Nebuchadnezzar II

Babylonian king (r. 605-562 b.c.e.)

• Born: c. 630 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: 562 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Babylon (now in Iraq)

One of the most ambitious and successful military leaders of ancient times, Nebuchadnezzar possessed excellent governing ability that made Chaldean Neo-Babylonia the most powerful and feared nation in the region.

Early Life

Nebuchadnezzar (nehb-ew-kahd-NEHZ-ehr) II, the eldest son of Nabopolassar, king of the Chaldean Neo-Babylonians, who reigned from 625 to 605, entered the world’s military arena in the early 600’s. As crown prince, he led Chaldean forces against the remnants of the Assyrian army and a sizable Egyptian contingent in the decisive Battle of Carchemish, fought in what is modern Syria. For the remainder of his life, Nebuchadnezzar expanded on his father’s conquests, until Babylonia was the richest, most prominent, and most renowned nation in the ancient world.

Nevertheless, his exploits, considerable though they were, would not have been so well known to later generations if he had not been the monarch who burned and looted Jerusalem, forcing its most able inhabitants into temporary exile in Babylonia. By so doing, Nebuchadnezzar unwittingly fulfilled the prophecies of Jeremiah, the most noted Jewish prophet of the time. Thus, the Bible has preserved the Babylonian ruler’s most notable accomplishments.

After he succeeded his father as king in 605, Nebuchadnezzar gave the city of Babylon its most famous feature, the Hanging Gardens, as well as fiery furnaces used both for commercial enterprises and for the torture and destruction of Babylonia’s foes; its grand celebrations of Marduk, Babylon’s patron god, and the goddess Ishtar; and its huge brick outer walls, which dominated the desert for many miles. With these gifts, Nebuchadnezzar transformed Babylon from a dusty, shabby provincial city into an elegant world capital. With no remaining Assyrian enemy to engage and no significant Egyptian threat to counter, Nebuchadnezzar turned his attention not only to the rebuilding of Babylon but also to its territorial expansion. He and his architects created enormous stepped ziggurats for the glory of Marduk and Ishtar, while he planned further forays against neighboring states.

Using the Code of Hammurabi as his basis, Nebuchadnezzar created a stable, generally lawful Babylonian society. Criminals faced severe penalties ranging from torture to death. The most notorious punishments, however, were reserved for enemy rulers and their retainers; on capture, these people were often flayed alive, partially dismembered, and cast alive into the furnaces, or were blinded and had gold clasps affixed to their tongues; with a leash attached to the clasp, the afflicted could be led around Babylon. By rigidly adhering to the Code of Hammurabi, Nebuchadnezzar reinforced his reputation for ferocity.

Life’s Work

The battles that occurred after the flight of the Egyptian army brought many victories to the Chaldeans; each victory brought destruction and death to the vanquished tribe or nation. In 601 Nebuchadnezzar’s forces were defeated by Necho II, the king of Egypt, an event that elevated the hopes of the kingdom of Judaea. Although Jehoiakim, appointed king of Judah by the pharaoh, had once submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, he had shortly thereafter covertly joined forces with the Egyptians in order to war against Babylonia. Jeremiah, one of the principalOld Testament prophets, warned his people that God intended to punish them for their worship of foreign gods and for their allegiance to Egypt.

Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy by marching on Judah and its largest city in 597. King Jehoiakim had died before the city was captured, but Nebuchadnezzar took his son Jehoiachin into Babylonian exile. Later, in 586, after an eighteen-month siege, Jerusalem was burned and its leading citizens were sent into exile. As much as possible, Nebuchadnezzar attempted to erase all signs of Jewish civilization from the former kingdom. Zedekiah, the ruler of Judah-in-exile, paid for his dealings with Egypt by being blinded after witnessing the murder of his sons by Babylonian captors.

The enslavement of the Jews was nothing like the total servitude they had faced centuries before when Egyptian pharaohs forced them to make bricks for the pyramids and treated them like beasts of burden. Nebuchadnezzar, while never allowing them to return home, did allow them many freedoms, including the rights to work at trades and to mingle freely with the populace of Babylon. Still, the Jews were a miserable people who dreamed of one day going back to their ancestral towns and villages. In their midst was the prophet Ezekiel, Jeremiah’s counterpart. Ezekiel prophesied that the Jews would be delivered from Babylonian captivity by a great king from the East, a vision that came true when Cyrus the Great of Persia invaded Babylon in the year 539.

