RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Neander Nectar ius
NEBO: The deity of the Babylonian city of Borsippa, mentioned in Isa. xlvi. 1 together with Bel (Marduk-Merodach), the patron god of Babylon. His name is cognate with the Hebrew nabhi, " prophet." Previous to the reign of Hammurabi (c. 2200 b.c; see Hammurabi and his Code), Nebo of Borsippa seems to have been more prominent than Marduk of Babylon. Primarily he determined destiny at the Babylonian new-year festival, and when Babylon became the metropolis Nebo was made a scribe in the chamber of fate, being at the same time regarded as the son of Marduk. In the prehistoric period, however, Nebo was superior to Marduk, for in the accounts of the wars with the Elamites, dating (though preserved only in Neo- Babylonian recensions) from the time of Hammurabi, Nebo is " the guardian of the world," and the archaistic inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom mention Nebo before Marduk. Nebo is preeminently " the scribe," writing on his tablets the fate of mankind; since writing was essentially in the hands of the priests, Nebo was the patron deity of the priesthood. The planet Mercury was sacred to him, and the extension of his cult to Arabia is shown by an inscription found on the island of Bahrein, dating from the early Babylonian period (cf. F. Hommel, Aufsatze und Abhandlungen, pp. 150, 156, Munich, 1900). Further evidence of the latter fact is afforded by the name of the Arab tribe Nabayoth (see Nabat;eans) and by the god Anbai in South Arabia. The Manda^an list of planets mentions N'bu, " learned in writing and wise," while in the anti-Christian polemics of the Mandseans Enbu, or Nebo-Mercury, is the false Messiah, Jesus. As the planet Mercury Nebo was likewise a chthonic deity; the procreation and life of new-born children were under his protection. The Greeks identified him with Hermes or Apollo as a god of oracles and wisdom.
Besides the mention of Nebo in Isaiah already noted, he is implied by " the man clothed in linen, which had the inkhorn by his side " of Ezekiel (ix. 2 sqq.) ; and he appears as the archangel of the Book of Enoch who " writeth all the works of the Lord." The name Nebo was borne by the mountain whence Moses beheld the future fortune of Israel (Deut. xxxii. 49 sqq., xxxiv. 1 sqq.), and the cities of Nebo and Nob show that a knowledge of Nebo had early penetrated west of the Jordan. The following theophoric names of the Old Testament have Nebo as a component: Nebuchadnezzar (" Nebo, protect my boundaries "), Nebuzar-adan (" Nebo hath given posterity "), Nebushasban (" Nebo, save me "), and Abednego (for Abednebo, "servant of Nebo"). Nebo is likewise frequent in names on post -Christian Aramean and Palmy rene inscriptions, as Nabu-duri (" Nebo my fortress "), Nabu-sar-iddin (" Nebo hath given the king"), Nabu-sar-uzur ("Nebo, protect the king"), and 'Abad-nabu (" servant of Nebo "). See Babylonia, VII., 2, § 11. (Alfred Jeremias.)
Bibliography: A. Jeremias, in W H. Roseher, Lexikon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie, iii. 45-68, Leipsic, 1898; Sehrader, KAT, pp. 399-408; F. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, xxvii., cols. 1434-36; EB, iii. 3366- 3369; and particularly the works on the religion named under Assyria; Babylonia.
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NEBUCHADNEZZAR, neb"yu-cad-nez'zar: The Biblical form of the name of two Babylonian kings (see Babylonia, VI., 6, § 1, 7, § 2.) The Babylonian form (Nabu-kudurri-uzzur, " Nebo, protect my boundary ") suggests the form Nebuchadrezzar, which most scholars now prefer. It is used mostly by Jeremiah and always by Ezekiel.
NECHO, ni'cd : King of Egypt 609-593 (?). He was a son of Psamtik I., the founder of the twenty-sixth dynasty, whose ambitious designs he attempted to carry out. He took advantage of the decay of Assyrian power (see Assyria, VI. 3, § 15) to recover Syria for Egypt, on the way defeating Josiah (q.v.) at Megiddo, 608 b.c. On his return from the Euphrates he dethroned Jehoahaz (q.v.) as king of Judah and set up Jehoiakim (q.v.) in his place. But he was defeated in turn by Nebuchadrezzar at Carchemish, 605 b.c. (see Babylonia ,VL, 7, § 2), and in 597 B.C. the Egyptians were again completely driven out of Asia (see Egypt, I., 4, § 4).
Bibliography: The literature under Egypt, particularly the works of Petrie and Breasted. Consult especially the latter's History of the Ancient Egyptians, pp. 404-407, New York, 1908.
NECK AM (NECHAM), ALEXANDER: English Augustinian monk and Latin poet, foster brother of Richard I. of England; b. at St. Albans Sept. 8, 1157; d. at Kempsey (3 m. s. of Worcester), Worcesshire, 1217. He was educated at St. Albans; became master of the Dunstable school, a dependency of the abbey of St. Albans; went to the University of Paris for study and by 1180 was a famous teacher there; in 1213 he became abbot at Cirencester, Gloucestershire. He was a man of wide learning, one of the best Latin poets of his age, and wrote among many other things two curious productions, De naturis rerum (of no scientific value, but interesting for the information it conveys), and De laudibus divince sapientice (both ed. T. Wright, in Rolls Series, No. 34, 1863); also De vita monachorum (ed. T. Wright, ib., No. 59, ii. 175-200, 1872). He wrote also on grammar and lexicography, commentaries on parts of Scripture, on Aristotle, and on Ovid. Bibliography: Besides the preface to Wright's ed. of the
De naturis, ut sup., consult: T. Wright, Biographia Britan-
nica literaria, ii. 449-459, London, 1842-46; DNB, xl.
154—155 (where other scattered notices are recorded).
NECTARIUS: Patriarch of Constantinople; b. in the first half of the fourth century; d. at Constantinople Sept. 27, 397. He was elected to the patri • archate by the council held at Constantinople in 381, but the precise reason for his selection is doubtful. According to Socrates (Hist, eccl., V., viii. 12), Nectarius was of senatorial rank and a praetor, a layman, and the candidate of the people. Sozomen (Hist, eccl., VII., viii.) states that he was a native of Tarsus, and also gives a number of less credible details, such as that Nectarius was still an unbaptized neophyte and that, recommended by Diodorus of Tarsus to the bishop of Antioch as a suitable candidate for the episcopate, he had been placed last on the list, but was chosen by the Emperor Theodosius and made bishop while still in his baptismal robes. He was not a man of great importance. It is possible that he was the Nectarius to
Nectarius Negreb