it may have been
inferior to the old residence of the kings on the other side of the
river.

Neriglissar reigned from B.C. 559 to B.C. 556, and dying a natural death
in the last-named year, left his throne to his son, Laborosoarchod,
or Labossoracus. This prince, who was a mere boy, and therefore quite
unequal to the task of governing a great empire in critical times, was
not allowed to retain the crown many months. Accused by those
about him--whether justly or unjustly we cannot say--of giving many
indications of a bad disposition, he was deposed and put to death by
torture. With him power passed from the House of Nabopolassar, which had
held the throne for just seventy years.

On the death of Laborosoarchod the conspirators selected one of their
number, a certain Nabonadius or Nabannidochus, and invested him with the
sovereignty. He was in no way related to the late monarch, and his claim
to succeed must have been derived mainly from the part which he had
played in the conspiracy. But still he was a personage of some rank, for
his father had, like Neriglissar, held the important office of Rab Mag.
It is probable that one of his first steps on ascending the throne was
to connect himself by marriage with the royal house which had preceded
him in the kingdom. Either the mother of the late king Laborosoarchod,
and widow of Neriglissar, or possibly some other daughter of
Nebuchadnezzar, was found willing to unite her fortune with those of the
new sovereign, and share the dangers and the dignity of his position.
Such a union strengthened the hold of the reigning monarch on the
allegiance of his subjects, and tended still more to add stability to
his dynasty. For as the issue of such a marriage would join in one the
claims of both royal houses, he would be sure to receive the support of
all parties in the state. Very shortly after the accession of Nabonadius
(B.C. 555) he received an embassy from the far north-west. An important
revolution had occurred on the eastern frontier of Babylonia three years
before, in the reign of Neriglissar; but its effects only now began to
make themselves felt among the neighboring nations. Had Cyrus, on taking
the crown, adopted the policy of Astyages, the substitution of Persia
for Media as the ruling Arian nation would have been a matter of small
account. But there can be little doubt that he really entered at once
on a career of conquest, Lydia, at any rate, felt herself menaced by the
n