He was unrelated to the royal family, but proved to be a man of some energy and a zealous antiquarian.
He caused excavations to be made in the various temples of Babylonia, in order to discover the memorial-stones of their founders and verify the history of them that had been handed down.

But he offended local interests by endeavouring to centralise the religious worship of the country at Babylon, in the sanctuary of Bel-Merodach, as Hezekiah had done in the case of Judah.

The images of the gods were removed from the shrines in which they had stood from time immemorial, and the local priesthoods attached to them were absorbed in that of the capital.

The result was the rise of a powerful party opposed to the king, and a spirit of disaffection which the gifts showered upon the temples of Babylon and a few other large cities were unable to allay.

The standing army, however, under the command of the king's son, Belshazzar, prevented this spirit from showing itself in action.
But a new power was growing steadily in the East.