BABYLON AND PERSIA

320 MEDIA, BABYLON. AND PERSIA.of the Bible historian of the favor he showed to theking of Judah, Jeconiah, whom, after a captivity ofthirty-six years, he " took out of p'rison " :"And he spake kindly to him and set his throne above the thronesof the kings that were with him in Babylon. And he changed hisIjrison garments, and did eat bread before him continually .all thedays of his life. And there was an allowance given him of theking, every day a portion, all the days of his life." (Second KingsXXV., 27-30.)Avil-Marduk was assassinated, after a reign of onlytwo years (559 B.C.), by his brother-in-law, Nergal-SHAR-UZZUR, known through the Greeks as Neri-GLISSAR, who succeeded him and reigned four years,peacefully enough it would seem, completing someworks left unfinished by Nebuchadrezzar, such as thewalls along the Euphrates, and repairing temples.His son, Labashi-Marduk,* was but a boy, but issaid to have shown a thoroughly perverse disposi¬tion, and perished, after only nine months, in apalace conspiracy. His assassins placed on thethrone a certain Nabu-NAHID, better known asNabonidus (555 b.c.) He was the son of theRab-mag (probably high-priest, or chief of thepriesthood), of Babylon, and it is uncertain whetherhe was connected with the royal family. But hismother was Nitokris, that same queen to whom He¬rodotus erroneously attributes so many of Nebu¬chadrezzar's works. (See p. 240.) From a mention ofthis princess in one of Kyros' cylinders, we are justi¬fied to assume that she was a woman of remarkableparts, and wielded an unusual power and influence in* The name is mutilated by the Greek writers in all sorts of ways :Labassoarakhos, Laborasoarchod, etc.