Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/373

* NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 325 NEBULA. Babylonian iioition of the latter's empire. The family was Chaldean, that is, of a South Baby- lonian race, hence the use of this name for the tlynasty and for the land in later ages. Nabopo- lassar entered into alliance with the other great enemy of Assyria, the Wedes, marrying his son to a daughter of the Median King, Cyaxares. At this time a horde of barbarians, connnonly called Scythians by historians, a])peared u])on the scene as assailants of the Assyrian Empire, and about B.C. 007 Nineveh fell before the combined as- sault. The Assyrian Empire was forthwith partitioned; the Mcdes took possession of the Upper Tigris Valley and the lands to the north and east of the Euphrates ; Nabopolas- sar made firm his control of the Euphrates Val- ley: and from the west Necho, King of Egypt, advanced to the great river to reclaim for his land its ancient dominion in Syria. The division of spoils between Media and Babylon seems to have been prearranged, but Egypt's intrusion could not be sufTered, and Nabopolassar sent Nebuchadnezzar against Necho. The latter was utterly defeated at Carchemish (B.C. 005), and Nebuchadnezzar advanced as far as Eg^'pt to recover Syria. But he was recalled by the news of the death of his father, and accomplished the remarkable feat of leading his army by a forced march across the desert to Babylon to secure the succession. Unfortunately, we possess but scanty materials for the study of the continuation of Nebuchadnezzar's military and political career. The sources are the partial accounts found in the Bible, Josephus (rpioting Berosus ; A)it., X. 6-11: c. Ap. i. 21). and Herodotus (contain- ing obscure information concerning Egypt; ii. 151 seq.), and a fragment of Menander. The books of Kings. .Jeremiah, and Ezekiel enable us to follow clearly .Judah's relation to its new lord. At first King Jehoiakim submitted, but about B.C. 600 rebelled. After some delay Nebu- chadnezzar sent his army against .Jerusalem, which fell in 597, Jehoiakim dying during the siege. His son, Jehoiachin. sulTered the Imiierial chastisement of exile along with the upper classes, an uncle, Zedekiah, being appointed to the throne by the conqueror. But the new King succumbed at last to the temptations to revolt offered by his neighbors, and especially by Hophra, the ambitious King of Egypt, and drew upon him- self the wrath of the Great King. .Jerusalem stood a siege of sixteen montlis, and upon its fall (B.C. •"186) was razed to the ground, while a second de- jiortation was made, Zedekiah undergoing a cruel ])hysical punishment. Tliis campaign broke for good the refractory spirit of the Syrian States, Tyre alone liolding out and suffering a famous siege of thirteen years, the end of which was an honor- able capitulation. In B.C. 567 occurred a campaign which carried Nebuchadnezzar into the heart of Egj'pt, where, however, he obtained no permanent results. But it is the glor.y of this King that ho prided himself not on the arts of war, in which he was so illustrious (he seems to have prose- cuted them only at necessity), but on his works of peace. With two fragmentary exceptions, his inscriptions are devoted to his building opera- tions, especially in Babylon, which, destroyed as it had been by Sennacherib and since then racked by civil war, he i-ebuilt and restored to more than its pristine glory. The excavations of the Germans under Pr. Koldewey are now uncovering the extent and grandeur of the fortifications, the palace, the temple of Marduk, and the great Procession Street, which Nebuchadnezzar reared out of patriotism and an eminent devotion to the gods. The sister city Borsip])a shared in his benefactions. Nebuchadnezzar's outward successes seem to have been based upon noble kingly qualities, to which the contcmpcuancous Jewish prophets and even the tradition of the late Book of Daniel bear witness. According to the latter book, his life was for a time clouded by a madness (lycanthropy ), for wdiich tradition there exists some other slight testimony. His dynasty ended with his son, Evil-JIerodach, whose reign of two years was terminated by assassina- tion. The collapse of the ancieiit Semitic em- pire immediately followed. Eor Nebuchadnez- zar's inscriptions, consult: Winckler, Keilin- schriftliche [iibliothrk, vol. iii., part 2 (Berlin, 1892), and Ball in the Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archwology. vols, x.-xi. (1888-89). For excavations in Babylon, consult the current Mitthciltingen der deutschen- Orient-Gesellschaft. Also consult Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. ii. (New York, 1900). NEBULA (in jMedicine). See Leccdma. NEBUL.ffl ( Lat. nom. pi., clouds, vapors, mists). Patches of luminous matter occurring in considerable numbers in various parts of the sky, and differing from the stars in that they do not present simply small definite points of light, but rather large surfaces of widely varying bril- liancy. We have acquired much exact knowl- edge about the nebuhe, especially in recent years, since the application of photographic processes to astronomical observation; and they have also been made the subject of extensive philosophical theories as to the origin, development, and con- struction of the universe, of which some are based upon too many hypothetical considerations to receive the unqualified assent of astronomers. Only two nebulae are visible to the naked eye: that in Andromeda and the great nebula in Orion. The former consists of an oval mass of light, about three times as long as it is broad, and surroimiled with several more or less dis- tinct disconnected oval rings. There is also a central condensation in the middle of the whole mass. The Orion nebula, on the other hand, is of quite irregular shape, contains a number of stars, and is indented ■ with at least one very large non-luminous break known as the 'fish- mouth.' Both these large nebula?, in the tele- scopic field of view, cover a space of more than one square degree on the sky's surface. When tested by long-exposure photographs, they are found to be of truly gigantic size. It is now admitted that the entire constellation of Orion is included in the outlying parts of the great nebula. Condensations appear to fasten about the stars of the constellation: and indeed the conclusion seems irresistible that we are looking Upon a uni'erse in course of formation out of plastic and gaseous material. Many of the less consiiicuous nebula> arc roinid or oval ; often have a stellar central condensation, and sometimes one of a disk-like form with uniform surface luminosity. These are the so-called 'planetary nebuhe' Then there are 'annular' or ring-shaped neliulce, and spiral nebulir. These last look like great whirlpools of matter ap- parently rotating rapidly' and trailing long streamers of light. The very latest researches