shrine of which seems to have been called “the House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth,” indicating clearly the estimation in which the Babylonians held it (see p. 138). It was there that the god Merodach, the principal deity of the Babylonians, and the founder of the temple in question, was worshipped. But one might go on for a long time describing what Nebuchadnezzar did for the city which, more than any other, he loved, and to which he brought the spoils of his many expeditions. There is no doubt that this, the last great king of Babylon, was a most successful ruler, of whom his people were proud. He was pious, and an intense lover of his country—two characteristics which endeared him, the one to the priesthood, the other to the people at large. Could we but find the real history of his reign, it would undoubtedly prove to be full of interest, and also of enormous importance, not only on account of the light that it would throw upon Jewish history during his period, but also on account of its bearing upon a most important epoch in the life of the Babylonian nation. It is noteworthy that, in Herodotus, many of the great architectural works of his reign are attributed to Nitocris, who, he states, was the mother of Labynetus (Book I. 185-188). Now, who this Labynetus was, is clear from the statement that it was he against whom Cyrus marched—namely the Nabonidus of other Greek historians, and the Nabû-na’id of the inscriptions. Nitocris would therefore seem to have been the name of the queen of Nebuchadnezzar, and if so, it shows upon what grounds Nabonidus claimed the throne, and how Belshazzar, in the Book of Daniel, could be described as the son or descendant of Nebuchadnezzar. But in this case Nitocris must have been another wife of Nebuchadnezzar, and not the Median princess whom he had married when young. If she supplanted Amytis, Nebuchadnezzar’s Median wife, in the affections of her husband, it is easy to see how she could have feared a Median invasion, as indicated by Herodotus. Nebuchadnezzar died in the year 561 B.C., leaving his crown to Awēl-Maruduk, the Evil-Merodach of 2 Kings xxv. 27, and the Abilamarōdachos of Josephus, who, however, also gives, in his book against Apion (i. 20), the genuine Babylonian form as transcribed by Berosus, namely, Eueilmaradouchos. Two other sons of Nebuchadnezzar are also mentioned in the contract-tablets of his reign, namely, Marduk-šum-uṣur (in his fortieth year) and Marduk-nadin-âḫi (forty-first year). (See pp. 434, 435.)