(ORDO NEWS) — In Saudi Arabia, a petroglyph of the Babylonian king Nabonidus holding a scepter and 26 lines of cuneiform was discovered on basalt rocks.
The Saudi Heritage Commission has announced a new archaeological discovery at the Al-Khait site in the northwestern district of the city of Hail (Al-Khail) in the north of the country.
The archaeological find, dated to the 6th century BC, consists of a petroglyph carved on basalt rock, which also depicts the Babylonian king Nabonidus.
The rock inscription contains some religious symbols and 26 lines of cuneiform text around a Babylonian king holding a scepter. The Babylonian text is also significant as the longest Babylonian inscription ever found in Saudi Arabia.
The inscription, which mentions the Babylonian king Nabonidus, is new evidence of the existence of a cultural connection between the Arabian Peninsula and the Mesopotamian civilizations.
Declaring the moon god Sin the official god of the country, Nabonidus made his son Belshazzar co-ruler and spent most of his reign in Arabia.
Inscriptions and later sources indicate that during his reign, Nabonidus sought to elevate the status of the moon god Sin and downgrade Marduk, the traditional national god of Babylon.
Upon returning to Babylon in 539 BC. he was captured by Cyrus’ general Gobrias and exiled.
The Saudi Arabian Heritage Commission has announced that further details on the find will be provided once research and analysis is completed.
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