Nebuchadnezzar

Anon. (1596)

Historical Records

Henslowe's Diary

F.25v / Greg 1.50:
ye 19 of desemb[er] 1596		ne . .	R[d] at nabucadonizer . . . . . . . . . .	xxxs
ye 22 of desemb[er] 1596			R[d] at nabucadonizer . . . . . . . . . .	xxvjs
ye 2[8]7 of desemb[er] 1596		crismas day	R[d] at nabucadonizer . . . . . . . . . .	iijll viijs
ye 4 of Jenewary 1597			R[d] at nabucadonizer . . . . . . . . . .	xvjs
ye 12 of Janewary 1597			R[d] at nabycadnazer . . . . . . . . . .	xiijs
ye 19 of Janewary 1597			R[d] at nabucadonyzer . . . . . . . . . .	xs
F.26 / Greg 1.51:
Janewary 1597
	|26|		tt at Nabucadonizer . . . . . . . . . .		|0|09|02 00-03
Begynyng in leant
marche 1597
	|21|		tt at nabucadnazer . . . . . . . . . .		|00|05|00-00-03

Theatrical Provenance

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Probable Genre(s)

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Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

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References to the Play

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Critical Commentary

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For What It's Worth

Nebuchadnezzar was also noted for his apparent transmigration into a beast's body, as William Perkins explains:

Againe some others think· that mens soules after this life doe passe from one mans bodie to another: and Herod may seeme to haue beene of this opinion: for when newes was brought him of Christ, he said, that Iohn Baptist beeing beheaded was risen againe, thinking that the soule of Iohn Baptist was put into the bodie of some other man. And for proofe herof, some alledge the example of Nebuchadnezzar, who forsaking the societie of man, liued as a beast, and did eate grasse like a beast: and they imagine that his owne soule went out of him, and that the soule of a beast entred in the roome thereof. But this indeede is a fonde conceit: for euen then he had the soule of a man when he liued as a beast, being only stricke~ by the hand of God with an exceeding madnes, whereby he was bereft of common reason; as doth appeare by that clause in the text, where it is saide, that his vnderstanding or knowledge returned to him againe... (531-32)

Works Cited

Perkins, William. An exposition of the Symbole or Creed of the Apostles according to the tenour of the Scriptures, and the consent of orthodoxe Fathers of the Church. 1595.

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