Nabopolassar 06
| Obverse | ||
| Column i | ||
| i 1i 1 | (i 1) For the god Marduk, the great lord, the Enlil of the gods, the proud one, the one who directs the Igīgū gods, the one who controls the Anunnakū gods, the light of the gods — his fathers — the one who dwells in Esagil, the lord of Babylon, my lord: | |
| i 22 | ||
| i 33 | ||
| i 44 | ||
| i 55 | ||
| i 66 | ||
| i 77 | ||
| i 88 | (i 8) Nabopolassar, governor of Babylon, king of the land of Sumer and Akkad, pious prince, protégé of the gods Nabû and Marduk, the humble (and) respectful one who in his heart thoroughly understands how to revere god and goddess, the one who provides for Esagil and Ezida, the one who strives after the rites of the great gods, am I: | |
| i 99 | ||
| i 1010 | ||
| i 1111 | ||
| i 1212 | ||
| i 1313 | ||
| i 1414 | ||
| i 1515 | ||
| i 1616 | ||
| i 1717 | ||
| i 1818 | ||
| i 1919 | (i 19) When, by the commands of the gods Nabû and Marduk, the ones who love my royal majesty, and (with) the strong weapon of the awesome god Erra, the one who constantly strikes my enemies with lightning, I killed the Subarean (Assyrian) (and) turned his land into a mound of ruins (lit. “a mound [and] ruins”), | |
| i 2020 | ||
| i 2121 | ||
| i 2222 | ||
| i 2323 | ||
| i 2424 | ||
| i 2525 | ||
| i 2626 | ||
| i 2727 | ||
| i 2828 | (i 28) at that time, (with regard to) Etemenanki — the ziggurat of Babylon, which before my time had become very weak (and) had been allowed to collapse — the god Marduk — the lord — commanded me to firmly secure its foundation on the surface (lit. “breast”) of the netherworld (and) to have its summit rival the heavens. | |
| i 2929 | ||
| i 3030 | ||
| i 3131 | ||
| i 3232 | ||
| i 3333 | ||
| i 3434 | ||
| i 3535 | ||
| i 3636 | ||
| i 3737 | (i 37) I fashioned hoes, spades, and brickmolds (made) of elephant ivory, ebony, and musukkannu-wood, and made the vast number of workmen levied in my land carry (them). I had (them) make mud bricks without number (and) mold baked bricks like countless drops of rain. I had the Araḫtu River carry refined (and) crude bitumen like a raging flood. | |
| i 3838 | ||
| i 3939 | ||
| i 4040 | ||
| i 4141 | ||
| i 4242 | ||
| Column ii | ||
| ii 1ii 1 | ||
| ii 22 | ||
| ii 33 | ||
| ii 44 | ||
| ii 55 | ||
| ii 66 | ||
| ii 77 | ||
| ii 88 | ||
| ii 99 | (ii 9) With the knowledge of the god Ea, with the perspicacity of the god Marduk, with the wisdom of the god Nabû and the goddess Nisaba, with the vast mind that the god who created me had allowed me to attain, (and) with my great sense of reason, I deliberated (matters) and (then) I commissioned well-trained craftsmen and (then) a survey team measured the dimensions using a measuring rod (and) master builders stretched out the (measuring) ropes (and) firmly established (its) ground plan. | |
| ii 1010 | ||
| ii 1111 | ||
| ii 1212 | ||
| ii 1313 | ||
| ii 1414 | ||
| ii 1515 | ||
| ii 1616 | ||
| ii 1717 | ||
| ii 1818 | ||
| ii 1919 | ||
| ii 2020 | ||
| ii 2121 | ||
| ii 2222 | ||
| ii 2323 | ||
| ii 2424 | (ii 24) I made inquiries through divination to the gods Šamaš, Adad, and Marduk, and whenever (my) mind deliberated (matters) and took the dimensions into consideration, the great gods informed me through the outcomes of divination. | |
| ii 2525 | ||
| ii 2626 | ||
| ii 2727 | ||
| ii 2828 | ||
| ii 2929 | ||
| ii 3030 | ||
| ii 3131 | (ii 31) Through the craft of the exorcist, the wisdom of the gods Ea and Marduk, I made that place pure and firmly set its foundation(s) on (its) original socle. I laid out gold, silver, (and) stones from the mountains and sea in its foundations. I spread out glistening ṣapšus, fine oil, aromatics, and dāmātu-paste beneath the brickwork. | |
| ii 3232 | ||
| ii 3333 | ||
| ii 3434 | ||
| ii 3535 | ||
| ii 3636 | ||
| ii 3737 | ||
| ii 3838 | ||
| ii 3939 | ||
| ii 4040 | ||
| ii 4141 | ||
| ii 4242 | ||
| ii 4343 | ||
| ii 4444 | (ii 44) I fashioned statue(s) of my royal majesty carrying a basket and regularly placed (them) on the foundation. | |
| ii 4545 | ||
| ii 4646 | ||
| ii 4747 | ||
| ii 4848 | ||
| ii 4949 | (ii 49) I bowed (my) neck to the god Marduk, my lord, rolled up (my) garment, the ceremonial attire of my royal majesty, and carried mud bricks and mud on my head. | |
| ii 5050 | ||
| ii 5151 | ||
| Column iii | ||
| iii 1iii 1 | ||
| iii 22 | ||
| iii 33 | ||
| iii 44 | ||
| iii 55 | (iii 5) I had baskets made from gold and silver and (then), alongside my workmen, I made Nebuchadnezzar — (my) first-born child (and) the beloved of my heart — carry mud that was mixed with wine, oil, and crushed aromatics. | |
