According to Ptolemy's Canon, the reign of Naboco- lassar is made to commence two years later than that of the Nebuchadnezzar of Scripture. Probably the first capture of Jerusalem (Dan. i, I) took place during the last years of the reign of Nabopolassar, in the expedi- tion mentioned by ISerosus (ut sup,), hut the Canon of
NEBUCHADXEZZAR
902
NEBUZARADAN
Ptolemy dates the commencement of his reign from the death of his father, when he became sole king of Baby- lon (De Wette's Introd. § 253, note). See Ciiroxol-
OGV.
Although Herodotus does not name Nebuchadnezzar, he is su|)|)(>,sc<l by some to allude to the expedition of j Pharaoh-Xiuho against Babylon, when he observes that " Xccho, after an engagement at Jlagtlolus in Egypt, ^ took Cadytis, a great city of Syria." It is conjectured that he may have confounded Migdol, in Egypt, witli Megid.lo, and that Cadytis was the same with Jerusa- lem (El Kadosh," the holy city") (Jahn's Hebrew Com- monweulth). — Kitto.
6. One other point in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, con- necting it with Scripture, may be glanced at. In the Book of Daniel (ch. iii) there is abruptly introduced an accoimt of a golden image which Nebuchadnezzar set up in the i)lain of Dura, its inauguration being heralded in solemn pomp to all parts of the kingdom. The image was probably one of his patron-god, Bel-Merodach ; and the dedication of such a statue is in perfect keeping ■with his intense religiousness, which is apparent from liis numerous and cordial inscriptions of thanks and hom- age to the same divinity, after whom also he named liis son and successor. The adoration paid to the image was a test of loyalty. To worship the king's god sim- ply at the king's command was such a spectacle of na- tional conformity as an Oriental despot wonld naturally delight in. Some have supposed that the image repre- sented the king himself, who, in this way, claimed di- vine honors— an insanity found in Persian, Egyptian, and Seleucid monarchs— in the Grecian Alexander and the Iloman Caligula. This is not a likely conjecture. The .Jews as a Iwdy, it would seem, were not invited to the festival, being aliens and captives. But it is said that the image itself was out of all shape — sixty cubits high, and only six cubits broad— that is, in the propor- tion of ten to one. Now it is evident from the story that its height was for the sake of its being visible to an immense concourse gathered on a plain, and it is therefore probable that a tall pedestal is included in the measurement ; or it may have been an obelisk with a bust on the summit of it (Miinter, Rdig. d. Bub. p. 59; Hengstenberg, On Daniel). Diodorus Siculus (lib. ii) informs us that one of the images of massy gold found by Xerxes in the temple of Bel measured forty feet in height, which would have been fairly proportioned to a breadth of six feet, measured at the shoulders. Pri- deaux supposes that this may have been the identical statue erected by Nebuchadnezzar,which, however, Jahn conceives was more probabh' only gilt, as a statue of gold coidd scarcely have been safe from robbers in the plain of Dura; but this conjecture of Jahn seems by no means necessary. Dur — Dura — signilies a plain, and in such a plain, yet vulgarly called Dowair, to the south-east of Babylon, M. Oppert found the pedestal of what must have been a colossal statue. There is no hint that the image was of solid gold, as some objectors imagine. Anything plated with gold was, in popular phrase, called golden (comp. Exod. xxx, 1-3; xxxix, 8, etc.). Tiie description of the process of forging idols in Isa. xl, 19 shows us the i)lating of the figures. He- rodotus mentions a large golden statue of Bel, and then refers to another and much smaller one, which, in con- trast, he says, was of " solid gold." The grand demon- stration, and the assemblage of "princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counsellors, sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces," must have marked some imjjortant epoch- the conclusion of some great wars or ■works, followed by such prosperity and repose as is in- dicated by tiie phrase, " I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my iialace." It is a strange rationalistic freak on the part of Eengerke, Bleek, and De Wctte to regard all this chapter of Daniel as a mere legend, dimly picturing out the cruel- ties and idolatries of Antiochus Epiphanes. — Fairbairn.
7. Li/cnitine. — See Schroder, Xibtic/nidn. Chaldwor,
rex (Marb. 1719); SchrOer, Imper. Babj/l. p. 200 sq. ; Lochner, De Nino Nebuchadnezare (StadiC, 17o(iy ; Maier, Statua Nebuchudnezaris (Jen. 1G93) ; Midler, De Xebuchadnezaris fitTaftop(p. (Lips. 1747) ; Offerhaus, De rebus sub Nebuchadnezare ijestis (Groning. 1734); Seelen, De stipendiuriis Nebuchudnezaris (Lubeck, 1737) ; Jour. Sac. Lit. April, 1853, p. 32; Bawlinson, Evidences, p. 127, 133; Ancient Monarchies, ii, 50 sq. See B.vby-
LOMA.
Nebuchadrez ' zar ( Heb. Nebuchadrets ' tsar, "lUK"!"!:!!-?; Sept. Na/Sofxocovoffoio), a less usual but more correct form (Jer. xxi. 2, 7; xxii, 25; xxiv, 1; xxv,l,9; xxix,21; xxxii,l,28; xxxv,ll; xxxvii,!; xxxix, 1,11; xliii, 10; xliv, 30; xlvi, 2, 13, 2G; xlix, 28,30; 1,17; li,34; Iii, 4, 12, 28, 29, 30 ; Ezek.xxvi,7; xxix, 18, 19; xxx, 10) of the name of king NEBtCHAU-