During his just-over forty-two-year reign, Nebuchadnezzar actively sponsored large-scale building projects throughout Babylonia. He is known to have built in at least thirteen Babylonian cities: Agade, Babylon, Bāṣ, Borsippa, Cutha, Dilbat, Isin, Kish, Larsa, Marad, Sippar, Ur, and Uruk. The transformation of Babylon into an imperial megacity was by far his greatest achievement, an accomplishment that was praised in much later times by classical authors and which established Babylon's enduring fame as a first-class metropolis and wonder of the world.[[85]] In his capital, building on what his father Nabopolassar had started, Nebuchadnezzar is known to have worked on no fewer than thirteen temples, as well as the massive ziggurat; renovated one palace and constructed an additional two royal residences; completed and expanded the inner and outer city walls, together with their embankment walls, nearly doubling Babylon's size;[[86]] redug and improved at least one major canal; and raised and repaved the processional ways on three different occasions.[[87]] Presumably, he did more at Babylon, which he transformed into an "object of wonder," than what is presently known from available cuneiform sources and from the archaeological record. Outside of Babylon, he worked on at least twenty temples, three ziggurats, and one city wall.[[88]] In addition, Nebuchadnezzar had at least two other walls (or earthen ramparts with baked-brick sides) constructed. The first stretched from Babylon to Kish and then from Kish to Kār-Nergal and then to the Tigris river. The second — which has been partially excavated and surveyed — was built just north of Sippar and it also ran the entire stretch between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, from Sippar to Upû (Opis). Archaeological evidence from other sites have yielded evidence for Nebuchadnezzar undertaking construction. These include Abu Qubur, Ḫursagkalama (mod. Tell Ingharra), Jemdet Nasr (or its surroundings), Kissik (mod. Tell al-Laḥm), Sippar-Anunītu (mod. Tell ed-Der), and Tell ʾUmar (ancient Seleucia-on-the-Tigris). Clearly this Neo-Babylonian ruler was undoubtedly one of the most active Mesopotamian builders.
Since this king's building activities are recorded not only on cylinders, but also on the bricks used for these projects, and since the bricks of Nebuchadnezzar will be treated in RINBE 1/2, a fuller discussion of Nebuchadnezzar's building activities will be presented in that volume.
85 Herodotus I 178–186; Diodorus Sicilus II 7–9; and Strabo Geographika XVI 1.5–6. See also Radner, Short History of Babylon pp. 15–17, on the visit of the Roman emperor Trajan (r. 98–117 AD) to Babylon, which was quite disappointing to the emperor, who had been extremely keen to visit the palace where Alexander the Great had died, since he saw only dilapidated mudbrick architecture instead of an impressive imperial megacity.
86 Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon was approximately 900 ha, with an estimated 180,000 inhabitants. Babylon was certainly one of the largest cities of the ancient world.
87 At Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II worked on: Ay-ibūr-šābû/Ištar-lamassi-ummānīša (processional way of the god Marduk), Duku (the Dais of Destinies and seat of the god Marduk as Lugaldimmeranki in Ubšukkina in Esagil), Edikukalama (temple of the god Šamaš), Eḫursagsikila (temple of the goddess Gula/Ninkarrak), Ekišnugal (temple of the god Sîn), Ekitušgarza (temple of the goddess Ištar as Bēlet-Eanna), Eḫursagtila (temple of the god Ninurta), Emaḫ (temple of the goddess Bēlet-ilī), Emašdari (temple of the goddess Ištar of Agade), Enamḫe (temple of the god Adad), Eniggidrukalamasuma (temple of Nabû of the ḫarû), Esabad (temple of the goddess Gula), Esagil (temple of the god Marduk), Ešasurra (temple of the goddess Išḫara), Esiskur (New Year's temple of the god Marduk), Etemenanki (ziggurat of the god Marduk), Eumuša (cella of the god Marduk), Ezida (cella of the god Nabû), Imgur-Enlil and Nēmetti-Enlil (the inner city walls) and its eight gates (especially the Ištar Gate Ištar-sākipat-tēbîša), Kaḫilisu (gate of Edaraʾana, the cella of the goddess Zarpanītu), Lībil-ḫegalla (the eastern canal), Nabû-dayyān-nišīšu (processional way of the god Nabû in Babylon), the North Palace, the outer city wall and its gates, the South Palace, the Summer Palace, and Ubšukkina (Ubšukkinamezuhalhala; court of divine assembly). For an overview, see BTMAo (http://oracc.org/btmao/babylon/ index.html [last accessed 14 February, 2024]). For some recent discussions of buildings at Babylon (including outside the Neo-Babylonian Period), see also, for example, Gasche, Palace of Darius pp. 436–450; Gasche, Tour de Babylone pp. 115–126; Margueron, Tour de Babylone pp. 77–114; Novotny, Jeffers, and Frame, RINAP 5/3 pp. 14–21; Oelsner, ZDMG 167 (2017) pp. 289–294 (especially pp. 292–293) ; and Pedersén, Babylon.
88 Nebuchadnezzar is known to have worked on Eulmaš (temple of the goddess Ištar) at Agade; Edurgina (temple of the god Bēl-ṣarbi) at Bāṣ; Edimana (temple of the god Sîn), Egula (temple of the goddess Gula), Etila (temple of the goddess Gula/Ninkarrak), Eurmeiminanki (ziggurat of the god Nabû), Ezibatila (temple of the goddess Gula), Ezida (temple of the god Nabû), the temple of the god Adad (ceremonial name not known), the temple of the god Mār-bīti (ceremonial name not known), and Ṭābi-supūršu (city wall) at Borsippa; Emeslam (temple of the god Nergal) and Ešurugal (temple of the goddess Ereškigal) at Cutha; E-ibbi-Anum (temple of the god Uraš and the goddess Ninegal) at Dilbat; Egalmaḫ (temple of the goddess Gula as Ninisinna) at Isin; Edubba (temple of the god Zababa) and Eunirkitušmaḫ (ziggurat of the god Zababa) at Kish; Ebabbar (temple of the god Šamaš) at Larsa; Eigikalama (temple of the god Lugal-Marda) at Marad; Ebabbar (temple of the god Šamaš), Ekunankuga (ziggurat of the god Šamaš), and Eulla (temple of the goddess Gula as Ninkarrak) at Sippar; Ekišnugal (temple of the god Sîn) at Ur; and Eanna (temple of the goddess Ištar) at Uruk. For an overview, see BTMAo (http://oracc.org/btmao/index.html [last accessed 14 February, 2024]).
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser, ' Nebuchadnezzar's Building Activities', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [/ribo/babylon7/RINBE11Introduction/NebuchadnezzarII/BuildingActivitiesofNebuchadnezzar/]