The novel "THE LAST KING OF BABYLON" tells the story of one of history's most enigmatic and least understood individuals. Soldier, scholar, archaeologist, diplomat, legal reformer, and religious reformer, NABU NA'ID was all that and more.
A string of incompetent kings have left Babylon's once proud empire in shatters. Upon the mysterious death of the last of these inept kings, LABASHI MARDUK, Nabu Na'id, son-in-law of the great Nebuchadnezzar, and former army general, is summoned out of retirement to put the pieces of the crumbling empire back together.
ABBI LOUSHLIMA NAFISHTI, the high priest of Marduk, Babylon's patron deity, while initially supporting Nabu Na'id's elevation to the kingship, grows alarmed when he learns that the new king and his mother ADAD GUPPI, high priestess of the moon god Nanna-Suen, plan to elevate their God above Marduk.
MARDUK NURI, son of Abbi Loushlima Nafishti and chief acolyte in the Marduk temple, even more alarmed than his father over the new king's plans for religious reform, develops ambitions of his own to become king. To achieve his goal he beds the king's wife, DANNIYA, a daughter of Babylon's former great king Nebuchadnezzar, hoping that an eventual marriage to her would give him legitimacy allowing him to maintain Marduk's supremacy as well as enjoy the prerogatives of being king--but first he must find a way to eliminate both Nabu Na'id and his son BELSHAZZAR, who, as Crown Prince, would be next in line for the throne.
Marduk Nuri finds another ally in Danniya's sister, and mother of the late Labashi-Marduk, KASHSHAYA, whom he also beds. Kashshaya resents being demoted from the status of Queen Mother by the ascension of that "other side" of the family, but she resents even more being booted from the bed of her nephew and long-time lover Belshazzar when he marries the daughter of the Shofat of Tyre. Ready to do anything to eliminate "that" side of the family she not only plots with Marduk Nuri but also seduces the young Persian king and vassal to the Medes KHURUSHU (aka Cyrus the Great) during his early visits to Babylon--and dangles the throne of Babylon before him as temptation. Khurushu in turn enlists the aid of Lydia's king CROESUS to help contain a resurgent Babylon.
Thus, when Nabu Na'id marches his rebuilt army west to drive the Medes and Persians out of former Babylonian territories, the enemy already has intelligence on Babylonian intentions and meets him with superior forces of their own. However, warned by a Jewish prophet about a Lydian-Mede alliance--and after surviving a couple of assassination attempts sponsored by his domestic enemies--Nabu Na'id is able to pull off a few tricks of his own to counter the enemy's superior numbers. Victorious, he returns to Babylon with a now subservient Khrurushu in tow--and with a joyous Babylonian populace behind him he cows the Marduk priesthood and solidifies his hold on the throne.
Populated with eccentric, lusty, and ambitious characters, THE LAST KING OF BABYLON is a sweeping saga that brings the mid-sixth century B.C. to life in vivid detail.