Nabonidus Cylinder (Belshazzar)

Several clay cylinders inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform discovered at Ur in southern Iraq by J.G. Taylor in 1854 and at Sippar. The cylinders record inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus (reigned 556-539 BCE) and mention his eldest son Belshazzar (Bel-shar-usur) by name, entrusting him with "the kingship" while Nabonidus was absent from Babylon for extended periods at the oasis of Tayma in Arabia. For centuries, critics questioned the historicity of Daniel 5, which names Belshazzar as the king of Babylon on the night the city fell to the Persians. Belshazzar appeared in no known historical records, and ancient historians like Herodotus named Nabonidus as the last Babylonian king. The discovery of the Nabonidus Cylinders resolved this problem by confirming that Belshazzar was a real historical figure who functioned as co-regent in Babylon during his father's absence. This also explains why Daniel 5:29 records that Belshazzar could only make Daniel "the third ruler in the kingdom" — because Belshazzar himself was second, under his father Nabonidus.