Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Silver Eiger" <silver.eiger AT mail.ee>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <JOE.J.BAKER AT centrelink.gov.au>

> The problem with this is that according to the Babylonian chronicle Ugbaru
> (Gubaru) died within a month (not a year) of entering Babylon.
>

The Nabonidus Chronicle says that *Ugbaru* "the governor of Gutium and the 
army
of Cyrus entered Babylon without battle." Then, after relating Cyrus' entry 
into
the city 17 days later, the inscription states that *Gubaru,* "his governor,
installed governors in Babylon." Note that the names "Ugbaru" and "Gubaru" are
not the same. While they appear to be similar in English, in the cuneiform the
sign for the first syllable of Ugbaru's name is quite different from that for
Gubaru. The Chronicle states that Ugbaru, the governor of Gutium, died within 
a
few weeks of the conquest. Other cuneiform texts show that Gubaru continued
living for 14 years as governor not only of the city of Babylon but of the
entire region of Babylonia as well as of the "Region beyond the River". Gubaru
was ruler over a region that extended the full length of the Fertile Crescent,
basically the same area as that of the Babylonian Empire. Darius the Mede, it
will be remembered, is spoken of as being "made king over the kingdom of the
Chaldeans", but not as "the king of Persia," the regular form for referring to
King Cyrus (Da 10:1; Ezr 1:1, 2; 3:7; 4:3). So the region ruled by Gubaru 
would
at least appear to be the same as that ruled by Darius the Mede.

Silver