Nabonidus

Nabonidus was the last king of Babylon, and he spent ten years of his reign living in an Arabian oasis. He came to the throne in 556 BC by a coup, at an advanced age, and was not of royal blood — his mother was a priestess of the moon god Sin at Harran, and his own inscriptions are unusually preoccupied with her and with that cult. That preoccupation defines what is known about him. He restored the temple of Sin at Harran and elevated the moon god in ways the priesthood of Marduk at Babylon regarded as an attack on their own position and revenues. He then left. Around 553 BC he went to Tayma in north-western Arabia and stayed for ten years, leaving his son Belshazzar in charge at Babylon. The reasons are argued: control of the Arabian caravan trade, illness, religious retreat, or a deliberate withdrawal from a hostile capital. The consequence is not argued — the New Year festival, which required the king's presence to take the hand of Marduk, could not be celebrated, and the priesthood recorded each year that it had not. He was also an antiquarian who excavated old temple foundations to find original inscriptions, which has led to his being called the first archaeologist. Cyrus took Babylon in 539 BC, and the city's gates were opened to him. His cylinder presents him as restoring Marduk against a king who had neglected him. Nabonidus was probably exiled to Carmania rather than killed. A Dead Sea scroll preserves a Prayer of Nabonidus describing a king afflicted at Tayma for seven years, which is very probably the source of the madness attributed to Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.

• Lived: 556 BCE – 539 BCE
• Nationality: Babylonian
• Roles: ruler