NERIGLISSOR — Fourth king of the Neo-Babylonian (Bab.
"Nergal-šar-usur" "May Nergal protect the king"; Heb.
Nerghal Šar'šer) period; second successor of the great
NABUCHODONOSOR II; reigned from 560 to 556 B.C.
He was the son of a certain Bēl-šar-iškun, a Babylonian
of little identifiable rank, described as "a wise prince and
perfect hero, tutor of Esagila and of (the city of) Babylon,"
which denotes his noble origin. Private cuneiform documents
designate him as owner of extensive lands in the provinces of
Babylonia, Opis, and elsewhere. He combined wealth with
political influence, and Nabuchodonosor gave him a daughter
in marriage. Official documents record a mission of his to
Akšak (later Seleucia) and to Takritain on the Tigris. In the
"court calendar," published by Unger, he is listed among the
masennu-amulets, the highest dignitaries of the court and of
the Empire. There is the added amulet "Sin-magir" (which
may have been introduced into the corrupted text of Jer. 39:3
as Samgar), which gives solid probability to the opinion that
he was governor of Bit-Sin-magir, north of Babylon, a delicate
post on the Median frontier.
Assuming the identification (only probable) with Nerghal
Šar'šer (Vulg. Neregel, Sereser), N., though subordinate to
Nabuzardan, would have been among those Babylonian dignitaries
who, after the capture of Jerusalem in 586, reorganized the
country and, according to Jer. 39:13, granted freedom to the
prophet Jeremiah. N., named here among the princes of the
King of Babylon, is rabh magh, a title equivalent to that given
him in the "court calendar," rab migi, an office which certainly
does not imply being "prefect of the magi," but which, according
to the texts collected by Manitius, implies a relation to "chariots"
and cavalry, without excluding civil duties.
N. ascended the throne after Aug. 560, following a revolution
in which King Amel-Marduk (son of Nabuchodonosor, who had
pardoned Joachin: cf. Jer. 52:31-34) was killed. Like all usurpers,
N. emphasizes in his inscriptions the favor of the great gods,
who gave him kingship over the "capineri" and "placed upon his
brows the crown of Marduk."
He strove to regain the sympathies of the priests by restoring
temples; moreover, he gave his daughter Gigitum in marriage
to a priest of Sippar. He succeeded in maintaining intact the
borders of the vast Empire, and even from Gutium, a province
near Media, he brought back the goddess Annunium to Sippar.
But, having usurped the throne at an advanced age, he had
only four years in which to govern and to fortify his palace in
Babylon. He was succeeded for nine months by his minor son
Labaši-Marduk, who, according to Nabonidus, was unable to
rule the Kingdom properly, having seated himself on the throne
"against the will of the gods."