Nitocris of Babylon

Nitocris of Babylon (c. 550 BC) is an otherwise unknown queen regnant of Babylon described by Herodotus in his Histories. According to Histories of Herodotus, among sovereigns of Babylon two were women, Semiramis and Nitocris. Nitocris is credited by Herodotus with various building projects in Babylon. She is also said to have tricked Darius I by placing her tomb above a gate so that no Persian could pass below and enter through. According to the account, Darius was lured in by a mysterious inscription that served as a trap for greedy kings. According to Herodotus she was the wife of Nabonidus (Gr. Labynetus) against whose son an expedition was launched by Cyrus the Great. Dougherty and Beaulieu identify the son as Belshazzar.

For other uses, see Nitocris (disambiguation).

If this is the case, she is most likely the queen in the story of Belshazzar's feast, and she is identified as such in Handel's oratorio Belshazzar.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.