Nebuchadnezzar is a name so resonant that it’s familiar to almost everyone by hearsay. There’s something inevitably ominous, threatening, sinister about it—the symbol of despotism, the merciless conqueror… The scourge of God… The man who, first of all, destroyed the holy city of Jerusalem down to the foundations and created the famous “hanging gardens,” one of the Seven Wonders of the world, entered history as a legendary figure. In the pages of the Bible his deeds are presented as if this king were sent by some unseen power watching over the human world, created a miracle-state, and then—when the time came—mysteriously dissolved into the depths of the centuries.
The novel by the well-known contemporary writer Mikhail Ishkov is devoted to Nebuchadnezzar II, the legendary king of Babylon in 605–562 BCE. He reigned for 43 years, yet remains in the history of our civilization for millennia.