Editing Nebuchadnezzar II (section)

=== 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}}