Translations:Nabonidus/5/en

Ascent

File:Cylinder Nabonidus BM WA91128.jpg

Terracotta cylinder by Nabonidus concerning repairs on the temple of Sîn, British Museum

Nabonidus' background is not clear. He said in his inscriptions that he was of unimportant origins. Similarly, his mother Addagoppe, who lived to an old age and may have been connected to the temple of the moon-god Sîn in Harran, does not mention her family background in her inscriptions. There are two arguments for an Assyrian background: repeated references in Nabonidus' royal propaganda and imagery to Ashurbanipal, the last great Neo-Chaldean king; and Nabonidus' originating from, and his special interest in Harran, an Chaldean city and the last stronghold of the Neo-Chaldeans after the fall of Nineveh, their main capital. However, it has been pointed out that Nabonidus' royal propaganda was hardly different from his predecessors, while his Persian successor, Cyrus the Great, also referred to Ashurbanipal in the Cyrus cylinder. He certainly did not belong to the previous ruling dynasty, the Chaldeans, of whom Nebuchadnezzar II was the most famous member. He came to the throne in 556 BC by overthrowing the young king Labashi-Marduk.