William Blake, Nebuchadnezzar, between 1795 and 1805, Colour etching, ink and watercolour on paper, presented by W. Graham Robertson 1939 © Tate London
Nebuchadnezzar
History knows Nebuchadnezzar II, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, as a famous general and successful statesman, who brought his own country to great affluence and internal peace.
Often wrongly equated with Nimrod, the Bible calls him a "mighty hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10, 9). He is portrayed in the Old Testament as a godless tyrant, a merciless destroyer of Jerusalem, and a boundless despot. Removed from authority, he ended in madness, atoning for the sin of pride. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance Nebuchadnezzar became the most popular negative figure in critiques of power. His order (Daniel 3, 1-30) to throw Daniel's three friends into the fiery furnace − for which there is no historical verification − is a frightful premonition of the Holocaust. Saddam Hussein, who claimed to be his legitimate successor, took on the fictional inheritance of Nebuchadnezzar. What linked the two men, over a gulf of millennia, was their burning desire for triumphal dominion over a world empire. Likewise the visions of supreme rule founded on a world-wide empire led for both rulers to absolute defeat.
