Neriglissar

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 and was succeeded in by his son Amel-Marduk, who was almost immediately murdered and replaced by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who is probably identical to an officer of Nebuchadnezzar known from the Bible^note[Jeremiah 39.13.] and had maried princess Kasšaya.

The new king invaded Anatolia, was victorious in Cilicia, where (according to Chronicle ABC 6) a local king (syennesis) named Appuašu was removed from his capital Ura, which must have been somewhere near modern Silifke in southern Turkey. Kirši may have been upstream, along the river Calycadnus (modern Göksu), in the Taurus Mountains.

Appuašu, the king of Pirindu, mustered a large army and set out to plunder and sack Syria. Neriglissar mustered his army and marched to Hume [Cilicia] to oppose him.

Before his arrival Appuašu placed the army and cavalry which he had organized in a mountain valley ambush. When Neriglissar reached them he inflicted a defeat upon them and conquered the large army. The army and numerous horses he captured. He pursued Appuašu or a distance of fifteen double-hours and marched through difficult mountains, where men must walk in single file, as far as Ura, the royal city.

He captured him, seized Ura, and sacked it. When he had marched for a distance of six double hours through rough mountains and difficult passes, from Ura to Kirši - his forefather's royal city - he captured Kirši, the mighty city, his royal metropolis. He burnt its wall, its palace, and its people.

Pitusu, a land in the midst of the ocean, and six thousand combat troops who were stationed in it he captured by means of boats. He destroyed their city and captured their people.

In that same year from the pass of Sallune to the border of Lydia he started fires. Appuašu fled, so he did not capture him.^note[ABC 6; tr. A.K. Grayson.]

But in spite of his success, Neriglissar's reign was but brief. He was succeeded by his son Labaši-Marduk, who in turn was immediately removed by a coup d'état by a powerful Babylonian nobleman named Belshazzar and several officers. They put the old scholar Nabonidus on the throne.

The reason for this coup may have been that Neriglissar and his son were commoners - rich, certainly, and well-connected, but without noble blood.