200 



THYOPHILUS G. PEN'CHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S., OX 



Towards the end of the reign of Xebuchadrezzar the name of 

 his general. Xeriglissar, becomes more frequent. It occurs in a 

 record of barley due from Bel-etiranni. Xerigjissar's major-domo 

 (Babyjon. the 11th of Xisan in the now aged king's -ISrd year); 

 in a dispute about an iron raqundu, in which Sarru-ilua. chief 

 slave of Xeriglissar. brings his witnesses to prove that he has 

 not to give a raqundu to his ieUov^-gaUa Hatanu (Opis. 29th of 

 Xisan. year of Xebuchadrezzar wanting) ; and certain other 

 documents which refer to Xebuchadrezzar s coromander-in-chief, 

 or (if not Xeriglissar) a namesake. One of the contract-tablets 

 mentions not only a Xericrlissar, but also a Belshazzar. but this 

 Xeriglissar seems to be described as the son of Xergal-usezib, 

 and not of Bel-sum-i.skim, whilst the Belshazzar,. who was a 

 witness to the contract, was the son of Anu'^-iddina, and not 

 of Xabonidus son of Xabu-balat-su-iqbi, as indicated in the 

 cylinder inscriptions and on the bricks of Xabonidus. 



Xevertheless. as the Book of Daniel makes Belshazzar to 

 have been the son or descendant of Xebuchadrezzar. it is needful 

 to take notice of the name of Belshazzar, v>-hatever the ancestry 

 indicated may be. The numerous Belshazzars, with varying 

 parentage, however, show that it was, to a certain extent, a 

 favourite though not a common name, and one of the extensive 

 series compounded with that of the god of Babylon, whom 

 Xebuchadrezzar held in so great reverence. 



Though the contract-tablets of the time of Xebuchadrezzar 

 do not furnish much historical material, they are not by any 

 means to be despised, and that must be my excuse for treating 

 of the subject here. E^-idence of Xebuchadrezzar \s expedition 

 to the west I have already dealt with in my paper From World- 

 Dominion to Subjection" in the Journal of this Institute for 

 1917. To this I have only to add, that the latest ojficial date 

 for the reign of Xebuchadrezzar is the 11th of Xisan (c. 25th of 

 March) of the -ISrd year of his reign, and within five months 

 of this date the great king of Babylon passed away. 



Discussiox. 



The Chairman (Dr. Schofield) thanked Dr. Pinches for his able 

 paper and said : — Was not the Tower of Babel one of those many 

 astronomical towers then built ? Is not the true translation of 

 Gen. xi, 4. a tower, whose top with the heavens, i.e., with the Zodiac 

 depicted on it, as elsewhere { Are not the bricks of the Tower of 



