Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JOE.J.BAKER AT centrelink.gov.au]

Forgive the lateness of this reply I have had server trouble.

On 23 Feb I wrote
**** The problem with this is that according to the Babylonian chronicle 
Ugbaru
(Gubaru) died within a month (not a year) of entering Babylon ****
On 25 Feb Silver Eiger replied
** the names "Ugbaru" and "Gubaru" are not the same  ...  Ugbaru, the governor
of Gutium, died within a few weeks of the conquest  ...  Gubaru continued 
living
for 14 years as governor **

My apologies you are absolutely correct. It was an oversight on my part to add
(Gubaru) after Ugbaru. I was at the time responding to a post which did equate
Ugbaru, Gubaru and Darius the Mede.

I also wrote
**** letters dated by '  ...  Kambuziya $ar of Babili' all date to year 1 ****
On 24 Feb Liz Fried replied
** Cambyses was King of Babylon until his father died **

I wrote my statement based on the information that the only documents dated by
Cambyses as King of Babylon all refer to year 1. As it has been some time 
since
I looked into this matter I would appreciate knowing if the situation has
changed. Are there any documents dating from year 2 to year 9 of Cambyses as
King of Babylon? If there is then I would have to agree with you. However if
none exist then I would be extremely sceptical of your claim as I cannot see 
why
the Babylonians and more particularly the citizens of the city of Babili did 
not
date their documents by the current regal year of their reigning king.

I also wrote
**** 538. Here Cambyses is prevented from carrying out some important elements
of the new year festival ****
On 24 Feb Liz Fried also replied
** There is no evidence for this. This has been an interpretation put forth by
some, but there is no evidence for it. **

Yes it is one interpretation. The Babylonian chronicles normally refer to the
new year ceremony only when something unusual happens or something prevents it
being carried out (year 1 of Nabukudurriusur is an exception) . The entry is
usually only a short statement but the entry for 538 is quite long - if all it
is saying is that the ceremonies were carried out in the usual manner.

Regards
Joe Baker