Nebuchadnezzar married Armitis Medea (630-565 BC) and other Babylonians in Medea (Armitis was the daughter or granddaughter of King Medea Cyaxares). According to some information, the Hanging Garden Babylon was built for her to remind her of her hometown in Persia.
After he ascended the throne, Nebuchadnezzar said to the gods in his inaugural speech: "Merciful Marduk, may the temple I built last forever, and may I be satisfied with its splendor. In my old age, my descendants will be rich and I will receive gifts from kings from all regions. " (Kerrigan, 39). His patron saint Marduk seemed to hear his prayer, because under his rule, Babylon became the most powerful city-state in the region, and Nebuchadnezzar II himself was the greatest warrior, king and ruler in the known world.
He is depicted in the Bible in an unpleasant way, most obviously in Daniel and Jeremiah, he is regarded as "the enemy of God", and the God of Israel intends to set an example for him, or on the contrary, the agent of God is used as a whip for faithless believers. In the 43rd year of his reign, he died as the most powerful monarch in the Near East in his beloved city.
Early life and power
Nebuchadnezzar II was born in BC. In 634 BC, in the Chaldean region in the southeast of Babylon. His name is actually Nabu-Kudurru-Usur in Chaldean ("Nabu"), and "Nebuchadnezzar" is known to the Israelites in Canaan ("Nebuchadnezzar" comes from Akkadian). He is the eldest son of Babylonian general Naboo apra Sur ("Naboo, protect my son") in the Assyrian army, and is more widely known as Nabopolassar.
At this time, the Assyrian empire still controlled the area, but it was the end. This empire has become too big to maintain, and began to weaken Ashgabat (668-627 BC) until the end of the rule of the last great Assyrian king. In 627 BC, Assyrians sent two representatives to take over Babylon, but Napopa refused to support them and sent them back to China, and was crowned king in 626 BC.
Nebuchadnezzar II entered the kingdom of Judah in Canaan in 598/597 BC. After the fall of Tyre in 585 BC, he consolidated his empire.
In the next ten years, Napopa fought against Assyrians, while Nebuchadnezzar received military education, general literacy and * * * management during his growth. In 6 15 BC, Nabopolassar attacked Ashur, but it was not until the Medes led by their king Cyaxares joined the resistance and Ashur fell that they were able to occupy it. Nabopolassar then formed an alliance with Cyaxares, as evidenced by Nebuchadnezzar's marriage to Cyaxares's daughter (or granddaughter) Armitis.
In 6 12 BC, Nineveh fell into the hands of the Babylonian-Medai Alliance, which was regarded as the end of the Assyrian Empire. Even so, Ashur-uballit, the last king of Assyria, tried to regain power with the help of the Egyptians led by Pharaoh Necho II (reigned from 665438 to 595 BC). In 605 BC, Necho II was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II in a battle near Karl Ghimis. Soon after, the Napopa people died of natural causes in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar returned to the city as a war hero and was crowned king at the end of 605 BC or the beginning of 604 BC.
Consolidation and revival of Babylon
In 6 16 BC, Napoli established his own empire through conquest, and Nebuchadnezzar II used these resources to strengthen and expand his armed forces and participated in the construction project. He absorbed all the areas before the Assyrian Empire and crushed any resistance. In 598/597 BC, he marched into the kingdom of Judah in Canaan, destroyed its capital Jerusalem and sent its elite citizens back to Babylon (this period was called Babylonian imprisonment). The further resistance of Judah led to another round of military action between 589 and 582 BC, which narrowed the kingdom and dispersed the people. In 585 BC, when the Canaanite city of Tyre finally fell into a long siege, Nebuchadnezzar II consolidated his empire.
