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Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon
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| Nebuchadnezzar's palace |
Nebuchadnezzar (or Nebudchadrezzar) II (ca. 630 BC[?] - ca. 561 BC[?]) was an important king of Babylon who conquered Syria and Palestine and increased the splendor of his capital, Babylon.
His name, in the Babylonian orthography Nabu-kudur-uzur, means
"Nebo, protect the crown!" or the "frontiers" or the "heirs". In an inscription
he styles himself "Nebo's favourite."
He was the oldest son and
successor of Nabopolassar, who delivered Babylon from its
dependence on Assyria and laid Nineveh in ruins. He
married the daughter of Cyaxares[?], and thus the Median and
Babylonian dynasties were united.
Necho II, the king of Egypt, had gained a victory over the
Assyrians at Carchemish. This secured to Egypt the possession of the Syrian
provinces of Assyria, including Palestine. The remaining
provinces of the Assyrian empire were divided between Babylonia
and Media. But Nabopolassar was intent on reconquering from
Necho the western provinces of Syria, and for this purpose he
sent his son with a powerful army westward. In the furious Battle of Carchemish[?] in 606 BC the Egyptians were defeated and driven back, and Syria and Phoenicia were brought under the sway of Babylon.
In 605 BC[?], Nabopolassar died and Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon to ascend to the throne.
Nebuchadnezzar then went on several campaigns to increase his influence in Syria and Palestine, capturing Jerusalem in 597 BC, bringing King Jehoiachin[?] to Babylon. Another siege on Jerusalem occurred in 586 BC, ending in the city's destruction and the deportation of many prominent citizens to Babylon. These events are described in the Bible.
A clay tablet, now in the British Museum, bears the following
inscription referring to his wars:
"In the thirty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the
country of Babylon, he went to Egypt Misr[?] to make war. Amasis,
king of Egypt, collected [his army], and marched and spread
abroad." Having completed the subjugation of
Phoenicia, and inflicted chastisement on Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar
now set himself to rebuild and adorn the city of Babylon, and constructed canals, aqueducts and reservoirs.
After his death ca. 561 BC, in
the eighty-third or eighty-fourth year of his age, after a reign
of forty-three years, he was succeeded by his son
Evil-merodach, who, after a reign of two years, was succeeded by
Neriglissar (559-555), who was succeeded by Nabonadius
(555-538), at the close of whose reign (less than a quarter of a
century after the death of Nebuchadnezzar) Babylon fell under
Cyrus at the head of the combined armies of Media and Persia.
Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 -- Please update as needed
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