Belshazzar Takes Command of Babylon
Nabonadius sometime, we know not just how long, before the ruin of the kingdom, had associated his son, Belshazzar, with himself in the rule of the kingdom. In the year 539 B. c. Cyrus, at the head of a heavy army of Medes and Persians, left Ecbatana in an expedition75against Babylon. In the spring of 538 B. c. he crossed the Tigris, and came within sight of Babylon itself before he met any opposition. Nabonadius had drawn out an army to meet the invader a short distance from the city. The Babylonian forces were defeated, and King Nabonadius took refuge in Borsippa about six miles from Babylon. Cyrus shut him up there, left enough soldiers to hold him, and he with the main army laid siege to the glorious capital. The defeat of Nabonadius, and his flight to Borsippa, left to the young Belshazzar the sole direction of affairs in Babylon.