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concubines of the king and his nobles would be present. It was during 
this feast that the advance guard of Cyrus, under Gobyras, entered the 
city bala zaltuv , “ without fighting,” and “ Belshazzar was slain ” (Daniel v. 
30). Nabonidus, when captured, was brought from Borsippa to Babylon, 
and Cyrus himself entered Babylon in triumph on the 3rd day of the 
month Marchesvan, — that is, three months after the capture. Ugbaru , or 
Gobyras, who was governor of Gutium, or Kurdistan, chief of the army of 
Cyrus, was appointed by Cyrus to be his governor (pikhati-su)*, and other 
governors in Babylon he appointed, amongst whom, in all probability, were 
Daniel and his companions. 
Passing now to the explorations carried out by Mr. Rassam on the ruins 
of Borsippa, in the mounds of the Birs Nimrud, and that of Ibrahim- el- 
Khaleel, we find that he has restored to us most important remains, and 
cleared up several obscure points, in sacred and secular history. The 
excavations carried out by Mr. Rassam in the Birs Nimrud reveal most 
probably the site of the great temple of Nebo, called Bit Zida 
(-yyyy >-yy^ v^yy), “the house of Life,” which was, however, distinct 
from the Birs Nimrud, which is evidently the “ Temple of the Seven Spheres 
of Heaven and Earth,” — the ancient Tower of Babel. The ruined building 
found in excavating at Ibrahim-el-Khaleel is probably the palace of 
Borsippa destroyed when Nabonidus was captured, and partly rebuilt at a 
later period. 
The identity of Borsippa, or Birs Nimrud, the tower of Nimrod, with 
the “ Tower of Babel,” seems now to be established on as firm a basis as we 
can ever expect it will. 
The inscriptions show that “ BAD-SIABA,” the City or Fortress with the 
horned Tower, or BAR-SIBA, the “ Altar of the Prince,” was also called by 
Akkadians >-^y yy + Babilu II., “ Babylon the Second,” 
thus showing how the classical writers came to include it in Babylon, and 
to make the Euphrates pass through the city. The tower of Borsippa was 
therefore also the tower of Babel or Babylon, and the inscription on the 
Ballawat Gates (Trans. Bib. Arch., vol. vii., pp. 106-7), show that it was 
distinct from the Eternal House or Temple of Life, E-ZIDA, the Shrine of 
Nebo ; for the king, Shalmaneser, says, “ He went also to E-ZIDA, and the 
house of his oracle firmly he fixed.” A few lines on we read, “ the house of 
the gods, the tower of Borsippa, and E-ZIDA.” This great tower, we are 
told by Nebuehadnezzar (W.A.I., vol. i., pi. 51, col. 1, 27), was called 
iff TW v Hf <M — “ Bit uru Sibbite Sarnie u irziti ,” “ the house of 
the Seven Spheres of Heaven and Earth,” — the stage-tower ( Zihurat ) of 
* Upon this evidence we must certainly identify Ugbaru or Gobyras, who 
was a Mede, with the Darius, the Mede, of Daniel (v. 31), who ruled in 
Babylon while Cyrus resided at Susa and Ecbatana. See Trans. Soc. Bib. 
Arch., vol. vii., part i., p. 166. 
t W.A.I., vol. iv., pi. XX. 10, and vol. iii., pi. 4. 
