inscriptions are devoted to his building opera tions, especially in Babylon, which, destroyed as it had been by Sennaeherib and since then racked by civil war, lie rebuilt and restored to more than its pristine glory. The excavations of the Germans under Dr. Koblewey are now uncovering 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. Nebuchadnezza out ward successes seem to have been based upon noble kingly qualities, to which the contemporaneous Jewish prophets and cyen the tradition of the late Book of Daniel bear witness. According to the latter book, his life was for a time clouded IT a madness (Iyeanthropy), for Which tradition there exists sonic other slight testimony. lIis dynasty ended with his son. Evil-Merodaeh, whose reign of two years was terminated by assassina tion. The collapse of the ancient Semitic em pire immediately followed. For Nelmchadnez zar's inscriptions, consult : Winekler, schriftliche Bibliothck, cols di., part 2 (Berlin, 1892). and Ball in the Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archtrology. vols. x.-xi. (1888-89). For excavations in Babylon, consult the current Mittheilungen der dentschea Orient-Gesellschaft. Also consult Ilog,ers, History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. ii. (New York, 1900).