HIEROGLYPHIC SIGNS AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS
CHAPTER VIII.
THIS latest king of Babylon is, however, an interesting personage. To him we are indebted for many records which but for him the archæologists of this present time would not have recovered. He was a zealous restorer of ancient temples and shrines, which in his day had fallen into decay through all Mesopotamia. This seems to have been a duty enjoined by the gods upon all kings of Chaldea. But, whatever his motive, whether as a fulfillment of religious duty or of antiquarian inclinations, Nabonidus is said to have undertaken these restorations to an extent no king before him seems to have attempted.
Of famous temples rebuilded by him are those of the Moon God of Ur, and Haran; also of the Sun God at Larsa and of Sippara.
The custom of placing the records of the founder of an edifice in chambers or cavities in the foundations of the structure is of immense antiquity. These records were inscribed generally on clay cylinders and usually ended with injunctions to any future king who might, in rebuilding, come upon the secret hiding place of the cylinders that these records should be replaced in their original depository with religious rites. Failing to do this, the wrath of the gods is invoked upon his sacreligious head.
It was in this way that Nabonidus came upon some very ancient and important documents. As in all cases he followed his discoveries with the record of the event upon inscribed cylinders deposited by him in the foundations of the new structure, the value of these to later explorers can scarcely be estimated.