117 



hands of his son Y *"C^TJJ >^^^ ^^=-« Bel- sarra-utzur. 



The king appears to have spent most of his time in the city of 



"iJ^T *^y Ty Te-va-a, which Mr. Pinches thinks was one of the 



quarters of Babylon, probably on the west bank of the 

 Euphrates. 



The mourning made for the mother of the king, who died 

 in the camp of her son's army, would lead us to regard her 

 as a woman of importance, and probably of royal parentage. 



I would suggest, as a solution of the statement of the writer 

 of the book of Daniel (v. 2), that Belshazzar was the son 

 of Nebuchadnezzar; whereas the insci-iptions prove him to 

 have been the son of Nabonidus, — that his grandmother may 

 have been a daughter of Nehiichadnezzar, who had been given 

 in marriage to Nabu-haladli-sn-ihhi, the father of Nabonidus, 

 and thus on his mother's side he would have been the son of 

 Nebuchadnezzar. From the seventh year of his father's reign 

 (B.C. 549) until the fall of the empire, he appears to have 

 been the leading spirit and ruler of the kingdom, and this 

 may account in some measure for his prominence in the book 

 of Daniel. 



In his cylinder inscription found in the Temple of the 

 Moon-god at TJr (Mughier), Nabonidus thus prays for his 

 son (I have given the transliterated text. The inscription is 

 printed in W. A. L, vol. i., pi. 68, col. lines 19 ei seri.) : — 



Text. Translation. 



1. Yati,Nabu-said sarbabili As for me, Narbonidus, king of Babylon 



2. Ina khidhu izuti-ka In the fulness of thy 



.3. Rabuti va zipani va Great divinity (grant me 



4. Baladhut Murcjkuti Length of life 



5. Ana (tumi rukutin) To remote days, 



6. Va sa Bel sarra-utzur And for Belshazzar, 



7. Ablu ristu My first-born son, 



8. TziT libbi-ya* The offspring of my heart. 



9. Pu LUKHTi iLUTi-KA Rabuti Reverence for thy great divinity 



10. Libbus-su takin Establish thou in his heart. 



11. Ai-iRSA May he not be given 



12. Khi diti To sin. 



13. La LEKHIKAVVI. 



* The expression aUa ruin hit libbi, when literally translated, loses 

 much of its beauty ; it may be rendered " My first-born son, the thought or 

 desire of my heart." 



