Nebuchadnezzar: the Head of Gold (2009 Chambers), novel

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Nebuchadnezzar: the Head of Gold (2009) is a novel by Joseph R. Chambers.

Abstract

"This is a historical novel about royalty and the height of royalty manifested in the ancient king, Nebuchadnezzar. The Scrolls of Zion called him “The Head of Gold.” The royalty of his reign has never been matched. The city where he sat on his throne was the richest city in all of history. Royalty can be beautiful or royalty can be ugly. In either case it is an undying mystique. It is loved and hated, pursued and denied -- but never forgotten. The tales that are told and the rumors that are spread about royal persons never die. They are intriguing and only grow more so as they are repeated. Add to any royal setting a beautiful princess and the story improves and grows in interest. Royalty can barely survive without a princess. She is the forever mystique that makes the royal setting almost divine. This book is also a story of the battle of the gods. Practically every culture in the Middle East, where Nebuchadnezzar ruled, worshipped a different god. From Inanna at Ur of the Chaldeans to Marduk of Babylon, Ashur of the Assyrians or Jehovah of the Scroll people, etc. -- every war and conflict was attributed to the will of the gods. In most of these cultures the kings were themselves considered little gods or at least the physical representations of these gods. Young maidens were often called goddesses and declared to have come down from the gods as tokens of success. Nebuchadnezzar, the Head of Gold, was the ultimate king. Adding to his kingship was his princess, Amytis, who became his queen. From the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar and Amytis, together with the marriage of Babylon and Mede, the first world government was created. The golden capitol was enclosed with fifty-six miles of walls that stood three hundred feet high. There was a second inner wall creating a mote, which was flooded with the waters of the great Euphrates. This capitol was entered through multiple golden gates. At night the walls were lighted with great torches, which were visible for miles across the flat plains of the Fertile Crescent. To approach Babylon it was necessary to cross many bridges. The canals they spanned watered the great estates, where delicacies grew and multiplied. Date farms and banana groves flourished. Oranges, grapefruits, pineapples and every garden delight were in abundance. It was paradise in the sight of splendor. The king had built for his mountain princess a hanging garden that reached upward -- reminiscent of Nimrod’s ancient tower. It was a massive garden built like steps into the sky. Within the inner walls of this garden was a world reflecting zoo. Every animal known in the empire was represented. Parts of the garden were netted in order to enclose every exotic bird from the empire. The sounds of birds and other animals created music for the great city. Walkways carried visitors to heights and sights that brought the world into this place of natural splendor. Massive pulleys, operated by the captives of defeated kingdoms, carried an abundance of water to the peak. The entire garden was watered by this carefully planned system. It was a tropical paradise right on the Euphrates River inside the golden city. The palace beside the garden was the most beautiful one in the history of the world. No one has dared, nor could afford, to match this mansion. Its grand size and the great pillars wrapped in gold surrounding three sides and standing forty feet tall left the viewers dazzled. It was called “The Golden Palace.” This great empire and all of its beauty could not be born until the death of the Assyrian Empire. The world was ready for the end of the brutality that had characterized Assyrian rule. That chapter of history had to end. A great Assyrian king brought a beautiful princess out of Samaria and married her. She was the mother of the next king; and her granddaughter, Zakutu, became the princess of Assyria. Her death marked the beginning of the end of the Assyrian Empire. While Zakutu was dying, the princess of Babylon was being born. The transfer of glory moved quickly from Nineveh to Media and then to Babylon. Zion, the principle city of Judea, was under judgment. In the Royal College -- behind its walls near the Temple of Solomon -- young men were studying the Scrolls. They were being prepared to help govern the Golden Empire for King Nebuchadnezzar. That Golden Empire could not have risen to its glory without the acumen of these servants of their God. The seers had spoken and the plan was complete... From the story of the Golden Empire, this historical and futuristic novel of human history will move toward a final day when the Kingdom of God will rule the earth. There is ordained in this great scheme five kingdoms after the Golden Kingdom and before the last kingdom that will never end. There will be no lasting peace during the six kingdoms but the last kingdom will be ruled by Peace Himself. It is all a battle of the gods. The God that wins will rule the world forever. The end is too beautiful to forget. The princess of this last kingdom will become a queen and live in a palace far exceeding the golden palace in Babylon. Do not miss the last novel."--Publisher description.

Editions and translations

Published in Crane, MO: High Way, 2009.

External links

• [ Google Books]