The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

'FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARto Babylon, he also took Tyre and conquered Egypt,and became without doubt the most powerful monarchof his time. He promoted the Hebrew prophetDaniel to the second place in the kingdom. He diedin 562 B. C, and was succeeded by his son, Evil-Merodach, who reigned only two years. (For anaccount of Nebuchadnezzar's character, his marvelousexperience, his loss of reason, and his restoration,the reader is referred to the Book of Daniel.)Nabonadius ascended the throne in 555 B. C., asthe sixth king in the line of Nabopolassar, and appearsto have shared the royal power with his sonBelshazzar,* whose mother was the daughter ofNebuchadnezzar.The location of Babylon gave her to a great extentthe control of the traffic, by the Euphrates andby caravans, between central Asia and Arabia andEgypt and into her lap flowed, either through conquestor commerce, the wealth of almost all known;lands. In consequence of the opulence and luxuryof the inhabitants, corruptness and licentiousnessof manners and morals were carried to a frightfulextreme.Termination of the Captivity.In the year 538 B. C., Cyrus, king of Persia, agreat conqueror, who had reduced nearlyall Asia;crossed the Euphrates and laid siege to Babylon,which he took after two years by diverting thecourse of the river Euphrates from its channel bydigging a canal, which ran west of the city,and carriedoff the superfluous water of the Euphrates intoLake Nitocris, which bythis means was rendered98