Nebuchadnezzar
 尼布甲尼撒


 Nebuchadnezzar
      n 1: (Old Testament) king of Chaldea who captured and destroyed
           Jerusalem and exiled the Israelites to Babylonia
           (630?-562 BC) [syn: Nebuchadnezzar II, Nebuchadrezzar,
            Nebuchadrezzar II]
      2: a very large wine bottle holding the equivalent of 20 normal
         bottles of wine; used especially for display


 Nebuchadnezzar
    in the Babylonian orthography Nabu-kudur-uzur, which means
    "Nebo, protect the crown!" or the "frontiers." In an inscription
    he styles himself "Nebo's favourite." He was the son and
    successor of Nabopolassar, who delivered Babylon from its
    dependence on Assyria and laid Nineveh in ruins. He was the
    greatest and most powerful of all the Babylonian kings. He
    married the daughter of Cyaxares, and thus the Median and
    Babylonian dynasties were united.

      Necho II., the king of Egypt, gained a victory over the
    Assyrians at Carchemish. (See JOSIAH; MEGIDDO.) 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 ambitious of reconquering from
    Necho the western provinces of Syria, and for this purpose he
    sent his son with a powerful army westward (Dan. 1:1). The
    Egyptians met him at Carchemish, where a furious battle was
    fought, resulting in the complete rout of the Egyptians, who
    were driven back (Jer. 46:2-12), and Syria and Phoenicia brought
    under the sway of Babylon (B.C. 606). From that time "the king
    of Egypt came not again any more out of his land" (2 Kings
    24:7). Nebuchadnezzar also subdued the whole of Palestine, and
    took Jerusalem, carrying away captive a great multitude of the
    Jews, among whom were Daniel and his companions (Dan. 1:1, 2;
    Jer. 27:19; 40:1).

      Three years after this, Jehoiakim, who had reigned in
    Jerusalem as a Babylonian vassal, rebelled against the
    oppressor, trusting to help from Egypt (2 Kings 24:1). This led
    Nebuchadnezzar to march an army again to the conquest of
    Jerusalem, which at once yielded to him (B.C. 598). A third time
    he came against it, and deposed Jehoiachin, whom he carried into
    Babylon, with a large portion of the population of the city, and
    the sacred vessels of the temple, placing Zedekiah on the throne
    of Judah in his stead. He also, heedless of the warnings of the
    prophet, entered into an alliance with Egypt, and rebelled
    against Babylon. This brought about the final siege of the city,
    which was at length taken and utterly destroyed (B.C. 586).
    Zedekiah was taken captive, and had his eyes put out by order of
    the king of Babylon, who made him a prisoner for the remainder
    of his life.

      An onyx cameo, now in the museum of Florence, bears on it an
    arrow-headed inscription, which is certainly ancient and
    genuine. The helmeted profile is said (Schrader) to be genuine
    also, but it is more probable that it is the portrait of a
    usurper in the time of Darius (Hystaspes), called Nidinta-Bel,
    who took the name of "Nebuchadrezzar." The inscription has been
    thus translated:, "In honour of Merodach, his lord,
    Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in his lifetime had this made."

      A clay tablet, now in the British Museum, bears the following
    inscription, the only one as yet found which refers 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." Thus were fulfilled the words of the prophet (Jer.
    46:13-26; Ezek. 29:2-20). Having completed the subjugation of
    Phoenicia, and inflicted chastisement on Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar
    now set himself to rebuild and adorn the city of Babylon (Dan.
    4:30), and to add to the greatness and prosperity of his kingdom
    by constructing canals and aqueducts and reservoirs surpassing
    in grandeur and magnificence everything of the kind mentioned in
    history (Dan. 2:37). He is represented as a "king of kings,"
    ruling over a vast kingdom of many provinces, with a long list
    of officers and rulers under him, "princes, governors,
    captains," etc. (3:2, 3, 27). He may, indeed, be said to have
    created the mighty empire over which he ruled.

      "Modern research has shown that Nebuchadnezzar was the
    greatest monarch that Babylon, or perhaps the East generally,
    ever produced. He must have possessed an enormous command of
    human labour, nine-tenths of Babylon itself, and
    nineteen-twentieths of all the other ruins that in almost
    countless profusion cover the land, are composed of bricks
    stamped with his name. He appears to have built or restored
    almost every city and temple in the whole country. His
    inscriptions give an elaborate account of the immense works
    which he constructed in and about Babylon itself, abundantly
    illustrating the boast, 'Is not this great Babylon which I have
    build?'" Rawlinson, Hist. Illustrations.

      After the incident of the "burning fiery furnace" (Dan. 3)
    into which the three Hebrew confessors were cast, Nebuchadnezzar
    was afflicted with some peculiar mental aberration as a
    punishment for his pride and vanity, probably the form of
    madness known as lycanthropy (i.e, "the change of a man into a
    wolf"). A remarkable confirmation of the Scripture narrative is
    afforded by the recent discovery of a bronze door-step, which
    bears an inscription to the effect that it was presented by
    Nebuchadnezzar to the great temple at Borsippa as a votive
    offering on account of his recovery from a terrible illness.
    (See DANIEL.)

      He survived his recovery for some years, and died B.C. 562, in
    the eighty-third or eighty-fourth year of his age, after a reign
    of forty-three years, and 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.

      "I have examined," says Sir H. Rawlinson, "the bricks
    belonging perhaps to a hundred different towns and cities in the
    neighbourhood of Baghdad, and I never found any other legend
    than that of Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, king of
    Babylon." Nine-tenths of all the bricks amid the ruins of
    Babylon are stamped with his name.



 Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, tears and groans of judgment