Nabonidus
King of Babylon · Turkey · Lived 615 BC to 538 BC · aged 77
Nabonidus is read about 465 times a day, in 49 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?The last king of Babylon before Cyrus the Great ended thousands of years of Mesopotamian sovereignty. His obsession with the moon god Sîn over Marduk alienated the priesthood, and he spent a decade in self-imposed exile in Arabia while his son held the throne.
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Nabonidus
Detail of a terracotta cylinder of Nabonidus, recording the restoration work on the temple of Shamash at Larsa. 555-539 BCE. Probably from Larsa, Iraq, housed in the British Museum.jpg?width=1200)
Inscribed Clay Brick of King Nabonidus, Ur, 555-539 BC (43219875131).jpg?width=1200)
Nabonidus cylinder from Sippar (extract about Naram-Sin and Sargon)
Nabonidus's faults and absences were recorded alongside events of his reign. By the autumn of 539 BCE, Babylon had surrendered to the army of king Cyrus to become part of the growing Achaemenid Empire. From Babylon, Iraq, 530-400 BCE
Nabonidus's preoccupation with the moon god Sin led to building work outside Babylon. This clay cylinder records the restoration of Sin's ziggurat at Ur, and also asks him to protect Nabonidus and his son, Belshazzar. From Ur, Iraq%2C_son_of_the_king._From_Borsippa%2C_Iraq.jpg?width=1200)
This administrative document is dated to the 24th day of Kislimu in the 11th year of Nabonidus, king of Babylon. It mentions a slave of Bel-sharra-usur (Belshazzar), son of the king. From Borsippa, Iraq
Verse Account of Nabonidus BM 38299Family
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Nabonidus came to power in 556 BC after the murder of Labashi-Marduk, likely in a plot led by his own son Belshazzar. His origins were murky - he claimed no royal lineage, though his mother was Assyrian and he may have married into Nebuchadnezzar II's family. Once crowned, he set about elevating the moon god Sîn and rebuilding temples in Harran, moves that put him at odds with Babylon's traditional clergy. From 552 to 543 BC he vanished to Tayma in Arabia for reasons still unclear, leaving Belshazzar as regent. When he returned, he doubled down on his religious program. The gambit failed. In 539 BC Cyrus took Babylon without a fight after the battle of Opis. Nabonidus was captured, possibly exiled to Carmania, and may have lived into the reign of Darius - the last native ruler of an empire that had stood for millennia.
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