Talk:The writing on the wall

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This article was nominated for deletion on 11 July 2005. The result of the discussion was keep. An archived record of this discussion can be found here.

Discussion: Someone should consider creating information on "The Fall of Babylon". Apparently the Babylonians were able to live locked inside the massive walls of the city, which had a river running through it. From what I understand, the Persians spent a couple of years building a canal around the city while conquering the surrounding area. The river was eventually diverted into the canal, (supposedly on the night of the "writing on the wall"), lowering the river level sufficiently to allow Persian soldiers to get underneath a river entrance barrier and enter the city late that night. That night the Babylonians had partied hard. Mirroring the Trojan horse story, they were then able to battle guards, kill the king, and open the gates for the main army. Apparently the conquest was almost bloodless. NOTE: The title "Fall of Babylon" can also refer to the prophetic fall in the book of Revelation.

Sources: I don't really remember where I initially heard the story. Perhaps it was from the Reader's Digest "Atlas of the Bible". I wasn't able to find any non-religious websites supporting this story, but the second source below refers to a "report from Herodotus"

  http://www.firstchristianchurchonline.com
  http://www.wwc.edu/academics/departments/theology/probe/lessons/2004/octdec/lesson6.htm

205.175.225.5 00:22, 7 October 2005 (UTC)bhyoung@rockwellcollins.com

[edit] To the Persians.

It seems the editors of this page miss the pun "PARSIN". It might indeed point to a measure of money, but it certainly points to the usurpers of the kingdom (the Persians). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.109.255.217 (talk) 15:31, 30 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Belshazzar's Feast (Rembrandt)

The article previously suggested that the last letter being written by the hand in the Rembrandt painting (i.e. the last Hebrew letter in the word "upharsin") was not a "terminal nun" meaning that the word was not actually complete. However, that's not the issue. The last letter being written by the hand looks more like a Zayin than a Nun (letter), which would mean that the word would be pronounced "upharsiz" instead of "upharsin". The form of the letter "nun" that is used at the beginning or in the middle of a word does not resemble the last letter being written by the hand, and Rembrandt used the non-terminal "nun" correctly twice in the painting as the middle letter of the word "mene". The terminal "nun" bears some resemblance to the "zayin" which suggests that the design of the last letter was an error on Rembrandt's part rather than an intentional design decision. --Metropolitan90 02:41, 7 September 2007 (UTC)