Concerning the relations of Nebuchadnezzar with Daniel, the wedge-inscriptions of Babylonia give no indication whatever. Four hundred and fifty or more contract-tablets dated in his reign are known, but in none of them is there any reference to Daniel, at least in a form that can be recognized. The Babylonian name given to him, Belteshazzar, is apparently an abbreviated form, which would be, in Babylonian, Balaṭ-su-ûṣur, “Protect thou (O God), his life.” If this be the explanation, a better transcription of the Hebrew form would be Beletshazzar (making the first sheva vocal and the second silent instead of the reverse). The name of the deity has, in accordance with custom, been suppressed in the Hebrew form, but it is probable that either the patron-deity of Babylon, Bêl, or else the favourite deity of the Babylonians in general, Nebo, the god of learning, may have preceded the first element as the name now stands. In the inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria, many examples of abbreviated names occur, on account of what we should consider their inordinate length, and to such an extent was this customary, that one element only, out of three or four, might alone be used. Thus, in the contracts of the time of Nebuchadnezzar, at least fourteen persons of the name of Balaṭu, and seven of the name of Balaṭ-su occur, and it may be safely taken that they are all abbreviations of names similar to that bestowed upon Daniel. Apart from the question whether the Book of Daniel is to be regarded as a part of the Hagiographa or not, the fact that his descent is not given there would make it impossible to recognize him, if his name was still further abbreviated by the Babylonians, among so many bearing names possibly the same as his. Even though his book be regarded as a romance, there is always the question, whether the personages mentioned therein may not really have existed. With regard to the other names in Daniel, it is to be noted that Shadrach and Meshach, the names given to Hananiah and Mishael, are doubtful in Babylonian, the corresponding forms not having been found. Abednego, on the other hand, the Babylonian name of Azariah, has long been recognized as being written for Abed-Nebo, “servant of Nebo,” either by a scribal error, or (as seems more probable) in order to deface the name of a heathen deity. The name of Ashpenaz, the master of the eunuchs, is still more doubtful, if anything; but that of Arioch, the “king’s captain,” is one which has been well known for some time, being none other than the ancient name (cf. Genesis xiv.) corresponding with the Akkadian Êri-Aku or Êri-Eaku, “servant of the Moon-god,” a rare name in later times (see pp. 222 ff.).