BALTASSAR (Greek and Vulgate versions; Heb. Bēl-’aṣṣar, from Assyrian Bēl-Kar-’iṣṣur: “Bēl protects the king”). — King of the Neo-Chaldean dynasty, known to us from the prophet Daniel and from the almost Danielic paraphrase of Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Jud., X, 231-48).
At the lavish banquet prepared by B. for a thousand nobles, the sacred vessels from the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem were profaned, and the terrified king saw the fingers of a mysterious hand write upon the wall opposite the words *Mane Thecel Phares* (q.v.), by which God foretold the imminent end of the king and his kingdom at the hands of the Medo-Persians. This came to pass on that very night (Dan. 5). In the 19th and 30th years of B.’s reign (Dan. 7:1; 8:1), Daniel received visions concerning the four great empires of the world, the Messianic kingdom, and the fortunes of the Diadochi and Epigoni.
Daniel does not contradict history by naming B. as the last Babylonian king. The Babylonian Chronicle called “of Nabonidus” and the Cylinder of Cyrus mention only Nabonidus (Nabû-nā’id, 556-539) (q.v.); yet a cuneiform inscription from Ur contains a prayer of Nabonidus to the god Sin, seeking protection for himself and his firstborn son Bēl-šarra-uṣur. The latter is identified with the “king’s son” mentioned in the Nabonidus Chronicle.
While extrabiblical documents are silent regarding B.’s royal dignity, all evidence suggests that his father had associated him with the throne as early as 542. Cuneiform inscriptions reveal that Nabonidus was unfit to govern, devoting himself solely to collecting Chaldean deities in the capital (Babel), and around the year 553—whether by religious eccentricity or external pressure—he withdrew to Tema, an isolated settlement in northern Arabia. Daniel (5:7, 16), reporting that B. promised the third place in the kingdom to whoever could interpret the writing on the wall, implies that the first and second places were held by his father and himself.
According to the Nabonidus Chronicle, on the 14th of Tishri, Sippar on the Euphrates was occupied by Cyrus. Nabonidus, who was there, fled toward Babel, which Gubaru (= Darius the Mede of Daniel), governor of the Gutians and Cyrus’ general, captured two days later. Nabonidus was captured and exiled to Carmania, while B., according to Dan. 5:30, was slain. It is highly probable that B. not only replaced his father in governing the empire at Babylon but also presided over the defense of the capital. References to this fatal banquet may also be found in Xenophon, *Cyropaedia*, VII, 5, §15, and Herodotus, I, 191.
That in Dan. 5:2, 11, 13, 22 B. is called “son of Nebuchadnezzar” may be explained by the fact that Semitic languages lack a specific term for “descendant,” while the word “son” carries a broad meaning (including grandson, descendant, or successor in general). It appears that Daniel preferred the name of the illustrious statesman and warrior predecessor over that of his own father, who was known for his incompetence. It is also possible that B. was in fact Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson (d. 562). Since it is difficult to prove a blood relationship between Nabonidus and Nebuchadnezzar, some scholars suggest that the former married a daughter of the latter; this, however, remains a mere hypothesis.