There _was_ a Belshazzar--_Bel-sar-utsur_, "Bel protect the prince"--and we possess a clay cylinder of his father Nabunaid, the last king of Babylon, praying the moon-god that "my son, the offspring of my heart, might honour his godhead, and not give himself to sin."[123] But if we follow Herodotus, this Belshazzar never came to the throne; and according to Berossus he was conquered in Borsippa. Xenophon, indeed, speaks of "an impious king" as being slain in Babylon; but this is only in an avowed romance which has not the smallest historic validity.[124] Schrader conjectures that Nabunaid may have gone to take the field against Cyrus (who conquered and pardoned him, and allowed him to end his days as governor of Karamania), and that Belshazzar may have been killed in Babylon. These are mere hypotheses; as are those of Josephus,[125] who identifies Belshazzar with Nabunaid (whom he calls Naboandelon); and of Babelon, who tries to make him the same as Maruduk-shar-utsur (as though Bel was the same as Maruduk), which is impossible, as this king reigned _before_ Nabunaid. No contemporary writer could have fallen into the error either of calling Belshazzar "king"; or of insisting on his being "the son" of Nebuchadrezzar;[126] or of representing him as Nebuchadrezzar's successor. Nebuchadrezzar was succeeded by-- Evil-merodach _circ._ B.C. 561 (Avil-marduk).[127] Nergal-sharezer " 559 (Nergal-sar-utsur). Lakhabbashi-marudu } " 555 (an infant). (Laborosoarchod) } Nabunaid " 554. Nabunaid reigned till about B.C. 538, when Babylon was taken by Cyrus. The conduct of Belshazzar in the great feast of this chapter is probably meant as an allusive contrast to the revels and impieties of Antiochus Epiphanes, especially in his infamous festival at the grove of Daphne.