Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II from Babylon

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This nearly-complete text, which was written to commemorate the building of a new palace at Babylon (the "North Palace"), is known from twelve two-column cylinder fragments. This palace is said to have been constructed to a great height. The prologue is more verbose than the main building account and provides information about Nebuchadnezzar II's work on Esagil, Imgur-Enlil and Nēmetti-Enlil, the new outer city wall, and the embankment walls. Some exemplars of the present inscription are referred to in scholarly literature as "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C013," "C016," and "C025," as well as "Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder-fragment I, 3" and "II, 5."

Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005492/] or the score [/ribo/bab7scores/Q005492/score] of Nebuchadnezzar II 21.

Sources

Commentary

F. Weiershäuser collated exs. 2 (VA Bab 637), 5 (VA Bab 617), 10 (VA Bab 625), and 11 (VA Bab 615) from the originals in the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Berlin); G. Frame examined exs. 1 (MMA 86.11.282) and 8 (MMA 86.11.58) from the pieces in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); and N. Heeßel and D. Schwemer examined exs. 7 (B 3 + B 52), 9 (B 54), and 12 (B 8) from the fragments in the Eşki Şark Eserleri Müzesi. In addition, J. Novotny collated ex. 3 (BE 28482) from Babylon excavation photograph Bab ph 555, ex. 6 (CBS 31) from high-resolution digital photographs, and ex. 12 (B 8) from a photograph of a paper cast housed in the Vorderasiatisches Museum (VAA 523). Ex. 2 (CTS 6) could not be examined since its present whereabouts are unknown. It might have been one of the cuneiform objects and Egyptian papyri of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School auctioned at Sotheby's in June 2003; CTS 6 was originally in the Crozer Theological Seminary (Upland), which moved to Rochester in a merger that formed the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in 1970. Because none of the exemplars are complete, the transliteration presented here is a conflation of several exemplars. The master text is ex. 1, with help from the other exemplars, in i 1–39; ex. 2 in ii 1–34 and 41–46; and ex. 4 in ii 35–40. There is a possibility that exs. 1 and 2 are parts of one and the same object, but, since this cannot be proven conclusively (principally since CTS 6 could not be examined from the original or photographs), it is best to edit the fragments separately, following RINBE editorial practices. A score of the inscription is presented on Oracc and the minor (orthographic) variants are given in the critical apparatus at the back of the book.

This now-nearly-complete inscription is edited here for the first time. It is clear from ex. 6, a fragment whose first column preserves i 27–ii 3, that the first half of the inscription is written on ex. 1 (which was only published in 2017) and that the second half of the text is known from ex. 2 (which has been known for a long time). The connection between the three pieces was recognized by J. Novotny. This previously-fragmentarily preserved text — which was referred to as Nebuchadnezzar C013, C016, and "C025 — could also go by the designation "C215" (following the style of Da Riva, GMTR 4) or "II, 15" (following the style of Berger, NbK).

At the present time, there are four inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar whose main building reports record the construction of the (new) North Palace: Nbk. 2 (East India House), the present text, Nbk. 22 (C024), and Nbk. 36 (C031). Without question, the East India House and C031 texts are the latest, while the C215 and C024 inscriptions are the earliest. Comparison of the main building reports of the present text (ii 21–37) and the following inscription (ii 21–38) seems to indicate that the C215 text was the earlier of the two, principally because it is more concerned with the earlier phases of construction. It is clear from their contents that this text and the following text (C041) were composed relatively close to one another. The time gap between these two inscriptions and the later Nbk. 2 (East India House) and 36 (C031) texts cannot be presently estimated. Because Nebuchadnezzar started renovating the (old) South Palace earlier in his reign than the construction of the North Palace, which was an entirely new palatial complex at Babylon, it is presumed here that the inscriptions composed specifically for the North Palace were later in date than the texts whose main building reports record the rebuilding of the South Palace; this can be partially confirmed from the prologues of Nbk. 2 (vii 9–viii 18) and 36 (ii 36´–iii 8), both of which mention the completion of the old palace. Furthermore, since the prologue of Nbk. 23 (C35) describes the completion of the North Palace, that inscription is regarded as being composed after this text and the following text (C024), as well as after the East India House and C031 inscriptions.

Bibliography

This still-fragmentarily-preserved Akkadian text is very similar to the previous inscription (Nbk. 21 [C013/C016/C025]). This text — which is known from three fragments, all of which come from two-column clay cylinders, and which is written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script — was commissioned to commemorate Nebuchadnezzar II's construction of the North Palace at Babylon and the building of a fortification wall "360 cubits from the outskirts of Nēmetti-Enlil"; the latter was built to strengthen Babylon's protection and to establish the city as a fortress. This currently incomplete inscription is referred to "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C024" or "Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder-fragment II, 4" in earlier scholarly publications.

Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005493/] or the score [/ribo/bab7scores/Q005493/score] of Nebuchadnezzar II 22.

Sources

CATALOGUE OF UNCERTAIN EXEMPLARS

Commentary

Although the extant text of VA Bab 606 duplicates VA Bab 633 (ex. 1) verbatim, that cylinder fragment is regarded here as an uncertain exemplar because the authors cannot confirm that the inscription preserved on it is actually a duplicate of the present text, principally because its distribution of text differs significantly; col. i of that piece ends with the present text's col. ii 16.

