The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

134 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
e) Neriglissar to Labashi-Marduk to Nabonidus
(7) That Neriglissar was succeeded by his son Labashi-Marduk is
plainly stated by Nabonidus in one of the royal inscriptions
discussed earlier, Nabon. No. 8 (the Hillah stele). In column iv of this
stele, Nabonidus relates that the cult of the goddess Anunitum in
Sippar had been renewed by Neriglissar. Then he goes on saying:
After (his) days had become full and he had started out on the
journey of (human) destiny his son Labashi-Marduk, a minor (who)
had not (yet) learned how to behave, sat down on the royal throne
against the intentions of the gods and [three lines missing here]. 90
After the three missing lines Nabonidus, in the next column,
goes on to speak of his own enthronement, evidently as the
immediate successor of Labashi-Marduk. In doing so, he also
names the last four of his royal predecessors: Nebuchadnezzar and
Neriglissar (whom he regarded as legitimate rulers), and their sons
Awel-Marduk and Labashi-Marduk (whom he regarded as illegitimate
usurpers). He states:
They carried me into the palace and all prostrated themselves to
my feet, they kissed my feet greeting me again and again as king.
(Thus) I was elevated to rule the country by the order of my lord
Marduk and (therefore) I shall obtain whatever I desire—there
shall be no rival of mine!
I am the real executor of the wills of Nebuchadnezzar and
Neriglissar, my royal predecessors! Their armies are entrusted to
me, I shall not treat carelessly their orders and I am (anxious) to
please them [i.e. to execute their plans].
Awel-Marduk, son of Nebuchadnezzar, and Labashi-Marduk,
son of Neriglissar [called up] their [troo]ps and ... their ... they
dispersed. Their orders (7–8 lines missing). 91
90 James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1950), p. 309.
91 Ibid., p. 309. Berossus, whose Neo-Babylonian history was shown to be based on
the Babylonian chronicles, gives a similar account of these events: “After Eveilmaradouchos
had been killed, Neriglisaros, the man who had plotted against him,
succeeded to the throne and was king for four years. Laborosoarchodos [Labashi-
Marduk], the son of Neriglisaros, who was only a child, was master of the kingdom
for nine [probably an error for “2”; see note 20 above] months. Because his
wickedness became apparent in many ways he was plotted against and brutally
killed by his friends. After he had been killed, the plotters met and jointly
conferred the kingdom on Nabonnedus, a Babylonian and a member of the
conspiracy.” — Stanley Mayer Burstein, The Babyloniaca of Berossus. Sources from
the Ancient Near East, Vol.1, fascicle 5 (Malibu, Calif.: Undena Publications, 1978),
p. 28.