Son of Nebuchadnezzar and last king of Babylon. According to the Bible (Dan. 5), he was killed in the sack of the city and his doom was foretold by writing which appeared on the walls of his palace at a great banquet. In inscriptions and documents from Ur, however, he was perhaps the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and the son of Nabonidos, last king of Babylon, and did not himself reign.