Editing Nebuchadnezzar II (section)

== Background ==

=== Name ===
[[File:Detail. Fire mudbrick, stamped. The cuneiform inscription mentions the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, r. 604-561 BCE. From Babylon, Iraq. British Museum.jpg|alt=Mudbrick stamped with Nebuchadnezzar's name|thumb|A fired mudbrick from [[Babylon]], stamped with the name and titles of Nebuchadnezzar]]
Nebuchadnezzar II's name in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] was ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'',{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=1}} meaning "[[Nabu]], watch over my heir".{{Sfn|Saggs|1998|p=}} The name was often interpreted in earlier scholarship as "Nabu, protect the boundary", given that the word ''kudurru'' can also mean 'boundary' or 'line'. Modern historians support the 'heir' interpretation over the 'boundary' interpretation in terms of this name. There is no reason to believe that the Babylonians intended the name to be difficult to interpret or to have a double meaning.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1983|p=3}}

''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'' is typically [[Anglicisation|anglicised]] to 'Nebuchadnezzar', following how the name is most commonly rendered in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Greek language|Greek]], particularly in most of the [[Bible]]. In Hebrew, the name was rendered as נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר (''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar'') and in Greek it was rendered as Ναβουχοδονόσορ (''Nabouchodonosor''). Some scholars, such as [[Donald Wiseman]], prefer the anglicisation "Nebuchadrezzar", with an "r" rather than an "n", following the assumption that "Nebuchadnezzar" is a later, corrupted form of the contemporary ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur''.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1983|p=|pp=2–3}}

The alternative anglicisation "Nebuchadrezzar" derives from how the name is rendered in the books of [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] and [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]], נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר (''Nəḇūḵaḏreʾṣṣar''), a more faithful transliteration of the original Akkadian name. The [[Assyriologist]] Adrianus van Selms suggested in 1974 that the variant with an "n" rather than an "r" was a rude nickname, deriving from an Akkadian rendition like ''Nabû-kūdanu-uṣur'', which means 'Nabu, protect the [[mule]]', though there is no concrete evidence for this idea. Van Selms believed that a nickname like that could derive from Nebuchadnezzar's early reign, which was plagued by political instability.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1983|p=|pp=2–3}}

Nebuchadnezzar II's name, ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', was identical to the name of his distant predecessor, [[Nebuchadnezzar I]] ({{Reign}}{{Circa}} 1125–1104 BC), who ruled more than five centuries before Nebuchadnezzar II's time.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=1}} Like Nebuchadnezzar II, Nebuchadnezzar I was a renowned warrior-king who appeared in a time of political upheaval and defeated the forces of Babylon's enemies, in Nebuchadnezzar I's case the [[Elam]]ites.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=2}} Although theophoric names using the god Nabu are common in texts from the early Neo-Babylonian Empire, the name Nebuchadnezzar is relatively rare, being mentioned only four times with certainty. Though there is no evidence that Nabopolassar named his son after Nebuchadnezzar I, Nabopolassar was knowledgeable in history and actively worked to connect his rule to the rule of the [[Akkadian Empire]], which preceded him by nearly two thousand years. The significance of his son and heir bearing the name of one of Babylon's greatest kings would not have been lost on Nabopolassar.{{Sfn|Nielsen|2015|pp=61–62}}

If Jursa's theory concerning Nabopolassar's origin is correct, it is alternatively possible that Nebuchadnezzar II was named after his grandfather of the same name, as the Babylonians employed [[patronymic]]s, rather than after the previous king.{{Sfn|Nielsen|2015|pp=61–62}}{{Sfn|Jursa|2007|p=|pp=127–133}}

=== Ancestry and early life ===
[[File:Part of front of Inanna temple of Kara Indasch from Uruk Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.jpg|alt=Preserved portions of a ruined temple|thumb|A preserved portion of the [[Eanna]] temple at [[Uruk]]. Nebuchadnezzar was the high priest of the Eanna temple from 626/625 BC to 617 BC.]]
Nebuchadnezzar was the eldest son of [[Nabopolassar]] ({{Reign}}626–605 BC), the founder of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]. This is confirmed by Nabopolassar's inscriptions, which explicitly name Nebuchadnezzar as his "eldest son", as well as inscriptions from Nebuchadnezzar's reign, which refer to him as the "first" or "chief son" of Nabopolassar, and as Nabopolassar's "true" or "legitimate heir".{{Sfn|Wiseman|1983|p=5}} The Neo-Babylonian Empire was founded through Nabopolassar's rebellion, and later [[Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire|war]], against the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], which liberated [[Babylonia]] after nearly a century of [[Assyria]]n control. The war resulted in the complete destruction of Assyria,{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=8}} and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which rose in its place, was powerful, but hastily built and politically unstable.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|1989|p=xiii}}

