The idea of an allegory has been revived in modern times, especially by Dc Wette {Kinkilinir/, p. 257^, who considers the accounts in Daniel too improbable, if liter- ally understood, although he admits that they may have been founded on historical traditions. lie considers the whole of the narrative in Daniel as referring to Antlo- chus Epiphanes, who he asserts is also signided by Bd- phazzar. This hypothesis assumes that the Book of Daniel is spurious, contrary to the New Testament and other ancient testimony (Ilengstcnberg, Avthent. dcs Dun. p. 100 sq.). See Dami:i..
Some liavc fancied that there was an allusion to the disease of Nebuchadnezzar in the passage of Berosus quoted by Josephus (r. Apion. i, 20) : " Nabuchodo- nosor, after he had commenced the aforesaid wall, falling into a sickness, died." Abydenus ( ap. Eusel)inm, /'w- pnr. Evanrj. ix, 41), having cited the passage from i\Ic- gasthenes already referred to, adds, ujjon the authority of the same writer, a speech of Nabuchodonosor, where- in, having been struck by some god, he foretold the de- struction of Babylon by a " Persian mule," assisted by a ;Mede, the former boast of Assyria, after which he in- Stantlv vanished. A reference has been supposed to ex
whole to be a tradition made up from his prophetic dreams, his insanity, and from Daniel's explanation of the well-known handwriting in the banqueting-hall of Belshazzar. — Kit to.
After an interval of four, or probably seven years (Dan. iv, 1(5 ), Nebuchadnezzar's malady left him. As we are told in Scripture that " his reason returned, and for the glory of his kingdom his honor and brightness returned;" and he "was established in liis kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to him" ( Dan. iv, 30), so we tind in the Standard Inscription that he resumed his great works after a period of suspension, and added fresh " wonders" in his old age to the marvellous con- structions of his manhood. He died in the year B.C. 501, at an advanced age (83 or 84), having reigned forty- three years. A son, Evil-Merodach (q. v.), succeeded him.
4. The character of Nebuchadnezzar must be gathered principally from Scripture. There is a conventional formality in the cuneiform inscriptions, which deprives them of almost all value for the illustration of individual mind and temper. Ostentation and vainglory are char- acteristics of the entire series, each king seeking to magnify above all others his own exploits. We can only observe as peculiar to Nebuchadnezzar a disposition to rest his fame on his great works rather than on his military achievements, and a strong religious spirit, manifesting itsdf especially in a devotion, which is al- most exclusive, to one particular god. Though his own tutelary deity and that of his father was Nebo (Jlercury), yet his worship, his ascriptions of praise, his thanksgiv- ings, have in almost every case for their object the god Mcrodach. Under his protection he placed his son, Evil-^Merodach. IMerodach is "his lord," "his great lord," " the joy of his heart," " the great lord who has appointed him to the empire of the world, and has con- fided to his care the far-spread people of the earth," "the great lord who has established him in strength," etc. One of the first of his own titles is, " He who pays homage to Merodach." Even wlien restoring the tem- ples of other deities, he ascribes the work to the sugges- tions of Merodach, and places it under his protection. We may hence explain the appearance of a sort of mon- otheism (Dan. i, 2; iv, 21, 32, 34. 37), mixed with poly- theism (ii, 47 ; iii, 12, IS, 29 ; iv, !)), in the scriptural no- : tices of him. While admitting a qualified divinity in Nebo, Nana, and other deities of his country. Nebuchad- nezzar maintained the real monarchy of Bel-^Ierodach. This deity was to him "the supreme chief of the gods," "the most ancient," "the king of the heavens and the earth." These expressions arc all api^licd to ^Mcrodach by Nebuchadnezzar in his inscriptions. It was ///.•; im- age, or symbol, undoubtedly, which was •• set up" to be worshipped in the "plain of Dura" (iii, H, and his "house" in which the sacred vessels from the Temple were treasured (i, 2\ Nebuchadnezzar seems at some limes to have idcntilied this, his supreme god, with the God of the Jews (ch. iv) ; at others, to have regarded the Jewish (lod as one of the local and inferior deities (ch. iii) over wlion\ ^Icrodach rided.
The genius and grandeur which characterized Nebu- chadnezzar, and which have handed down liis name among the few ancient personages known generally throughout the East, are very apparent in Scripture, and indeed in all the accounts of his reign and actions. Without perhaps any strong military turn, he must have possessed a fair amount of such talent to have held his own in the east against the ambitious iSIedes, and in the west against the Egyptians. Necho and Ajirics were both princes of good warlike capacity, whom ii is some credit to have defeated. Tlie prolonged siege of Tyre is a jiroof of the determination witli which he prosecuted his military enterprises. But his greatness
ist in these words to Nebuchadnezzar's madncsj and i lay especially in the arts of peace.
He saw in the natural