Then, he took part in the immortal construction project, and completely transformed and renovated his 13 cities, but he devoted his best efforts to the most famous city: Babylon. Scholar Susan Wise Bauer commented:
He wanted to establish and maintain his position as a great king. He began to establish and maintain everything that the king of Mesopotamia had done for more than two thousand years: he began to build. His own inscription records the restoration and expansion of one temple after another in Babylon. Babylon is the hometown of Marduk, and Nebuchadnezzar dedicated it to Marduk to celebrate the victory of Babylon. (447)
By 600 BC, Babylon was impressive and regarded as the center of the world. It must be the Babylonians themselves Looks like someone else. A clay tablet dating back to this era found in the ruins of Chipard City (north of Babylon) is now in the British Museum, showing the ancient world revolving around Babylon. This monument claims to be a map of the world, but it actually marginalizes most areas around Babylon, including Chipard. The origin of this map is Babylon, and how it arrived in Chipard is still unknown, but this map is probably one of many cities commemorating the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, and it is also its great city center. As Michael Kerrigan said:
When presenting a world view, any map presents a "world view" at the same time-an orderly set of assumptions and attitudes. The city, with its brisk city-centrism, clearly assumes that Babylon is the center of things, which fully shows the city's confidence. (36)
Great temples and monuments have been emphasized and entered through new roads, and special attention has been paid to creating * * * roads for Marduk Festival. During this period, the statue of God was taken out of the temple, passed through the city and walked out of the city gate. This road is 70 feet (265,438+0 meters) wide, and it runs from the temple complex in the center of the city through the Istanbul Gate in the north, which is quite a long distance of more than half a mile (nearly). These decorations have 120 images of lions, dragons, bulls and golden flowers.
Nebuchadnezzar II was particularly proud of the Istanbul Gate and the * * * Road, and left an inscription describing them and why he created them, part of which was how he built these gates:
... bricks made of blue stones, which depict wonderful bulls and dragons. I spread the majestic cedar vertically on the roof. I hung cedar doors engraved with bronze on all the door openings. I put bison and fierce dragons in the portal and decorated them luxuriously. People might look at them in surprise. (Kerrigan, 39 years old)
The walls of Babylon and the Istanbul Gate are considered so impressive that some ancient writers claimed that they should be included in the Seven Wonders. Babylon is also on the list, but there is a different attraction: the hanging garden.
Hanging gardens in Babylon
Hanging Gardens are the only controversial among the Seven Wonders of Ancient China, because there is no archaeological evidence about them, and the only known report about them comes from the fall of Babylon. More importantly, the famous inscription on the East India House-a hymn written by Nebuchadnezzar II himself, boasting about his beautification of the city (so called because it was discovered by the representative of the East India Company in A.D. 180 1 year)-made no mention of the Hanging Garden. Diodorus Siculus (90-30 BC) described them most clearly in a passage in his book Historical Philology II. 10:
Also because of the Acropolis, it is called the Hanging Garden. It was not built by semiramis, but by the later Syrian king to please one of his concubines. They said that because she was Persian and longed for grass on the mountain, she asked the king to imitate the unique scenery of Persia by planting gardens. Each side of the park extends four stories. Because the entrance of the garden is inclined like a hillside, several parts of the structure rise layer by layer, and the overall appearance is like a theater. After the rising terraced fields were built, a corridor was built below, which bore the full weight of the plantation and rose bit by bit along the entrance. The top porch has 50 elbow height, which is the highest surface of the park. The battlements of the city are flush with the circular wall. In addition, the wall that cost a lot of money to build is 22 feet thick, and the passage between every two walls is 10 foot wide. The roof of the gallery covers Liang Shi, which is 65,438+06 feet long (including the overlapping part) and 4 feet wide. The roofs above these beams are first covered with a layer of reeds and covered with a lot of asphalt. On the two layers of sintered bricks bonded with cement, the third layer is covered with lead until the moisture in the soil can't penetrate below. Most importantly, the soil is deep enough to accommodate the roots of the largest trees. All kinds of trees are densely planted on the flat ground, which can make the onlookers feel happy, no matter its huge scale or other charm. Because every prominent gallery receives light, they contain many different descriptions of royal houses; There is a gallery that opens from the top floor and a machine that supplies water to the garden. These machines draw a lot of water from the river, although outsiders can't see it being finished. This park, as I said, was built later.
According to Greek tradition, Dior Dorus called Mesopotamia Assyria, which means "the king of Syria", but this may also be because he described the gardens of the Assyrian city of Nineveh, not Babylon. King Sennacherib of Assyria (reigned in 705-68 BC1year) made Nineveh the pearl of Assyria, just as Nebuchadnezzar II later promoted Babylon. It is confirmed that there are many magnificent parks and gardens in Nineveh. Based on this and the time distance between the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II and the report of Hanging Gardens, scholars now think that they are located in Nineveh, if they exist.