As Nabopolassar never clarified his ancestry in lineage in any of his inscriptions, his origin is not entirely clear. Subsequent historians have variously identified Nabopolassar as a [[Chaldea]]n,{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2016|p=4}}{{Sfn|Johnston|1901|p=20}}{{Sfn|Bedford|2016|p=56}} an [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]{{Sfn|The British Museum|1908|p=10}} or a [[Babylonia]]n.{{Sfn|Melville|2011|p=16}} Although no evidence conclusively confirms him as being of Chaldean origin, the term "[[Chaldean dynasty]]" is frequently used by modern historians for the royal family he founded, and the term "Chaldean Empire" remains in use as an alternate [[historiographical]] name for the Neo-Babylonian Empire.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2016|p=4}}

Nabopolassar appears to, regardless of his ethnic origin, have been strongly connected to the city of [[Uruk]],{{Sfn|Bedford|2016|p=56}}{{sfn|Da Riva|2017|p=78}} located south of Babylon. It is possible that he was a member of its ruling elite before becoming king{{Sfn|Bedford|2016|p=56}} and there is a growing body of evidence that Nabopolassar's family originated in Uruk, for instance that Nebuchadnezzar's daughters lived in the city.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|1998|p=198}} 

In 2007, Michael Jursa advanced the theory that Nabopolassar was a member of a prominent [[political family]] in Uruk, whose members are attested since the reign of [[Esarhaddon]] ({{Reign}}681–669 BC). To support his theory, Jursa pointed to how documents describe how the grave and body of "Kudurru", a deceased governor of Uruk, was desecrated due to the anti-Assyrian activities of Kudurru's two sons, Nabu-shumu-ukin and a son whose name is mostly missing. The desecration went so far as to drag Kudurru's body through the streets of Uruk. Kudurru can be identified with [[Nebuchadnezzar (governor of Uruk)|Nebuchadnezzar]] (''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', "Kudurru" simply being a common and shortened nickname), a prominent official in Uruk who served as its governor under the Assyrian king [[Ashurbanipal]] ({{Reign}}669–631 BC) in the 640s BC.{{Sfn|Jursa|2007|p=|pp=127–134}}

In Assyrian tradition, the desecration of a dead body showed that the deceased individual and their surviving family were traitors and enemies of the state, and that they had to be completely eradicated, serving to punish them even after death. The name of the son whose name is unpreserved in the letter ended with either ''ahi'', ''nâsir'' or ''uṣur'', and the remaining traces can fit with the name ''Nabû-apla-uṣur'', meaning that Nabopolassar could be the other son mentioned in the letter and thus a son of Kudurru.{{Sfn|Jursa|2007|p=|pp=127–134}}

Strengthening this connection is that Nebuchadnezzar II is attested very early during his father's reign, from 626/625 to 617 BC, as high priest of the [[Eanna]] temple in Uruk, where he is often attested under the nickname "Kudurru".{{Sfn|Jursa|2007|p=|pp=127–134}}{{Sfn|Popova|2015|p=402}} Nebuchadnezzar must have been made high priest at a very young age, considering that his year of death, 562 BC, is 64 years after 626 BC.{{Sfn|Popova|2015|p=403}} The original Kudurru's second son, Nabu-shumu-ukin, also appears to be attested as a prominent general under Nabopolassar, and the name was also used by Nebuchadnezzar II for one of his sons, possibly honoring his dead uncle.{{Sfn|Jursa|2007|p=|pp=127–134}}

