Editing Nebuchadnezzar II (section)

=== In Jewish and biblical tradition ===
[[File:Georg Pencz - Tyrants of the Old Testament- Nebuchadnezzar - 1923.397 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|alt= Woodcut of Nebuchadnezzar|thumb|A [[woodcut]] depicting Nebuchadnezzar II, by the 16th-century German engraver, painter and printmaker [[Georg Pencz]], from a series of woodcuts titled ''Tyrants of the Old Testament'']]
The Babylonian captivity initiated by Nebuchadnezzar came to an end with the [[fall of Babylon]] to the [[Achaemenid Empire| Achaemenid]] king [[Cyrus the Great]] in 539 BC. Within a year of their liberation, some exiled Jews returned to their homeland. Their liberation did little to erase the memory of five decades of imprisonment and oppression. Instead, Jewish literary accounts ensured that accounts of the hardship endured by the Jews, as well as of the monarch responsible for it, would be remembered for all time.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=1}} The [[Book of Jeremiah]] calls Nebuchadnezzar a "lion" and a "destroyer of nations".{{Sfn|Shapiro|1982|p=328}}

Nebuchadnezzar's story thus found its way into the Old Testament of the Bible.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=1}} The Bible narrates how Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Kingdom of Judah, besieged, plundered and destroyed Jerusalem, and how he took away the Jews in captivity, portraying him as a cruel enemy of the Jewish people.{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|p=110}} The Bible also portrays Nebuchadnezzar as the erstwhile legitimate ruler of all the nations of the world, appointed to rule the world by God. As such, Judah, through divine ruling, should have obeyed Nebuchadnezzar and should not have rebelled. Nebuchadnezzar is also depicted as carrying out death sentences pronounced by God, slaying two false prophets. Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns of conquest against other nations are portrayed as being in-line with God's will for Nebuchadnezzar's dominance.{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|p=|pp=123–124}}

Nebuchadnezzar is referred to three times in the [[Book of Jeremiah]] using the epithet 'my servant' [God's servant] – a title usually limited to some of the most positively portrayed figures, such as [[Jacob]] and [[David]]. Klaas A. D. Smelik noted in 2004 that "in the Hebrew Bible, there is no better company conceivable than these; at the same time, there is no candidate less likely for this title of honour than the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar".{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|pp=110–12}} 

It is possible that the epithet is a later addition, as it is missing in the [[Septuagint]] version of the Old Testament, perhaps added after Nebuchadnezzar began to be seen in a slightly more favourable light than immediately after Jerusalem's destruction.{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|pp= 118–20}} Alternatively, possible theological explanations include Nebuchadnezzar being seen, despite his cruelty, as an instrument in fulfilling God's universal plan; or perhaps that designating him as a "servant" of God was to show that readers should not fear Nebuchadnezzar, but his true master, God.{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|p=133}}

[[File:Daniel Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's Dream.jpg|alt= Illustration of the biblical story of Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dream|thumb|A 1917 illustration of [[Daniel (biblical figure)|Daniel]] interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's dreams]]
In the [[Book of Daniel]], widely considered by scholars to be a work of [[historical fiction]],<!--This is the consensus in the academic community, per virtually every reliable source; should not be changed without prior discussion on the talk page-->{{sfn|Laughlin|1990|p=95}}{{sfn|Seow|2003|pp=4–6}}{{sfn|Collins|2002|p=2}}{{sfn|Redditt|2008|p=180}} the figure of Nebuchadnezzar differs considerably from his portrayal in the Book of Jeremiah. He is for the most part depicted as a merciless and despotic ruler. The king has a nightmare, and asks his wise men, including [[Daniel (biblical figure) |Daniel]] and his three companions [[Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego]], to interpret the dream, but refuses to state the dream's contents. When the servants protest, Nebuchadnezzar sentences all of them, including Daniel and his companions, to death.{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|pp=127–29}}

By the end of the story, when Daniel has successfully interpreted the dream, Nebuchadnezzar shows much gratitude, showering Daniel with gifts, appointing him the governor of the "province of Babylon" and making him the chief of the kingdom's wise men. A second story again casts Nebuchadnezzar as a tyrannical and pagan king, who, after Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to worship a newly erected golden statue, sentences them to death through being thrown into a [[Shadrach,_Meshach,_and_Abednego|fiery furnace]]. They are miraculously delivered, and Nebuchadnezzar then acknowledges God as the "lord of kings" and "god of gods".{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|pp=127–29}}

Though Nebuchadnezzar is also mentioned as acknowledging the Hebrews' God as the true god in other passages of the Book of Daniel, it is apparent that his supposed conversion to Judaism does not change his violent character, given that he proclaims that anyone who speaks amiss of God "shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill". In a third story, Daniel interprets another dream as meaning that Nebuchadnezzar will lose his mind and live like an animal for seven years before being restored to his normal state (Daniel 1-4).{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|pp=127–29}} The Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel, a fickle tyrant who is not particularly consistent in his faith, contrasts with the typical "servant of God" in other books of the Bible.{{Sfn|Smelik|2014|p=129}}

[[File:B Urgell 209dét.jpg|alt= Medieval French depiction of Nebuchadnezzar's army|thumb|Nebuchadnezzar's forces at the siege of Jerusalem, as depicted in a 10th-century Catalan manuscript]]
Given that Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as the father of [[Belshazzar]] in the Book of Daniel, it is probable that this portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar, especially the story of his madness, was actually based on Belshazzar's actual father, [[Nabonidus]], the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire ({{reign}}556–539 BC). Separate Jewish and Hellenistic traditions exist concerning Nabonidus having been mad,{{Sfn|Sack|1983|p=63}} and it is likely that this madness was simply reattributed to Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel through [[conflation]].{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2007|p= 137}}{{Sfn|Henze|1999|p=63}} 

Some later traditions conflated Nebuchadnezzar with other rulers as well, such as the Assyrian [[Ashurbanipal]] ({{reign}}669–631 BC), the Persian [[Artaxerxes III]] ({{Reign}}358–338 BC), the Seleucids [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] ({{Reign}}175–164 BC) and [[Demetrius I Soter]] ({{Reign}}161–150 BC) and the Armenian [[Tigranes the Great]] ({{Reign}}95–55 BC).{{Sfn|Boccaccini|2012|p=56}} The apocryphal [[Book of Judith]], which probably applies the name "Nebuchadnezzar" to Tigranes the Great of Armenia, refers to Nebuchadnezzar as a "king of the Assyrians", rather than of the Babylonians, and demonstrates that Nebuchadnezzar was still viewed as an evil king, responsible for destroying Jerusalem, looting its temple, taking the Jews hostage in Babylon, and for the various misdeeds ascribed to him in later Jewish writings.{{Sfn|Boccaccini|2012|pp=63–65}}