Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/88

82 Lydians, before the allied forces could join themselves to the Lydian army.

Herodotus gives correctly the name of that Babylonian king who was to meet the opposing armies of Cyrus. In his own inscription we read his name Nabû-na'id, which appears in Herodotus in the form Labynetos. As regards the circumstances which surround the fall of Babylon the statements of our historian seem to differ materially from those of the cuneiform inscriptions. But if we examine both accounts more minutely, we shall find that the historical germ, at least, is the same. In Herodotus (I., 190) we are told that the Babylonians, when Cyrus approached their city, marched out to meet him, and were defeated. They collected their forces within the walls, having already supplied themselves with provision for many years. After a long siege, Cyrus finally took the town by means of the following device: He dug canals which conducted the water of the Euphrates into the lake basin. When the water had subsided to such an extent that the stream was fordable, the Persian troops entered the town through those openings in the wall by which the river had once made its entrance and exit. To insure the success of this device Cyrus waited until a great feast day of the Babylonians: hence the unsuspecting inhabitants were surprised by the Persian hosts in the midst of their dancing and feasting.

The account in the annals of Nabû-na'id reads somewhat differently. In the sixth year of the rule of Nabû-na'id (549) Astyages was taken prisoner. From the seventh until the ninth year of his reign Nabuna'id was in the city Tema, while his eldest son and the army were at Akkad. In Nisan (March–April) of