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the capture and blinding of Zedekiah in 586, Nebuchadnezzar sent his armies against the Egyptians once again, finally capturing the important Phoenician city of Tyre in 571, thus adding considerably to the wealth, power, and authority of Babylonia. With Egyptian influence flagging, Babylonia became the unquestioned power of Asia Minor. Commerce with surrounding nations accompanied the empire’s ascent as Babylon became the mercantile center of western Asia. With a storehouse of gold, silver, and precious gems taken as tribute from vassal nations, Babylon could buy and trade virtually any commodity.

Nebuchadnezzar made certain that waterways and highways were constructed, making the city readily accessible to the heavy trade flowing into it. His earlier building program was intensified in the middle years of his reign so that Babylon would be an impregnable fortress as well as a center of commerce. The temples and ziggurats were made enormous, and the city walls rose higher, decorated with enameled figures of beasts. The Hanging Gardens were made even more elaborate so that the king and his harem could enjoy the delights of a large oasis in the middle of a desert city.

Little is known about the last years of Nebuchadnezzar. The final major event to occur before he faded from history was a battle with the Median leader Cyaxares, who had sacked Uratu and headed toward the kingdom of Lydia, which was close enough to Babylonian territory to make Nebuchadnezzar uneasy. Bitter fighting ended in May, 585, when darkness caused by a solar eclipse enveloped the Medes and the Neo-Babylonians; the event was interpreted as a sign from the gods to stop fighting. A truce was signed; nevertheless, the Medians remained a source of anxiety for Nebuchadnezzar.

There is much speculation about his final days. Some scholars believe that he gradually grew weary of the burdens of kingship and retired from active life, others that he may have suffered from senility or even mental illness. Perhaps the best-known source for the latter theory is the biblical account of Daniel, in which the king of Babylon is depicted as an insane old man, an eater of grass. In any event, his immediate successor, his son Evil-Merodach, the man he had hoped would continue his life’s work in Babylonia, died in 559 (or, as some accounts have it, 560) after being overthrown. The short-lived Chaldean Dynasty founded by Nebuchadnezzar’s father finally ended with the death of Nabonidus in 539, when Cyrus’s army swept into Babylon and established Achaemenid rule.

Significance

Nebuchadnezzar II’s genius for conquering rival nations and tribes and then paralyzing them by taking their best-educated, most talented people into exile, as well as his great civic and military planning abilities, makes him one of history’s most influential leaders. He took chances in his military campaigns, but such risks were shrewdly calculated. By using the punishment of exile, he placed hostile governments directly under his own surveillance and, by so doing, nipped any potential revolution before it could grow into a threat. His cruelty toward certain unrepentant foes was unrivaled in the ancient world and established him as an enemy not to be resisted. Those who did resist brought on themselves death and destruction.

A lover of pomp, he made the city of Babylon into a magnificent fortress, its gardens, palaces, courtyards, and walls the marvels of their time. Almost single-handedly, the king magnified the power and prestige of his nation. Yet the end of Babylon was soon in coming, foretold by Ezekiel and those who shared his prophetic vision. Its magnificence was destroyed by enemies within and without, leaving it a warren of broken walls in the midst of a desert.

It is ironic that the Jews whom Nebuchadnezzar took into bitter exile were to portray him most memorably for later generations. To readers of the Old Testament, he is the cruel but brilliant monarch who fulfilled Jeremiah’s predictions by destroying Jerusalem and creating the lengthy Diaspora as well as the man who threw Daniel into the den of lions and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into a furnace. Like Daniel and his companions, the Jews survived Nebuchadnezzar’s tortures, but Babylon itself, largely the creation of its king, left few traces after Cyrus made it into a wasteland. Like many empires, it had its golden age, followed by rapid decay. This golden age could not have occurred had it not been for the consummate genius of Nebuchadnezzar.

Bibliography

Oates, Joan. Babylon. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1986. Considers many aspects of life in Babylon under various kings including Nebuchadnezzar. Discusses Babylonian law, religion, social customs, festivals, and military conquests and defeats and gives a fine overview of each king’s contribution to Babylonia’s rise and fall. An in-depth look at a sophisticated, complex society.

Oppenheim, A. Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. Written by one of the foremost scholars dealing with the region, this work considers the development of the nation. Gives much insight into relationships between strong and weak nations.

Oppenheim, A. Leo. Letters from Mesopotamia: Official, Business, and Private Letters on Clay Tablets from Two Millennia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. These letters shed light on the inner dynamics of the nations of the Near East in ancient times.

Saggs, H. W. F. The Greatness That Was Babylon: A Survey of the Ancient Civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1988. Written for both general and scholarly readers, this study covers the Babylonian monarchies. Invaluable for its lively depiction of the lives of both nobles and workers. Well-illustrated; includes extensive bibliography.

Way, Warren. The Pride of Babylon: The Story of Nebuchadnezzar. Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2001. Well-researched biography includes index and bibliographical references.