Nabonidus proved to be the final native Mesopotamian king of Babylon, he and his son, the regent Belshazzar being deposed by the Persians in 539 BC.

The chronology of the three Babylonian kings is given in the Talmud ( Megillah 11a-b ) as follows: Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-five years, Evil-merodach twenty-three, and Belshazzar was monarch of Babylonia for two years, being killed at the beginning of the third year on the fatal night of the fall of Babylon ( Meg.

This dinner was the start of a new blatancy in the relationship between the gangs and the politicians, which, prior to 1924, says Pasley, `` had been maintained with more or less stealth '', but which henceforth was marked by these ostentatious gatherings, denounced by a clergyman as `` Belshazzar feasts '', at which `` politicians fraternized cheek by jowl with gangsters, openly, in the big downtown hotels ''.

Josephus refers to the queen at the time ( corresponding to the Nitocris of Herodotus ) as the grandmother of Belshazzar which corroborates the alternative view that the younger " Labynetos " ( son of Nitocris ) is Nabonidus.

* The Austin, Texas band Sound Team references Belshazzar with the lyric: " But I don't have to sleep at Belshazzar's house anymore / Gave up the center line " on the track " No More Birthdays " off their Movie Monster LP.

After a feast at which Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, commits sacrilege by using the Jews ' sacred vessels to praise the heathen gods, he is miraculously killed, the kingdom falls, and the Jews regain their freedom.

It may have been partly because of The Timess first review that, despite an impeccably biblical text, Belshazzar ’ s Feast was not at first accepted by the Church of England as a work suitable for performance in cathedrals.

The expression originates from the book of Daniel Chapter 5 from the handwriting on the wall that was witnessed at a banquet hosted by king Belshazzar.

However, there is no evidence that Belshazzar ever officially held the title of " king " as he is never called such on the Nabonidus Cylinder.

Rembrandt's depiction of the biblical account of Belshazzar seeing " the writing on the wall ".

While the deuterocanonical Book of Baruch ( Baruch 1: 11, 12 ) and the writings of Josephus ( Antiquities 10. 11. 2-4 § 231-247 ) do mention Belshazzar, the references to Belshazzar in these works were ultimately dependent on the book of Daniel.

'" Thus, the halting of the Akitu may have been done by the king's command rather an inability on the part of Belshazzar.

Bible scholars have viewed this as a corruption of " Nabonidus " which if correct may be taken either as confusion on the part of Josephus or a corroboration of the interpretation of the younger " Labynetos " of Herodotus as Belshazzar.

The song lays out an aquatic version of Belshazzar's feast, in which Belshazzar is a fish, and " the writing on the wall " becomes " the writing in the sand ".

The Aramaic tekel similar to the Hebrew shekel used in the writing on the wall during the feast of Belshazzar, according to the Book of Daniel defined as weighed shares a common root with the word shekel and may even additionally attest to its original usage as a weight.

This leads to an eerie, and economically orchestrated, depiction of the writing on the wall, and the death that night of Belshazzar ( the story of Daniel interpreting the writing is omitted ).

As prophesied by the writing on the wall, and interpreted by Daniel, Belshazzar is killed and Darius the Mede succeeds to his kingdom.

Belshazzar and his nobles blasphemously drink from sacred Jewish temple vessels, offering praise to inanimate gods, until a hand mysteriously appears before the crowd and writes upon the wall of the palace.

This was featured in newspapers, with a drawing illustrating " The Feast of Belshazzar Blaine ..." On the wall in the background was written " Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin.

In fact, in Daniel 5: 7, 16, 29 Belshazzar implies that he is the second ruler in the kingdom, not the sole ruler ; and yet, he has sufficient power to make someone the third ruler in the kingdom.

Belshazzar, overcome by sickness, left the palace unobserved during the night through a rear exit.

In line with the statement that Nabonidus " entrusted the kingship " to Belshazzar in his absence, there is evidence that Belshazzar's name was used with his father's in oath formulas, that he was able to pass edicts, lease farmlands, and receive the " royal privilege " to eat the food offered to the gods.

Taylor found clay cylinders in the four corners of the top stage of the ziggurat which bore an inscription of Nabonidus ( Nabuna ` id ), the last king of Babylon ( 539 BC ), closing with a prayer for his son Belshar-uzur ( Bel-ŝarra-Uzur ), the Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel.

Fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, written from 150 BCE to 70 CE state that it was Nabonidus ( N-b-n-y ) who was smitten by God with a fever for seven years of his reign while his son Belshazzar was regent.

However, the last king of Babylon, the Assyrian born Nabonidus, paid little attention to politics, preferring to obsess with worship of the moon god Sin ( mythology ), leaving day to day rule to his son Belshazzar.

Nabû-nā ' id ) as the last king of Babylon with no mention of Belshazzar.

In line with the statement that Nabonidus " entrusted the kingship " to Belshazzar in his absence, there is evidence that Belshazzar's name was used with his father's in oath formulas, that he was able to pass edicts, lease farmlands, and receive the " royal privilege " to eat the food offered to the gods.

Labynetos is generally understood to be a garbled form of the name Nabonidus and the younger Labynetos is often identified with Belshazzar.

* The Space Liner Belshazzar, with the player character aboard, was disabled and boarded by Space Pirates in the early CD-ROM adventure game Spaceship Warlock.

The accompanying Tosefta ( redacted in the same period ) and Gemara ( in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud redacted c. 400 CE and c. 600 CE respectively ) record additional contextual details such as Vashti having been the daughter of Belshazzar as well as details that accord with Josephus ' such as Esther having been of royal descent.

Regarding his return, this may have had to do with the mounting threat of Cyrus and growing disagreements with Belshazzar, who was relieved of his command directly after Nabonidus had come back, along with a number of administrators.

* Belshazzar is a main character in one of the four stories presented in D. W. Griffith's film Intolerance ( 1916 ).

* Belshazzar was featured in season one episode two of the Nickelodeon game show " Legends of the Hidden Temple " entitled " The Golden Cup of Belshazzar ".

Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus, who after ruling only three years, went to the oasis of Tayma and devoted himself to the worship of the moon god Sin.

Prior to 1854, he had been an enigma for historians and archeologists who knew nothing of Belshazzar outside the book of Daniel.

Darius the Mede is a biblical person in the Book of Daniel, Chapters 6-9, who rules over Babylon after King Belshazzar is deposed.

" That very night ", we are informed, Belshazzar was slain and " Darius the Mede " took over the kingdom.

They murdered Belshazzar that night.

In that night was Belshazzar the King slain

That night, Belshazzar was killed and the Persians sacked the capital city.

That very night King Belshazzar is slain, and Darius the Mede becomes King.