Also, since the god Marduk was regarded as the founder of Babylon, this would suggest that Marduk represents none other than the deified Nimrod.

In such glory it continued as the capital of the third world power under the successive reigns of Nebuchadnezzar’s son Evil-merodach (Amel-Marduk), his son-in-law Neriglissar and Neriglissar’s son Labashi-Marduk, and finally with Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-law Nabonidus on the throne.

The Cyrus Cylinder, a cuneiform document historians consider to have been written for publication in Babylon, is strongly religious and in it Cyrus is represented as ascribing the credit for his victory to Marduk the chief god of Babylon, saying: “He [Marduk] scanned and looked (through) all the countries, searching for a righteous ruler willing to lead him (in the annual procession). (Then) he pronounced the name of Cyrus, king of Anshan, declared him (literally: pronounced [his] name) to be(come) the ruler of all the world. . . .

When Hammurabi became king and made Babylon the principal city of all Babylonia, naturally greater importance came to be attached to Marduk (Merodach) the patron god of Babylon.

Finally, Marduk was given the attributes of the earlier gods and even displaced them in the Babylonian myths.

Second ruler of the Neo-Babylonian Empire; son of Nabopolassar and father of Evil-merodach (Amel-Marduk), who succeeded him to the throne.

Particularly was he devoted to the worship of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon.

Actually, there were various creation stories in ancient Babylon, but the one that has become best known is a myth having to do with Marduk, Babylon’s national god.

However, Apsu was killed by one of these gods, Ea, and when Tiamat sought to avenge Apsu, she was killed by Ea’s son Marduk, who then split her body, using half of it to form the sky and the other half in connection with the earth’s establishment.

(Eʹvil-me·roʹdach) [man of Marduk; also called Amel-Marduk].

Nabonidus’ ascension to the throne followed the assassination of Labashi-Marduk, son of Neriglissar.

AMEL-MARDUK NERIGLISSAR NABONIDUS

(Son of (Son-in-law of (Son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar) Nebuchadnezzar) Nebuchadnezzar?)

Finally, after a forty-three-year reign, which included both conquest of many nations and a grand building program in Babylonia itself, Nebuchadnezzar II died and was succeeded by his son, Evil-merodach (Amel-Marduk), in 581.

Historians are reliant on Ptolemy’s canon and quotations that Josephus claims to have made from Berossus, a Babylonian priest, for the reigns of these kings and that of Labashi-Marduk, the apparent successor of Neriglissar.

Marduk-bel-usur (governor) of in the land

For Nebuchadnezzar’s son Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach, 2 Ki. 25:27, 28), tablets dated up to his second year of rule have been found but do not contain other information about him or his reign; so they give no indication as to how or when his reign actually ended.

(Merʹo·dach-balʹa·dan) [Marduk has given a son].

The name of Merodach-baladan occurs in Assyrian and Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions as “Marduk-aplaiddin.”

One fragment found north of Marduk temple in Babylon related the fall of such a ziggurat in these words: “The building of this temple offended the gods.

Abundant evidence has been found of Babylon’s pantheon of gods, including the chief god Marduk, commonly referred to later as Bel, and the god Nebo, both mentioned at Isaiah 46:1, 2.