Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Nebuchadnezzar or NEBUCH- ADREZZAR
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or NEBUCH- ADREZZAR, surnamed THE GREAT, a king of Babylon, the son and successor of the preceding. He immediately entered on a war, by which he extended his empire over the greater part of Asia, and from the Caucasian Mountains in the N. to the Great Desert of Africa in the S. He defeated the Edomites and Ammonites, took Jerusalem, and led the inhabitants captive to Babylon. His vassal king of Judah, Jehoiakim, having revolted, he 13 years later deposed him, and put an end to the kingdom of Judah. He next turned his arms against Tyre, which after an obstinate resistance of more than 12 years, he finally took, and which, with Egypt and Persia, made his empire and power enormous. The celebrated hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world, were executed by this monarch, to please his beautiful wife, a Median princess. He died 562 b. c.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
neb-u-kad-nez'ar, an illustrious king of Babylon. His reign, lasting from 604 to 561 B. C., marks the highest point of the Chaldean kingdom. He overran Syria, carried the Hebrews into captivity, and subjected the Egyptians to the Chaldean yoke. He pushed his conquests far into the northeast, also, building an immense wall against the incursions of his enemies. He beautified Babylon. He dug what is known as the king's canal and a huge reservoir to retain the surplus water of the Euphrates. The so-called Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world , were constructed during his reign to give pleasure to one of his wives, a Median princess. See Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar or LASSAR, a king of Babylon
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or LASSAR, a king of Babylon, who reigned from 626 to 605 B. C. He united with Astyages in the conquest of Syria, and founded the second Syrio-Babylonian empire.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's 1921 claim that Nebuchadnezzar II's empire included "Egypt and Persia" no longer stands: Babylonian chronicles show his 601 BC push toward Egypt was fought to a standstill, and Persia was conquered not by him but by Cyrus, who took Babylon itself in 539 BC, a generation after Nebuchadnezzar's death in 562. Robert Koldewey's German excavations at Babylon (begun 1899 and still running while these entries were written) uncovered the king's own inscriptions and the Ishtar Gate, since reassembled in Berlin's Pergamon Museum, and confirmed the vast walls, canal works and building programme both accounts describe. The Hanging Gardens, called his work by both encyclopedias, are the casualty: no trace has been found at Babylon and no Babylonian text mentions them, so many scholars now treat them as a Greek literary tradition, with one influential suggestion placing the real garden at Sennacherib's Nineveh. Collier's second entry, "Nebuchadnezzar or Lassar," 626-605 BC, is his father Nabopolassar, whose name simply got garbled.
Written for this edition, 2026.