THE LATEST DISCOVKKIES IN EABYJ.ONIA. 



189 



Cutbah, and Kis ought to have taken part in this ceremony, 

 whereas the " Annahstic Tablet " mentions the gods of Amarda 

 or Marad, those of Hursag-kalama, and the gods of Akkad 

 (northern Babylonia) who were " under the wind and over the 

 wind " as having entered the city, but not the gods of Borsippa, 

 Cuthah, and Sippar. It was prt)bably in this that Nabonidus 

 went astray — it was not that he took the deities to Babylon, 

 but that he took the wrong ones — gods whom he ought not to 

 have taken, including many whom the scribe does not name. 

 It was on account of this that evil overtook the city and the 

 land, in the opinion of the Babylonians. 



The name of Cyrus's general, is given in the Annalistic 

 inscription as Gubaru or Ugbaru — variants which suggest that 

 the Babylonians really pronounced the name as G'haru. It will 

 be noticed that he is called " Governor of Gutiu'"," a portion 

 of Media, and it is therefore safe to say that he was a Mede. 

 The Darius who took Babylon in the account in the Book of 

 Daniel w^as also a Mede — the two men, therefore, would seem to 

 have been one and the same. Both took Babylon, and both 

 appointed governors in Babylonia (though in this text the number 

 given in Daniel — 120 — is not stated) afterwards. They may both 

 be identified with other people, but that Gubaru or Ugbaru is 

 the " Darius the Mede " of Daniel, is a conclusion from which 

 there is no escape. 



One of the most important statements in this noteworthy 



A 



inscription is that referring to the Temple of Belus, E-sagila, in 

 lines 16-18. There we find a mention of certain tnlximmc of 

 Gutiu"' or Media (with the character for leather before the 



word) hax ing shut the gates of E-sagila — Babani sa E-satjgil 

 wpahhiv — and apparently in consequence of thdithaila sa mi nun a 



ina E-saggil u ekurati ill is.sakiji, " loss of anything in E-sagila 

 and the temples was not made." As we know, there was a 

 considerable amount of valuable property in the temple, and 

 measures for its due protection had apparently been taken — a 

 stroke of policy which evidently impressed the Babylonians,, 

 and did not a little to reconcile them to Persian rule. The 

 conqueror had preserved the treasures of their great sanctuary 

 intact — a thing which no conqueror had probably ever done 

 before — and they found him worthy of their confidence. Though 

 only a governor and commander-in-chief of the Persian forces, 

 he had the power and authority of a king, and this is the title 

 which Daniel gives Darius the Mede. 



It was not until four months later — the 3rd of Marches wan ^ 



