Nebuchadnezzar II 012
| Obverse | ||
| Column i | ||
| i 1i 1 | (i 1) Nebuchadnezzar (II), king of Babylon, pious prince, the one selected by the steadfast heart of the god Marduk, the true shepherd who ensures that the sanctuaries of the god Nabû are looked after correctly, the one who pleases their hearts, the exalted ruler who is every day mindful of provisioning Esagil and Ezida and (who) constantly seeks out good things for Babylon and Borsippa, the wise (and) pious one who provides for Esagil and Ezida, the foremost heir of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, am I. | |
| i 22 | ||
| i 33 | ||
| i 44 | ||
| i 55 | ||
| i 66 | ||
| i 77 | ||
| i 88 | ||
| i 99 | ||
| i 1010 | ||
| i 1111 | ||
| i 1212 | ||
| i 1313 | ||
| i 1414 | ||
| i 1515 | (i 15) When the god Marduk, the great lord, the god who created me, steadfastly named me and magnificently commissioned me (to perform) good things for his city Babylon, I myself am constantly present (and) unfailing towards the god Marduk, my lord, (and) all day, without ceasing, (my) mind pondered things that were pleasing to him. | |
| i 1616 | ||
| i 1717 | ||
| i 1818 | ||
| i 1919 | ||
| i 2020 | ||
| i 2121 | ||
| i 2222 | ||
| i 2323 | ||
| i 2424 | (i 24) I provided Esagil with silver, gold, precious (and) valuable stone(s), copper, musukkannu-wood, cedar, (and) an abundance of anything that is valuable, leaving nothing (else) to be desired, and made its sheen shine forth like the sun. | |
| i 2525 | ||
| i 2626 | ||
| i 2727 | ||
| i 2828 | ||
| i 2929 | ||
| Column ii | ||
| ii 1ii 1 | (ii 1) I completed Ezida and decorated (it) as beautifully as the stars (lit. “writings”) of the heavens. | |
| ii 22 | ||
| ii 33 | (ii 3) I put Imgur-Enlil and Nēmetti-Enlil, the great walls of Babylon, (back) in order, built the embankment walls of its moat like a mountain using bitumen and baked brick, and surrounded the city on the outside (with it). I stationed fierce wild bulls of copper and raging mušḫuššu-dragons in its gates and made the city of Babylon become an object of wonder. | |
| ii 44 | ||
| ii 55 | ||
| ii 66 | ||
| ii 77 | ||
| ii 88 | ||
| ii 99 | ||
| ii 1010 | ||
| ii 1111 | ||
| ii 1212 | (ii 12) I constantly strove (to do things) for the protection of Esagil and Babylon. I built a great fortification using bitumen and baked brick at the upper corner of the gate of the goddess Ištar, from the bank of the Euphrates River up to the gate, along the city, on the outside. I secured its foundation directly on the apsû, in the water table far below, (and) raised its superstructure as high as a mountain. | |
| ii 1313 | ||
| ii 1414 | ||
| ii 1515 | ||
| ii 1616 | ||
| ii 1717 | ||
| ii 1818 | ||
| ii 1919 | ||
| ii 2020 | ||
| ii 2121 | (ii 21) I skillfully strengthened (Esagil and Babylon’s) protection and established the city of Babylon as a fortress. | |
| ii 2222 | ||
| ii 2323 | (ii 23) O Marduk, great lord, look upon my handiwork with favor and pleasure and may good things about me be set upon your lips. By your holy command, which cannot be altered, proclaim the prolongation of my days (and) command my (attainment of) very old age. By your exalted command, which cannot be overturned, may I not have (any) enemies nor acquire (any) troublemaker(s). | |
| ii 2424 | ||
| ii 2525 | ||
| ii 2626 | ||
| ii 2727 | ||
| ii 2828 | ||
| ii 2929 | ||
| ii 3030 | ||
| ii 3131 |
1On ex. 6, col. i ends with this line.
2This passage might record the construction of the so-called “West Fortification,” a 22,000-m2 structure that is 300 m long and 75–95 m wide, excluding the 14-m-wide embankment on the west side. The construction of this structure might have been one of the first steps in constructing the (new) North Palace. For further details, including digital reconstructions, see Pedersén, Babylon pp. 130–132. Because the Ištar Gate is specifically mentioned ii 13, one cannot rule out the possibility that this part of the building report records work on the “East Fortification” (German: östliches Ausfallvorwerk), a 55,000-m2 area on the east side of the processional way, just north of the Ištar Gate; see Pedersén, ibid. p. 132 and p. 133 fig. 3.41.
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/Q005483/.