Page 117 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

CHAPTER XXVI

BABYLON BESIEGED

Queen Rhea’s fears had been realized. The rising power of Medo-Persia that
Nabonidus had contemptuously referred to as “…a miniature kingdom with an army
composed of toy soldiers,” had now appeared before the walls of mighty Babylon and
were demanding its surrender!

The Medes and Persians under General Gobryas had completely encircled the city
almost before the self-confident Babylonians realized that they were there.
Immediately all ingress and egress ceased. The encirclement had been so sudden that

the dispatch of messengers to King Nabonidus to inform him of the attack upon his
capital, was not accomplished. It was to prevent this, that Gobryas caused the city to
be surrounded so quickly. In fact he had sent advance groups to watch each gate, lying
in wait and falling upon any who came out, even before the main body of his troops

came up. He was of course well aware that Nabonidus was far afield with his great
army, and it was Gobryas’ purpose to capture the city before Nabonidus could return
to relieve the city and give battle.

All messages were intercepted, and King Nabonidus, away over on the borders of
India, was in blissful ignorance that Babylon itself was beleaguered by a mighty foe.

The gates of the city had been close immediately and the garrison manned the

walls. Gobryas knew that it would be well-nigh impossible to take the city by storm,
due to the height and strength of the walls and the gates. He had no engines of war
that could make any impression upon either walls or gates, and no means of scaling
them that gave any hope of success. His only hope was to starve the city into

surrender. But the long-range sagacity of Nebuchadnezzar had rendered this extremely
difficult if not impossible. Many a city had Nebuchadnezzar and his father taken by
storm, and many had they starved into surrender. So when he built Babylon, he was

determined not only to make the walls so high and so strong as to be impregnable to
attack, but he had made them so extensive as to enclose great tracts and immense
acreage within the walls for farming and stock-raising, upon which he strictly forbade
other construction. In addition, he had built great granaries in which vast quantities of
reserve grain and food were stored. All this was designed by the master mind of

Nebuchadnezzar, to make Babylon safe against a siege of long duration. And since the
city was built on the River Euphrates and that great stream flowed in under the walls