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Nabonidus

Last native king of Babylon, reigned 556-539 BCE, deposed by Cyrus

Nabonidus ruled Babylon for about seventeen years and was its last native king before Cyrus took the city in 539. Texts written under Cyrus portray him as an impious ruler, and that portrayal shapes much of what is known of him. Two rebels against Darius claimed to be his son, which shows that his name still carried weight.

In the game: Nabonidus has no level or mechanic of his own. The game names him only in the event articles on the fall of Babylon, the return of the exiles, and the revolts of Nidintu-Bel and Arakha.

A king from outside the old dynasty

In the record

Nabonidus came to the throne in 556 after a coup in the unstable years that followed the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. He was not of Nebuchadnezzar's line. Inscriptions from his reign, including the stele of his mother Adda-guppi found at Harran, show his devotion to the moon god Sin.

Harran stele of Nabonidus; P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002

The years at Tayma

Disputed

The Nabonidus Chronicle records that the king spent years in the Arabian oasis of Tayma, and that the New Year festival went uncelebrated in Babylon in those years. The Chronicle does not give his reasons. Historians have suggested control of the caravan trade, his devotion to Sin, and a quarrel with the Babylonian priesthood, and hostile texts offer other explanations.

Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)

The conquest by Cyrus

In the record

The Nabonidus Chronicle says that Cyrus's army defeated the Babylonian army at Opis in 539 and took Sippar. Ugbaru, governor of Gutium, then entered Babylon without a battle in mid-October, and Nabonidus was captured. Cyrus himself entered the city about two weeks later.

Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)

Nabonidus in Cyrus's account

In the record

The Cyrus Cylinder blames Nabonidus for neglecting the cults of Babylon and for impious acts. It says that Marduk chose Cyrus to restore order. This is the victor's version, written in Babylonian temple style, and it is propaganda; the Chronicle is less hostile to the king.

Cyrus Cylinder

What the Greek and later writers say

Ancient account

Herodotus calls the Babylonian king Labynetus, says Cyrus defeated him in battle, and describes the capture of the city by diverting the Euphrates. Berossus, as reported by Josephus, says that Nabonidus surrendered and was settled by Cyrus in Carmania. The two accounts do not agree on the details, and neither matches the Chronicle closely.

Herodotus 1.188-191; Josephus, Against Apion 1

The rebels who claimed his name

In the record

Darius's Behistun inscription says that Nidintu-Bel, in 522, took the name Nebuchadnezzar and claimed to be the son of Nabonidus. Arakha, an Armenian, made the same claim in 521. Darius says both were defeated and killed at Babylon.

DB §16; DB §49-50

Belshazzar and the Book of Daniel

Later legend

The Book of Daniel makes Belshazzar the last king of Babylon and tells of a feast cut short by writing on a wall. Cuneiform texts show that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus and that he probably acted for his father while the king was away. He was not king himself, and the feast story is a moral tale written long after.

Book of Daniel 5