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Hadad, in ancient Middle Eastern religions

(Encyclopedia)Hadad āˈdăd [key], ancient weather god of Semitic origin, worshiped in Babylonia and Assyria. Important throughout the Middle East, he was worshiped under many names. As god of the storm, he was, a...

Merodach-baladan

(Encyclopedia)Merodach-baladan mĕrˈōdăk-bălˈədăn [key], fl. 722–702 b.c., Chaldaean prince, who usurped (721) the Babylonian throne. Sargon of Assyria put down the allies of Merodach-baladan in Syria and ...

Bostanai ben Chaninai

(Encyclopedia)Bostanai ben Chaninai bôsˈtänī bĕn khänēnīˈ [key], c.618–670, first Jewish exilarch (i.e., ruler of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia) under Arab rule. He is the subject of many legends. His n...

Amorites

(Encyclopedia)Amorites ămˈərīts [key], a people of Canaan. There is evidence of them in Babylonia, where in the 19th cent. b.c. they established under their patronage the first dynasty at Babylon. The most powe...

Belshazzar

(Encyclopedia)Belshazzar bĕlshăzˈər [key], according to the Bible, son of Nebuchadnezzar and last king of Babylon. The Book of Daniel relates that, at his feast, handwriting appeared on the wall. Daniel interpr...

Isin

(Encyclopedia)Isin ĭsˈĭn [key], capital of an ancient Semitic kingdom of N Babylonia. The city became important after the third dynasty of Ur fell to the Elamites and the Amorites (c.2025 b.c.). The phase from c...

Sargon, king of Assyria

(Encyclopedia)Sargon, d. 705 b.c., king of Assyria (722–705 b.c.), successor to Shalmaneser V. He completed Shalmaneser's siege of Samaria in 721 b.c., thus destroying the northern Israelite kingdom forever. In 7...

Sennacherib

(Encyclopedia)Sennacherib sĕnăkˈərĭb [key] or Senherib, d. 681 b.c., king of Assyria (705–681 b.c.). The son of Sargon, Sennacherib spent most of his reign fighting to maintain the empire established by his ...

Nippur

(Encyclopedia)Nippur nĭpo͝orˈ [key], ancient city of Babylonia, a N Sumerian settlement on the Euphrates. It was the seat of the important cult of the god Enlil, or Bel. Excavations at Nippur have yielded the re...

Assyria

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Assyrian Empire (c.650 b.c.) Assyria əsĭrˈēə [key], ancient empire of W Asia. It developed around the city of Ashur, or Assur, on the upper Tigris River and south of the later capital, Ni...

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