FEOM WORLD-DOMINION TO SUBJECTION. 



121 



are left unmentioned. When we come to Nabonidus's seventh 

 and following years, he seemingly complains that the king was 

 then in Tema (probably " the city of the king's house ") ; and his 

 son, with the army and the great men, were in Akkad. The 

 king did not go to Babylon, Nebo did not go to Babylon, Bel 

 (Merodach) did not go forth, and the New Year's festival did not 

 take place. This happened for several years, and the people 

 apparently became discontented, as much importance was 

 attached to such observances. As to the priesthood, their mur- 

 murings must have been deep, if not loud, as the temple-treasury 

 probably suffered from lack of the usual offerings. In the ninth 

 year of Nabonidus's reign the queen-mother died in Dur-karasi 

 on the Euphrates, and the son of the king and his soldiers 

 mourned for her three days. At this period Cyrus, who is here 

 called " king of Persia" {sar mat Parsu), gathered his army, and 

 crossed the Tigris below Arbela. Whether this was a threat 

 against Babylonia or not is uncertain ; but he seems to have 

 taken some ruler captive, and to have taken " that silver," 

 or "his silver" {kasjm sdm). The record beiug mutilated, 

 the traces merely suggest tliat Cyrus placed a garrison in 

 this district, but withdrew it on a new king being appointed. 

 This, as will be seen later, would be characteristic of his methods. 

 What the presence of an Elamite officer in Akkad in Naboni- 

 dus's tenth year portends is uncertain — perhaps Cyrus was 

 trying to come to an agreement with the Babylonian king upon 

 some political matter. 



The paragraph referring to the neglect of the gods is repeated 

 for Nabonidus's eleventh year, and may have been introduced 

 for all the remaining years of his reign. J^aturally there was a 

 reason for this omission on his part, such as, that he was suffer- 

 ing from some malady which confined him to his palace, Never- 

 theless, his interest in the temples of his land was very marked, 

 for he often restored them, and took great pleasure in having 

 their foundations explored to find the records of early kings, his 

 predecessors, which he read, and duly restored to their places, in 

 accordance with custom. 



At this point there is a considerable gap in the record until 

 Nabonidus's seventeenth year, the last of his reign, of which a 

 translation will be found in the Jou7iial of the Institute for 1914, 

 pp. 186 ff. From this it would seem that the neglected 

 ceremonies had been resumed, probably on account of the danger 

 of invasion which, it was felt, was now very near. In the month 

 Tammuz, Cyrus had reached Opis, and a battle took ])lace there, 

 in which the words which follow imply that the Babylonians 



