Belshaz'zar (Heb. and Chald. Belshatstsar' [on the signif. see below], ^2X'.y?2; Sept. YSaXraoap) is the name given in the book of Daniel to the last king of the Chaldees, under whom Babylon was taken by the Medes and Persians (chap, v, 1 ; vii, 1 ; viii, 1). B.C. 538. Herodotus calls this king, and also his fa- ther, Labynetus, which is undoubtedly a corruption of Nabonnedus, the name by which he was known to Be- rosus, in Joseph, contr. Apion. i, 20. Yet in Josephus (.1///. x, 11, 2) it is stated that Baltasar was called Naboandel by the Babylonians. Naoonad'.us in the Canon of Ptolemy, Nabonedus in Euseb. Chron. Armen. i, GO (from Alexander Polyhistor), and Xabonnidochus in Euseb. Prop. Evang. ix, 41 (from Megasthenes), are evidently other varieties of his name. The only cir- cumstances recorded of him in Scripture are his im- pious feast and violent death (Dan. v). During the period that the .lews were in captivity at Babylon, a variety of singular events concurred to prove that the sins which brought desolation on their country, and subjected them for a while to the Babylonish yoke, had not dissolved that covenant relation which, as the God of Abraham, Jehovah had entered into with them; and that any act of indignity perpetrated against this afflicted people, or any insult cast upon the service of their temple, would !»■ regarded as an affront to the Majesty of Heaven, and not suffered to pass with im- punity. The fate of Belshazzar affords a remarkable instance of this. He had had an opportunity of seeing in the case of his ancestors how hateful pride is, even in royalty itself; how instantly (led can blast the dig- nity of the brightest crown, and consequently, how much the prosperity of kings and the stability of their thrones depend upon acknowledging that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to ■ *er he will." Bui this solemn lesson was lost upon Belshazzar. According to the views of some, I-aiah. in representing the Babylonian dynasty courge of Palestine, Btyles Nebuchadnezzar a "serpent," Evil-Merodach a "cockatrice," and Bel- shazzar a " fiery Hying serpent." the worst of all (Isa.
xiv, 4-20) ; but there is no reason for supposing the prophet in this passage to allude to any other event than the overthrow of the Philistines in the time of Hezekiah (see Henderson, Comment, in loc).
The Scriptural narrative states that Belshazzar was warned of his coming doom by the handwriting on the wall that was interpreted by Daniel, and was slain during a splendid feast in his palace. Similarly Xeno- phon (Cyrop. vii, 5, 3) tells us that Babylon was taken by Cyrus in the night, while the inhabitants were en- gaged in feasting and revelry, and that the king was I killed. On the other hand, the narratives of Berosus in Josephus {Apion, i, 20) and of Herodotus (i, 184 sq.) differ from the above account in some important par- ! ticulars. Berosus calls the last king of Babylon Na- bonnedus or Nabonadius (Xabu-nit or Xabo-nahit, i. e. ; Nebo blesses or makes prosperous), and says that in the 17th year of his reign Cyrus took Babylon, the king having retired to the neighboring city of Borsippus or Borsippa (Birs-i-Nimrud ), called by Niebuhr {Lcct. on ' Anc. Hist, xii) "the Chaldsean Benares, the city in which the Chaldeans had their most revered objects I of religion, and where they cultivated their science." Being blockaded in that city, Nabonnedus surrendered, his life was spared, and a principality or estate given to him in Carmania, where he died. According to Herodotus, the last king was called Labynetus, a name easy to reconcile with the Nabonnedus of Berosus, and the Nabanuidochus of Megasthenes (Euseb. Prop. Evang. ix, 41). Cyrus, after defeating Labynetus in the open field, appeared before Babylon, within which the besieged defied attack and even blockade,, as they had walls 300 feet high and 75 feet thick, forming a square of 15 miles to a side, and had stored up previ- ously several years' provision. But he took the city by drawing off for a time the waters of the Euphrates, and then marching in with his whole army along its bed, during a great Babvdonian festival, while the peo- ple, feeling perfectly secure, were scattered over the whole city in reckless amusement. These discrepan- cies have lately been cleared up by the discoveries of Sir Henry Bawlinson ; and the histories of profane writers, far from contradicting the scriptural narra- tive, are shown to explain and confirm it. In 1854 he deciphered the inscriptions on some cylinders found in the ruins of Um-Kir (the ancient Ur of the Chaldees), containing memorials of the works executed by Na- bonnedus {Jour. Sac. Lit. 1854, p. 252; Jan. 1862). From these inscriptions it appears that the eldest son of Nabonnedus was called Bel-shar-tzar, and admitted by his father to a share in the government. This name is compounded of Bel (the Babylonian god), Sh ir {a king'), and the same termination as in Nabopolossar, Nebuchadnezzar, etc., and is contracted into Belshaz- zar, just as Neriglissar (again with the same termina- tion) is formed from Nergal-sharezar. In a communi- cation to the Athenwum, No. 1377, Sir Henry Rawlinson says, "We can now understand how Belshazzar, as joint king with his father, may have been governor of Babylon when the city was attacked by the combined forces of the Medes and Persians, and may have per- ished in the assault which followed : while Nabonnedus leading a force to the relief of the place was defeated, and obliged to take refuge in Borsippa, capitulating after a short resistance, and being subsequently as- signed, according to Berosus, an honorable retirement in Carmania." In accordance with this view, we ar- range the last Chaldsean kings as follows : Nebuchad- nezzar, his son Evilmerodach, Neriglissar, Labroso- archad (his son, a boy, killed in a conspiracy), Nabon- ncdus or Labynetus, and Belshazzar. Herodotus says thai Labynetus was the son of Queen Nitocris; and Megasthenes (Euseb. Chr. Arm. p. 60) tells us that he succeeded Labrosoarchad, but was not of his family. In Dan. v, 2, Nebuchadnezzar is called the father of Belshazzar. This, of course, need only mean grandfa- ther or ancestor. Now Neriglissar usurped the throne