Dior Ruth's description of the garden appears in the part of his book about the semi-mythical Assyrian queen semiramis. He may confuse a story about her with later stories about Nebuchadnezzar II and Armitage. However, there is no clear answer to this question, and most scholars still adhere to the traditional view that Dior Ruth and other historians are reporting various versions of the actual historical sites in Babylon. It is said that Nebuchadnezzar II created a garden for his wife who missed the scenery in her hometown. This detail is contained in Dior Dorus's description.
Although no physical evidence of hanging gardens was found in Babylon, there is no reason to believe that Nebuchadnezzar II would not or could not build them there. Scholar Paul Krivacek pointed out:
Nebuchadnezzar promoted the city to the most prominent position in history, which marked that the city regained its position. He made it the largest and most brilliant city in the world, and in the eyes of some people, it is the most attractive city in the world. (262)
Although there is no doubt that this is true-almost all ancient writers talk about Babylon with awe and reverence-not everyone agrees with this view. Unfortunately, for the sake of Babylon's reputation, those who don't do this will become the most widely read source about the city: Hebrew scholars in charge of biblical narrative.
Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible
During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon not only became an amazing city, but also became the center of artistic and intellectual pursuit.
Nebuchadnezzar II planned the so-called Babylonian exile (Babylonian imprisonment) of Jews after the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah, so it is not surprising that Hebrew scholars do not love him or his city. Like many ancient peoples, Jews in the 6th century BC believed that their God lived in a temple dedicated to him. When Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, he actually destroyed the temple of God. Judaism, like other religious belief systems, is based on this understanding of that. People pay tribute to God who supports and protects people. When the temple was destroyed-and then the rest of the kingdom-people were taken to foreign countries, and the priests had to find some explanations.
The Jewish clergy came to the conclusion that they had been misled by other gods and beliefs before and did not pay enough attention to worshipping Jehovah alone. In the era known as the Second Temple Period (565438 BC+05-70 AD), Judaism was revised according to Babylon's imprisonment, thus focusing on monotheistic beliefs and practices. At the same time, it will become a narrative editor of their Bible to adapt to this new focus.
Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar II-described in the most enthusiastic terms and phrases in other works of the ancient world-were treated badly in the Bible. Babylon is usually described as a city full of sin and evil, and Nebuchadnezzar II appears in the book of Daniel as a stubborn tyrant. He admits Daniel's strength, but he won't give in to him until he is really driven crazy and then recovers. In the Book of Kings, the scholars mentioned the looting of Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar II in other places, but it was mainly Daniel who consolidated Nebuchadnezzar's reputation among many readers.
In Daniel 1-4, when three Jewish youths Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship the golden idol made by the king and ordered them to bow down, Nebuchadnezzar witnessed the power of the God of Daniel. He threw them into the furnace, but they were saved by faith (Daniel 3: 12-97). The God of Israel also gave Daniel the ability to interpret dreams. When he correctly explained his vision of trees, he showed this skill to the king (Daniel 4: 1-24).
In this record, the most dramatic event of Nebuchadnezzar was when a voice fell from the sky and announced that he would soon be crazy, which quickly passed (Daniel 4:25-30). It is said that Nebuchadnezzar was "exiled to the world, eating grass like an ox, his whole body was wet with dew, his hair was like eagle hair, and his nails were like bird claws". (4:30)。 As the voice in the sky predicted, the madness lasted for seven years, and then the king woke up and praised God.
conclusion
Although the book of Daniel is a fascinating narrative, there is no external evidence for the king's crazy story or any particularly stubborn story. It is not surprising that a person who feels hurt by the king gives him a negative description in their narratives, but this does not mean that these narratives are accurate in history.
In other materials, Nebuchadnezzar II was described as a great king, who not only restored Babylon's former glory, but also turned it into a city of light. Under his rule, Babylon became not only an amazing city, but also a center for the pursuit of art and knowledge. Under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, women enjoyed equal rights with men (although their status was not completely equal by any modern standards), there were many schools and temples, culture, mathematics, science and handicrafts flourished, and tolerance and interest in other things were also active. Gods of other faiths and beliefs of other cultures.
In many ways, ceramic maps accurately depict Babylon as the center of the world. Nebuchadnezzar II imagined a city, and then people would be amazed, and then he turned this idea into reality. After 43 years in power, he died peacefully in the city he built, but Babylon could not last 25 years after his death. The city was occupied by Persians in 539 BC, but Alexander the Great's efforts to rebuild it never raised it to the height of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II.