Arakha (Nebuchadnezzar IV)

After the unsuccessful insurrection of Nidintu-Bêl against the new Persian king Darius I the Great (October-December 522 BCE), Arakha claimed to be the son of the last king of independent Babylonia, Nabonidus, and renamed himself Nebuchadnezzar IV. His rebellion, which started on 25 August 521, was suppressed by Darius' bow carrier Intaphrenes on 27 November. In his Behistun Inscription, Darius writes:

King Darius says: Then did I send an army unto Babylon. A Persian named Intaphrenes, my servant, I appointed as their leader, and thus I spoke unto them: 'Go, smite that Babylonian host which does not acknowledge me.'

Then Intaphrenes marched with the army unto Babylon. Ahuramazda brought me help; by the grace of Ahuramazda Intaphrenes overthrew the Babylonians and brought over the people unto me. Of the twenty-second day of the month Markâsanaš they seized that Arakha who called himself Nebuchadnezzar, and the men who were his chief followers.

Then I made a decree, saying: 'Let that Arakha and the men who were his chief followers be crucified in Babylon!'

The portrait of Arakha is part of the Behistun relief.