=== Nebuchadnezzar as crown prince ===
[[File:Battle of Carchemish.png|thumb|alt=Depiction of the Battle of Carchemish|The [[Battle of Carchemish]], as depicted in ''Hutchinson's Story of the Nations'', 1900]]
[[File:The so-called "Chronicle of Nabopolassar". The cuneiform inscriptions on this clay tablet narrate the chronicle of the years 608-605 BCE. 550-400 BCE. From Iraq.jpg|thumb|The so-called "Chronicle of Nabopolassar". The cuneiform inscriptions on this clay tablet narrate the chronicle of the years 608-605 BC. After the fall of Nineveh, Naboplolassar vied with Egypt to control Assyria's western territories. His death stopped the campaign and sent his son Nebuchadnezzar II back to Babylon to claim the throne.]]
Nebuchadnezzar's military career began in the reign of his father, though little information survives. Based on a letter sent to the temple administration of the Eanna temple, it appears that Nebuchadnezzar participated in his father's campaign to take the city of [[Harran]] in 610 BC.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}} Harran was the seat of [[Ashur-uballit II]], who had rallied what remained of the Assyrian army and ruled the Neo-Assyrian [[rump state]].{{Sfn|Melville|2011|p=20}} The Babylonian victory in the Harran campaign and the defeat of Ashur-uballit in 609 BCE marked the end of the ancient Assyrian monarchy, which would never be restored.{{Sfn|Radner|2019|p=141}} According to the ''[[Babylonian Chronicles]]'', Nebuchadnezzar also commanded an army in an unspecified mountainous region for several months in 607 BC.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}

In the war against the Babylonians and Medes, Assyria had allied with Pharaoh [[Psamtik I]] of the [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt]], who had been interested in ensuring Assyria's survival so that Assyria could remain as a buffer state between his own kingdom and the Babylonian and Median kingdoms.{{Sfn|Lipschits|2005|p=16}} After the fall of Harran, Psamtik's successor, Pharaoh [[Necho II]], personally led a large army into former Assyrian lands to turn the tide of the war and restore the Neo-Assyrian Empire''',{{Sfn|Rowton|1951|p=128}}''' even though it was more or less a lost cause as Assyria had already collapsed.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=7}} As Nabopolassar was occupied with fighting [[Urartu]] in the north, the Egyptians took control of the [[Levant]] largely unopposed, capturing territories as far north as the city of [[Carchemish]] in Syria, where Necho established his base of operations.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=182}}

Nebuchadnezzar's greatest victory from his time as crown prince came at the [[Battle of Carchemish]] in 605 BC,{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}} which put an end to Necho's campaign in the Levant by inflicting a crushing defeat on the Egyptians.{{Sfn|Lipschits|2005|p=20}}{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=7}} Nebuchadnezzar had been the sole commander of the Babylonian army at this battle as his father had chosen to stay in Babylon,{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=8}} perhaps on account of illness.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=182}} Necho's forces were completely annihilated by Nebuchadnezzar's army, with Babylonian sources claiming that not a single Egyptian escaped alive.{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=230}} The account of the battle in the Babylonian Chronicle reads as follows:{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}

{{blockquote| quote = The king of Akkad{{efn|"Akkad" here refers to Babylonia{{sfn|Da Riva|2017|p=77}} and derives from the city [[Akkad (city)|Akkad]], the capital of the ancient Akkadian Empire that Nabopolassar worked to connect himself to.{{Sfn|Nielsen|2015|pp=61–62}} The "king of Akkad" referred to here is thus Nabopolassar.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}|group="n"}} stayed home (while) Nebuchadnezzar, his eldest son (and) crown prince mustered [the army of Akkad]. He took his army's lead and marched to Carchemish, which is on the bank of the Euphrates. He crossed the river at Carchemish. [...] They did battle together. The army of Egypt retreated before him. He inflicted a [defeat] upon them (and) finished them off completely. In the district of Hamath the army of Akkad overtook the remainder of the army of [Egypt which] managed to escape [from] the defeat and which was not overcome. They inflicted a defeat upon them (so that) a single (Egyptian) man [did not return] home. At that time Nebuchadnezzar conquered all of Ha[ma]th.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}}}}

The story of Nebuchadnezzar's victory at Carchemish reverberated through history, appearing in many later ancient accounts, including in the [[Book of Jeremiah]] and the [[Books of Kings]] in the Bible. It is possible to conclude, based on subsequent geopolitics, that the victory resulted in all of Syria and Israel coming under the control of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, a feat which the Assyrians under [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] ({{Reign}}745–727 BC) only accomplished after five years of protracted military campaigns.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=179}} The defeat of Egypt at Carchemish ensured that the Neo-Babylonian Empire would grow to become the major power of the ancient Near East, and the uncontested successor of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{Sfn|Sack|2004|p=8}}{{Sfn|Wiseman|1991|p=183}}