01_VanSeters_copiaaaa_01_25 28/04/15 11:15 Pagina 20 20 JOHN VAN SETERS quarters of the daughter of Nabonidus, priestess of Sîn, and inter- preted by the excavators as a kind of museum collection 32. Scholars have generally dismissed Nabonidus’s interest in the past as merely that of an aged antiquarian, but Beaulieu strongly disputes this view and points to the fact that “He is the only Neo-Babylonian king who makes references to history in his inscriptions”. He goes on to cite examples of the way in which he refers to earlier Assyrian and Babylonian kings “for political or religious reasons” and concludes that “most of these references are not incidental: they belong to his- torical narratives with a specific purpose. They attest not only to curiosity about the past, but also to true historical consciousness” 33. At times Nabonidus attempts to date ancient rulers, such as Ham- murabi and Naram-Sin, or to use Sargon of Akkad (3rd millennium BCE) as an example of the ideal ruler. Furthermore, this use of the past was inscribed on public monuments for all to observe and be instructed by it. I would suggest that it is in just such an environment that the Yahwist as historian also makes use of the past, not with references to ancient kings but to the ancestor Abraham and to Moses as the one who led his people out of slavery to freedom 34. 2. Nabonidus’s piety. Another feature of Nabonidus’s reign is the distinctive nature of his piety. This is directly related to his concern to have the god Sîn recognized as the principle deity of the Baby- lonian pantheon, and he saw his role as the one who would do all in his power to make this happen. Resistance to this exaltation of Sîn Nabonidus regarded as a “sin” (ḫītu) ̣ against the deity, so that he adopted the quite unique role of intercessor on his people’s be- half. Thus, in a prayer to Sîn he states: “(O Sîn), establish the fear of your great godhead in the heart of your people, so that they do not commit any sin against your great godhead. May their founda- tions be as firm as heaven”. In the same text Nabonidus offers a similar prayer on behalf of his son, Belshazzar 35. The language that is used here is remarkably similar to that used in the scene on Mount Sinai in J when the people experience the divine theophany and are thrown into a panic and they beg Moses to serve as inter- mediary on their behalf: “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die”, to which Moses replies, 32 MOOREY, Ur, 251-53. 33 BEAULIEU, Nabonidus, 139. 34 One is reminded of the fact that Josephus, in writing his Antiquities of the Jews when living in Rome, was very strongly influenced by the style and content of the work of Dionysius of Halicarnassus in his Antiquities of Rome. 35 BEAULIEU, Nabonidus, 64.