Prophet Daniel as Esarhaddon’s governor of Babylon, Ubāru

by Damien F. Mackey “Speculatively, we may identify Ubāru with the governor (or “commandant”) of Babylon who played an important role in the restoration of Babylon in Esarhaddon’s reign”. Amos Mikko Luukko and Greta Van Buylaere Introduction First of all I shall need to apply here, for background reference, some game-changing historical and geographical revision. If Ubāru was the biblical Daniel, then Esarhaddon, the king who appointed him as governor of Babylon, must have been the same as Nebuchednezzar the Chaldean. For we read that, owing to Daniel’s miraculous interpretation of the king’s Dream (Daniel 2:48-49): … the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. Notable comparisons between Esarhaddon and Nebuchednezzar, leading me to conclude that: Esarhaddon [is] a tolerable fit for King Nebuchednezzar (DOC) Esarhaddon a tolerable fit for King Nebuchednezzar | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu were: Building of Babylon; terrifying Illness of long duration; campaigning into Egypt. For further important alter egos of King Nebuchednezzar, read this article. Babylon [Karduniash], I have re-identified as Carchemish. Gutium will be found to have been Kutu in the Susiana region of the country of Elam. Thanks to Royce (Richard) Erickson for this vital discovery (202o): A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY (3) A PROBLEM IN CHALDAEAN AND ELAMITE GEOGRAPHY | Royce Erickson - Academia.edu Daniel is the same person as governor Nehemiah, serving the King of Babylon also in Susa (cf. Nehemiah 1:1; 13:6). King Cyrus is, all at once, Darius the Mede, Neriglissar, and Ashpenaz. See e.g. my article: A Median connection needed for Neriglissar as Darius the Mede (3) A Median connection needed for Neriglissar as Darius the Mede | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Governor Ubāru J. Brinkman refers to Ubāru as “Esarhaddon’s newly appointed governor of Babylon …”, in an article to which I do not have full access: https://www.jstor.org/stable/601858 In my revised context, this would well fit the prophet Daniel, “newly appointed” as governor of Babylon by King Nebuchednezzar. Amos Mikko Luukko and Greta Van Buylaere have written about Ubāru in their article: THE BABYLONIAN UBĀRU AND HIS SLAVE-SALE DOCUMENTS FROM NINEVEH (3) The Babylonian Ubāru and his Slave-Sale Documents from Nineveh | Greta Van Buylaere and Mikko Luukko - Academia.edu …. Ubāru Who is Ubāru, the protagonist of the three legal transactions found in Nineveh? As Ubāru is a typical Babylonian name in Assyrian sources (PNA 3/II, 1356) and the language and script of all these exceptional documents is Babylonian, there is hardly any doubt that the man was Babylonian by origin. Unfortunately, the three documents do not specify whether the slave sales took place in Nineveh or elsewhere. However, Nineveh as the find site of these documents suggests that they were probably drawn up there or at least in Assyria. Had these slave sales taken place in Babylonia, it would be much more difficult to explain the underlying Assyrian character of the documents. Speculatively, we may identify Ubāru with the governor (or “commandant”) of Babylon who played an important role in the restoration of Babylon in Esarhaddon’s reign. Even if our present knowledge is full of gaps and it is therefore uncertain whether the Ubāru of the three slave sales edited here really was the governor of Babylon, some indirect details could support such an assumption. The exceptional characteristics of these Assyrianized Babylonian documents may suggest that Ubāru was a protégé of Esarhaddon who enjoyed privileges, even if it may be worth stressing that each of the documents edited here only records the sale of a single slave (altogether two men and a woman). One may further note that the word ubāru means “stranger, foreign guest, resident alien, guest-friend”. Especially the nuance “foreign guest” fits the context of these legal documents well because they are the documents of a Babylonian guest in Assyria. Ubāru is the