One of the longest-known texts of the Neo-Babylonian Period is the so-called "East India House Inscription" (Nbk. 2), a 1,592-word Akkadian Inscription that was engraved on at least three large stone tablets (as well as several clay cylinders); in all instances the text is written using archaizing Babylonian sign forms. One exemplar (ex. 1 [BM 129397]) is almost completely preserved, while another is badly damaged (ex. 2), and another is just a fragment (ex. 3). The inscription is named after the place where the best-preserved exemplar was first exhibited: the museum in the East India House, the headquarters of the East India Company in London. In May 1938, when the collections of the East India House museum were dispersed, the stone tablet was donated to the British Museum, where it is still housed to this day. BM 129397 measures an impressive 56.5×50.2×9.5 cm. As for its contents, the inscription's lengthy prologue summarizes numerous building activities of Nebuchadnezzar, especially those at Babylon and Borsippa, and its main building report records the construction of the North Palace, one of the new royal residences built by Nebuchadnezzar for himself in his imperial capital. Presumably the East India House Tablet (BM 129397) originates from this now poorly-preserved building. It is impossible to be certain since this magnificent and masterfully-executed stone object was discovered before 1803, nearly one hundred years before R. Koldewey's carefully-documented excavations at Babylon.
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser
Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser, ' Stone Tablets (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/StoneTabletsonlyNebuchadnezzarII/]