King Nabonidus: The Lord Of Babylon

In the midst of oppressive rulers, many times throughout history the people of a civilization seek outside help in order to overthrow their exploiters. Repressive leaders weaken morale of its citizens, and make the people unsettled to trust its own leaders. The impact that religion has in the government’s ability to govern and show the people that it’s leaders are in fact of divine right is also profound. In Babylon, King Nabonidus was a very unpopular and unjust leader and was creating unrest in his city, but also didn’t worship Marduk, the Lord of Babylon. The King Cyrus will emerge to liberate the city of Babylon. To begin, the inscription starts off by trying to find a just leader who will work in the benefit of Marduk and his followers. Cyrus was his answer to Babylon’s tribulations. Marduk, who is a god, wanted to bring the city’s worship back to him, because of the fact the Nabonidus did not worship him, which made the god’s influence wane. Because of this, there was unrest in the city, and gave the governance of Babylon weakened power. This shows sharp parallels between the ruler’s power and the religiosity of its people. With increased faith and a divine right, the governed trust their leaders, and that brings about peace, order, and prosperity amongst the people. To add, because of …show more content…
Cyrus recognized that people have strong ties to different gods throughout the cities that he conquered, and respected that. Even rulers from other kingdoms would come to pay tribute to Cyrus, the ruling king of the (Persian) kingdom. At the end of the inscription, it recognizes that Cyrus has returned all the gods to their sacred cities, with the help of Marduk, which shows he doesn’t want to institute Marduk as the leading godhead of all his kingdom, further respecting people’s religious