Nebuchadnezzar's son, Amêl-Marduk, was an unworthy successor to his father. During his short reign he was restrained neither by law nor decency,[19] and it is not surprising that in less than three years the priestly party should have secured his assassination and have set Neriglissar, his brother-in-law, in his place, a man of far stronger character and a soldier.[20] The son of a private Babylonian, Bêl-shum-ishkun, Neriglissar had married a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and we may certainly identify him with Nergal-sharezer, the Rab-mag or Babylonian general who was present at the siege of Jerusalem.[21] A striking proof that Neriglissar enjoyed high military rank in Nebuchadnezzar's reign has recently been obtained in a letter from Erech, which was written by a captain in charge of a body of troops stationed in the neighbourhood of that city.[22] The date of the letter is certain, since the captain refers to soldiers on the roll of Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar; and incidentally it gives us a glimpse of the unsatisfactory condition of the Babylonian army during Nebuchadnezzar's closing years. The captain is anxious that the depleted state of his company, and the measures he contemplates in order to fill its ranks, should not be known to Gubaru, who exercised a high command in Nebuchadnezzar's army. It is possible that we may identify this general with the governor of Gutium, who played so prominent a part in the Persian conquest. Knowing, as he doubtless did, the unsatisfactory condition of his country's forces, he may perhaps have regarded the task of opposing the invaders as quite beyond their powers.[23] Neriglissar's death, less than four years after his accession, must certainly have been the death-blow to any hopes his generals may have entertained of placing the country's military organization and defence upon a sound footing. For his son was little more than a child, and after nine months' reign the priestly party at the capital succeeded in deposing him in favour of one of their own number, Nabonidus, a man of priestly descent[24] and thoroughly imbued with the traditions of the hierarchy. The new king carried on Nebuchadnezzar's tradition of temple-reconstruction with enthusiasm, but he had none of his great predecessor's military aptitude. To his own priestly detachment he added the unpractical character of the archæologist, loving to occupy himself in investigating the past history of the temples he rebuilt, in place of controlling his country's administration. The bent of his mind is well reflected in the account he has left us of the dedication of his daughter, Bêl-shalti-Nannar, as head of the college of votaries attached to the Moon-temple at Ur.[25] It is clear that this act and the accompanying ceremonial interested him far more than the education of his son; and any military aptitude Belshazzar may have developed was certainly not fostered by his father or his father's friends. It was only when the