Nabonidus
Topic: Bronze Age Civilisations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Writing and City Life"
Meaning
Nabonidus was the last ruler of independent Babylon, in the 6th century BCE. His kingdom ended when the Achaemenid Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BCE. He is called an early archaeologist (a person who studies the past through old objects). He searched for old objects and used them to understand and bring back the past. This shows that Mesopotamians respected their own long history.
Example
Nabonidus used the stele (an inscribed stone slab) of a king from c. 1150 BCE to bring back the forgotten office of the High Priestess of Ur. He also had craftsmen repair a broken statue of Sargon of Akkad. He said he did this "because of my reverence for the gods and respect for kingship".
Don't confuse with
- Nabopolassar: he freed Babylonia from Assyrian rule in 625 BCE. Nabonidus was Babylon's last independent ruler, many years later.
Related concepts
- Sexagesimal system
- Mesopotamian time reckoning
- Epic of Gilgamesh
- Assurbanipal
- Library of Assurbanipal