Numerous paving blocks and slabs bearing inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II have been discovered in Babylon.[[119]] These slabs were used to pave the processional street and the courtyards of royal residences, especially the North Palace and the Summer Palace. At present, six different inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar on paving stones from Babylon (Nbk. 5–10) have been published. Three commemorate the construction of the processional road Ay-ibūr-šabû (Nbk. 5–7), while the other three are proprietary inscriptions (Nbk. 8–10). The source of the stone is sometimes referred to in these short texts. Nebuchadnezzar states that the blocks were aban šadî ("stone(s) from the mountains") or libitti abni šitiq šadê ("slab(s) of stone quarried from the mountain(s)"). Due to the size and weight of these blocks, many of these inscribed objects were left in the field. The texts were engraved on the edges of the slabs and, thus, were not visible to the people walking on them; this protected the texts from the wear and tear of foot traffic, as well as exposure to the elements. Like many other royal inscriptions, these texts were not meant for Nebuchadnezzar's human contemporaries, but rather for his patron gods and goddesses and future kings.
119 Amēl-Marduk is the only other Neo-Babylonian king for whom an inscription on a paving stone is attested. For that text, see Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 pp. 19 and 30–31 AM 2.
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser, ' Stone Paving Blocks and Slabs (only Nebuchadnezzar II) ', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [/ribo/babylon7/RINBE11Introduction/SurveyoftheInscribedObjects/StonePavingBlocksandSlabsonlyNebuchadnezzarII/]