113 



sharezer^ in Lis office of Bah-mag, or ^yy^ '"^11 '"T'^l *"III^ 



rah mahh-hhu-u in Babylonian was " the chief of tlie magi- 

 cians or augurs/^ From an inscription of AssnrbanipaFs 

 (Smith, Hist. Ashp., p. 128) it appears that one of the chief 

 duties of the maJikie was the interpretation of dreams, and 

 we may therefore conchide that Daniel held this post at the 

 court of Babylon, as he was gifted with " understanding in 

 all visions and dreams" (Dan. i. 17), and belonged to the 

 caste of the asaphim, or soothsayers and dream interpreters. 

 The chief magician always accompanied the army upon the 

 march, and conducted the necessary ceremonies and divina- 

 tions, and interpreted the omens. We may, therefore, 

 reasonably conclude that Nergal-sharezer was the chief 

 official in the ceremony of belomancy descx'ibed by Ezekiel 

 (chap. xxi. 21), ''For the King of Babylon stood at the 

 parting of the ways, to use divination : he made his arrows 

 bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. At 

 his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem." 



The Bah-saris, or " chief of the eunuchs," was an officer 

 of great importance in the Bab3donian court, and held a 

 position such as was afterwai'ds equalled only by this class of 

 courtiers in the palaces of Byzantium. 



The reign of Nebuchadnezzar ended in B.C. 562, when his 

 son, Avil-Marduk, the Evil Merodach of the Scriptures 

 (2 Kings XXV. 27), came to the throne; but, after a short 

 reign of two years and a few months, he was slain by Nergal- 

 sitrni-utzur, of whom we have spoken. 



Of his short reign of four years (B.C. 560-556), we have 

 but few inscriptions, and none of these are historical. On 

 his death, probably at a great age, if the parentage we have 

 suggested for him is true, he was succeeded by his son, 



named ] --f >-t] |yT ^.2=1 <y- ->f V^ t^]—La-ha-.^l 



D F Kudur, or La-ha-si Mardulc, the Laborasoarchod of the 

 Greek writei'S, whose reign was a short one of niuo months, 

 and therefore the only tablets of his reign are dated in the 

 ''year of the commencement of royalty." 



Daring the reigns of Avil-i\Iarduk and Nergal-sarra-utzur 

 the military power of Babylon had been declining and the 

 surrounding nations rising in power. The son of Nergal-^arra 

 utzur was removed by a Babylonian prince named Nabu-naid, 



y >->-y "^y^^ys^ *"^y -<^'^'^y ^y-^y^ the sono^Nahu-haladh'SU- 



ikbi, of whom we know nothing. In entering upon the reign 

 we enter upon one of the most important epochs in 



