Nabonidus: The King Who Dug Up Babylon's Secret Past (556–539 BC)

More than 2,500 years ago, the last king of Babylon became obsessed with something no ruler before him had chased so relentlessly: the buried past. Nabonidus is usually remembered as the odd king who worshipped the moon and vanished into the Arabian desert for a decade. But across his reign he did something perhaps a bit more interesting; he went looking for the foundations of temples built a thousand, even two thousand years before his time. He organized digs. He read inscriptions left by kings long dead. And on clay cylinders that still survive, he recorded the search in his own words. In this video we follow that search across the lost cities of southern Mesopotamia — through the failures of the kings who tried before him, a dig that stretched on for three years, and a discovery that only came to light by accident. Along the way we look at what Nabonidus was really after, why it mattered so much to him, and whether he deserves the bold title some historians have given him. *Contents:* 0:00 Introduction 1:10 The Temenu: Ancient Temple Restoration Methods 2:39 Excavating Hammurabi’s Temple at Larsa 4:02 The Search for the Lost Sanctuary of Agade 5:36 Finding Naram-Sin's Foundation Deposit 7:14 Unearthing Ancient Artifacts & The Palace Museum 9:02 Antiquarian King or Political Propaganda? 11:07 The Fall of Babylon & Nabonidus’s Legacy 12:21 Thank You and Patrons *Related Videos:* *Babylon: The City at the Center of the World - The Concise History of Babylonia (2000-539 BC)* https://youtu.be/O2hbP7PwuYU *The Sister Wives of Sippar: Love, Wealth, and Family in Ancient Babylonia* https://youtu.be/aOYS87ywVLo *Did the Babylonian Marriage Market as described by Herodotus really Exist? Daily Life in Mesopotamia* https://youtu.be/iJc6LZ6aQM4 *Sources and Suggested Reading:* _Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization_ - Paul Kriwaczek _A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75_ - Paul-Alain Beaulieu _The Babylonian World_ - Ed. by Gwendolyn Leick "New Inscriptions of Nabuna'id," The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 32, No. 2 (January 1916), pp. 102–117. Published by the University of Chicago Press - S. Langdon *Follow History with Cy:* Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/historywithcy/ Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/historywithcy/ Twitter ► https://twitter.com/historywithcy Merch ► https://my-store-11502415.creator-spring.com Podcast ► https://historywithcy.buzzsprout.com/ Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/historywithcy *Music:* Epidemic Sound #babylon #ancienthistory #bronzeage