Nebuchadnezzar (

Babylonian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "

Nabu Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian "nab ...

, watch over my heir"), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar, and most commonly known under the nickname Kudurru, was a governor of the city

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

under the rule of

Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian language, Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Ashur (god), Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king o ...

(669–631 BC) of the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

, appointed after the defeat of

Shamash-shum-ukin Shamash-shum-ukin ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning "Shamash has established the name"), was king of Babylon as a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 668 BC to his death in 648. Born into the Assyrian royal family, Shamash-shum-ukin was ...

of Babylon, Ashurbanipal's brother who had rebelled against Assyria, 648 BC. He was likely the son of the high priest

Nabonassar Nabû-nāṣir was the king of Babylon from 747 to 734 BC. He deposed a foreign Chaldean usurper named Nabu-shuma-ishkun, bringing native rule back to Babylon after twenty-three years of Chaldean rule. His reign saw the beginning of a new era ...

. In the reign of Ashurbanipal's son

Sinsharishkun Sinsharishkun or Sin-shar-ishkun ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or ''Sîn-šarru-iškun'',' meaning " Sîn has established the king")' was the penultimate king of Assyria, reigning from the death of his brother and predecessor Ashur-etil-ilani in 6 ...

(627–612 BC), the grave of Nebuchadnezzar was desecrated, with the perpetrators going so far as dragging his body through the streets of Uruk. This was done as a response to the anti-Assyrian activities of his two sons. In 2007, Assyriologist Michael Jursa identified Nebuchadnezzar as the father of Nabopolassar, the founder of the

Neo-Babylonian Empire The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the List of kings of Babylon, King of B ...

, who rebelled against Sinsharishkun in 626 BC (this being the anti-Assyrian activities). If Nabopolassar was his son, Nabopolassar would go on to name his own son,

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling ...

, after his father.

References

{{AncientNearEast-stub 600s BC deaths Uruk Babylonian people Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire 7th-century BC people Chaldean dynasty