Babylonian form of the name, which is distinct from the Assyrian form, Ubru, widely attested in Assyrian contexts. A claim for favouritism may be strengthened by the importance of the early dates during Esarhaddon’s reign and the peculiar way these dates were written. Indeed, in this respect, the dates of these documents are highly significant. Two of them can be dated to Esarhaddon’s early reign with certainty: K 3790 to 680-V-26 and Rm 157 to 679-VIII-6. All this would fit perfectly with what is known about the governor Ubāru, and be entirely in line with Esarhaddon’s well-known pro-Babylonian policy. Moreover, together with other textual evidence from his reign, the existence of these unusual documents may be considered further proof showing the various ways Esarhaddon initiated his proBabylonian policy already very early on in his reign. …. [End of quote] Note that Ubāru was, just like the Hebrew Daniel, a “stranger, foreign guest, resident alien, guest-friend”. Compare how Daniel was perceived in Babylon (Daniel 2:25): “Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, ‘I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means’.” Daniel 5:13: “So Daniel was brought before the king [Belshazzar], and the king said to him, ‘Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?’” Daniel Ubāru as Ugbaru (Gubaru) An interesting note: “… Ugbaru should really be called Ubaruš (Elamite name)”. The name Ubaruš is obviously very like to Ubāru. Gubaru was the governor, or ‘general’, officiating when King Cyrus conquered Babylon. He has also been called “Gobryas”, of whom we read in the article of that name at Encyclopaedia Iranica: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gobryas- GOBRYAS, the most widely known (Greek) form of the Old Persian name Gaub(a)ruva (q.v.). Several bearers of this name, who cannot always be kept separate from one another with complete certainty, are historical persons: …. Ug-ba-ru, governor (paḫātu) of the land of Gutium (i.e., some part of western Media and northeastern Assyria in the Zagros mountains) [sic] and a senior officer of Cyrus II the Great. As the leader of the Medo-Persian army of Cyrus, Gobryas took Babylon without battle on 12 October 539 B.C.E. (16th day of month Tašrītu), according to the Nabonidus Chronicle 3.15 (cf. Grayson, pp. 109-10). After his triumphant entrance in the city on October 29 (3rd day of month Araḫsamnu) Cyrus appointed Gobryas governor of Babylon, who himself installed the district officials in Babylon (ibid., III 20, where one reads the spelling variant Gu-ba-ru); thus this man seems to have been the first Persian ruler over Babylon. He, however, died soon afterwards on the 11th day of month Araḫsamnu (ibid., 3.22) either in the same year (i.e., 6 November 539 B.C.E.) or, according to Shea (pp. 240-43), in the following year (i.e., 27 October 538 B.C.E.). It seems quite probable that there is some connection between this person and the “Assyrian” (i.e., Babylonian) Gobryas described in great detail and in novella form (although including some more or less reliable information) by Xenophon (Cyropaedia 4.6.1-11 and passim), who calls him an old man (4.6.1) already for the time before the fall of Babylon, as well as to the so-called “Darius the Mede,” king of Babylon in the Book of Daniel 5:31, 6:1-2 etc. (cf. especially Shea). …. Note the prefect fits here (in my revised context) with Daniel: “… governor (paḫātu) of the land of Gutium” …. Daniel had served in Gutium (Susa) (Nehemiah 13:6). “… senior officer of Cyrus II the Great” …. Daniel was the favourite of Cyrus, as Darius the Mede (Daniel 6:3). “…. Cyrus appointed Gobryas governor of Babylon, who himself installed the district officials in Babylon …”. “He, however, died soon afterwards …”. …. Daniel is last mentioned in Year 3 of Cyrus (Daniel 10:1). “… Xenophon (Cyropaedia 4.6.1-11 and passim) … calls him an old man (4.6.1) already for the time before the fall of Babylon …”. Daniel had previously served during most of the very long reign (43 years) of Nebuchednezzar. He was, therefore, old, when Cyrus came to the throne.