| iii 66 | ||
| iii 77 | ||
| iii 88 | ||
| iii 99 | ||
| iii 1010 | ||
| iii 1111 | ||
| iii 1212 | ||
| iii 1313 | ||
| iii 1414 | (iii 14) I made Nabû-šumu-līšir — his favorite brother, a child who is my (own) offspring, (his) younger brother, (and) my darling — take up the hoe (and) spade. I imposed (upon him) a gold and silver basket and gave him as a gift to the god Marduk, my lord. | |
| iii 1515 | ||
| iii 1616 | ||
| iii 1717 | ||
| iii 1818 | ||
| iii 1919 | ||
| iii 2020 | ||
| iii 2121 | ||
| iii 2222 | ||
| iii 2323 | ||
| iii 2424 | ||
| iii 2525 | (iii 25) In joy and happiness, I built the temple as a replica of Ešarra and raised its superstructure like a mountain. For the god Marduk, my lord, I made it suitable to be an object of wonder, just like it was in earlier times. | |
| iii 2626 | ||
| iii 2727 | ||
| iii 2828 | ||
| iii 2929 | ||
| iii 3030 | ||
| iii 3131 | ||
| iii 3232 | ||
| iii 3333 | ||
| iii 3434 | (iii 34) O Marduk, (my) lord, look with pleasure upon my good deeds and by your exalted command, which cannot be altered, may (this) construction, my handiwork, stay in good repair forever. Like the bricks of Etemenanki, which are firmly in place for eternity, firmly secure the foundation(s) of my throne until the distant future. | |
| iii 3535 | ||
| iii 3636 | ||
| iii 3737 | ||
| iii 3838 | ||
| iii 3939 | ||
| iii 4040 | ||
| iii 4141 | ||
| iii 4242 | ||
| iii 4343 | ||
| iii 4444 | ||
| iii 4545 | ||
| iii 4646 | (iii 46) Etemenanki, pray on behalf of the king who renovated you! When the god Marduk takes up residence inside you in joy, O temple, speak favorable things (about me) to the god Marduk, my lord. | |
| iii 4747 | ||
| iii 4848 | ||
| iii 4949 | ||
| iii 5050 | ||
| iii 5151 | ||
| iii 5252 | ||
| iii 5353 | ||
| iii 5454 |
1In Neo-Babylonian royal inscriptions, scribes sometimes used the PI sign to mark the existence of a semivowel at the beginning or in the middle of a word. This archaizing feature is more commonly attested in texts of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II than it is in inscriptions of Neriglissar and Nabonidus. This usage of the PI occurs with words whose initial or middle root consonant was originally w, but later dropped or changed to m; for example, nawru (“bright”), wâru (“go (up to)”), wašru (“humble”), and warkatu (“rear”). At the beginning of initial-w words, PI could have the values wa or à. As already demonstrated by R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 p. 87), it is clear that in some instances the reading of the PI sign should be à, but, in most instances, the reading of PI at the beginning of a word remains ambiguous, thus it is unclear if one should transliterate the sign as wa or à; for example, in this inscription, wa/à-ši-ib (i 6) and wa/à-ar-ka-at (ii 24). Following the edition of Npl. 6 (C31) in Da Riva, SANER 3 pp. 77–92, the PI sign is transliterated as à, rather than as wa, not only in this inscription but also in Npl. 3 (C32), 7 (C12), 14 (C21/B7), and 15 (C22), and Nbk. 14 (C213/200), 15 (C26), 16 (C25), 19 (C34), 21 (C013/C016/C025), 27 (C41), 28 (CTMMA 4 170), 31 (C33), 32 (C36), 35 (C22, and 46 (VA Bab 1922), C021, C31, and C37. See the on-page note to i 24, ii 18, 37, and 39–40 below for the use of the PI sign to indicate intervocalic w.
2na-ra-am šar-ru₄-ti-ia “the ones who love my royal majesty”: For this understanding of nāramu, see CAD N/1 p. 345 nāramu sub 2.
3The PI sign, as mentioned in the on-page note to i 6, is occasionally used to mark the existence of a semivowel in the middle of a word. In the case of ii 37, it might also be used to mark a contracted vowel (ia → â; Da Riva, GMTR 4 p. 87). Following the edition of Npl. 6 (C31) in Da Riva, SANER 3 pp. 77–92, the PI sign is transliterated in the present volume as wa in forms with an intervocalic w: this text ii 18 and 39–40, and Nbk. 30 (C39) ii 24. The reading of za-PI-ri-ia as za-à-ri-ia, rather than as za-we-ri-ia follows Da Riva, SANER 3 pp. 89–90; Da Riva regards this an an archaizing writing of the word.
4On ex. 2, col. ii begins with this line.
5On ex. 2, col. iii begins with this line.
Created by Frauke Weiershäuser and Jamie Novotny, 2015-24, for the Munich Open-access Cuneiform Corpus Initiative (MOCCI), a corpus-building initiative funded by LMU Munich, the Henkel Foundation, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (through the establishment of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East), and and based at the Historisches Seminar - Abteilung Alte Geschichte of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/ribo/Q005365/.