Exs. 1 (VA Bab 633) and 1* (VA Bab 606) were collated by F. Weiershäuser from the originals in the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Berlin), while ex. 2 (B 6) was examined firsthand by D. Schwemer in the Eşki Şark Eserleri Müzesi (Istanbul) and ex. 3 (BM 32652) by G. Frame in the British Museum (London). Because none of the exemplars are fully preserved, the edition is a conflation of all three exemplars. Ex. 1, with help from the other three pieces, is generally the master text in i 1´-29´ and ii 1–46; i 1´´–2´´ are based solely on ex. 4. When possible, the restorations are based on Nbk. 21 (C013/C016/C025). A score of the inscription is presented on Oracc and the minor (orthographic) variants are given at the back of the book, in the critical apparatus.

For a discussion on this text's date of composition, see the commentary to the previous text (C013/C016/C025).

Bibliography

Four three-column clay cylinders, as well as one additional fragment, are inscribed with a lengthy Akkadian text that commemorates Nebuchadnezzar II's construction of a second, new royal residence: the so-called "Summer Palace," which went by the Akkadian name Nabiʾum-kudurrī-uṣur-libluṭ-lulabbir-zānin-Esagil ("May Nebuchadnezzar [II] Stay in Good Health (and) Grow Old as the Provider of Esagil"), a building whose ruins are located at Tell Babil, the highest mound of the modern site of Babylon. The inscription, which is written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script, states that the new palace was built for the protection of Babylon, modelled on "the palace inside Ka-dingirra" (= the western extension of the South Palace), constructed using baked bricks and bitumen, roofed with beams of cedar (imported from the Levant), and had bronze-plated doors installed in its (principal) gateways. This 845-word-long text also records other building activities at Babylon and Borsippa: the decoration of Marduk's cella Eumuša in Esagil; the renovation of Nabû's temple Ezida; the completion of the ziggurats Etemenanki and Eurmeiminanki, including their blue-glazed-brick upper temples; the rebuilding of the (old) South Palace; and the construction of the (new) North Palace and the new outer wall and its gates. Before describing his construction projects, Nebuchadnezzar refers to his military campaigns in far-off lands and remote mountains, as well as having received substantial tribute from those places. Earlier scholarly publications refer to this inscription as "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C35" or "Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder III, 5."

Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005494/] or the score [/ribo/bab7scores/Q005494/score] of Nebuchadnezzar II 23.

BM 91142 (Nbk. 23 ex. 1), a three-column clay cylinder that is inscribed with a text commemorating Nebuchadnezzar II's construction of the so-called "Summer Palace." © Trustees of the British Museum.

Sources

Commentary

Ex. 1 (BM 91142) was collated by J. Novotny in the British Museum (London), while exs. 2–5 were collated from the originals or from high-resolution photographs (some of which were provided by K. Wagensonner) by F. Weiershäuser. Ex. 3 (AO 1506) was examined by G. Frame. The master text of this fully-intact inscription is generally ex. 1. A score of the text is presented on Oracc and the minor (orthographic) variants are given in the critical apparatus at the back of the book.

As for its date of composition, the present text appears to have been one of the latest-dated inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II, together with Nbk. 2 (East India House) and the WBA and WBC texts. Because the main building report of Nbk. 2 records the building of the North Palace, an accomplishment mentioned in the present text's prologue (ii 25–56), this inscription is regarded as being composed later. Thus, it was also composed after Nbk. 21 (C013/C016/C025), 22 (C024), and 36 (C031). Because the rebuilding of the South Palace is mentioned in the prologue (i 44–ii 21), the present text must have also been composed later than Nbk. 11 (Prism), 18 (C29), 19 (C34), and 20 (C011). As far as the authors can tell, this inscription is the latest-dateable text edited in RINBE 1/1.

Bibliography

A fragment from the left side of a multi-column clay cylinder preserves part of an Akkadian inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script; the extant text comes from col. i. The inscription, as far as it is intact, records the rebuilding of the Ištar Gate, which Nabopolassar had also renovated. Previous publications sometimes refer to this text as "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C012" or "Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder-fragment I, 2."

Access Nebuchadnezzar II 24 [ /ribo/babylon7/Q005495/].

Source

Commentary

For other inscriptions whose main building reports describe Nebuchadnezzar II's rebuilding of the Ištar Gate, see Nbk. 41 (B43), 42 (B 5/VA Bab 607) and 43 (VA Bab 618). The inscription was collated by J. Novotny from high-resolution photographs.

Bibliography

A fragment of a clay cylinder now housed in the British Museum (London) is said to be inscribed with an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II. Since this text, which is referred to as "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C017," has never been published, including its museum and registration numbers, the attribution to this Neo-Babylonian king cannot be confirmed. Moreover, the same is true about its contents, which are said to have described work on a palace at Babylon (Da Riva, GMTR 4 pp. 111 and 129). Because the object in question could not be located and examined, no edition of the C017 text is included in the present volume.

Access Nebuchadnezzar II 25 [ /ribo/babylon7/Q005496/].

Source

Commentary

Following the tentative suggestion of R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 pp. 111 and 129) that the main building report of the inscription written on this cylinder would have described work on a palace at Babylon, this text is provisionally grouped together with the other inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II commemorating the construction of the (old) South Palace, the (new) North Palace, South Palace, and the (new) Summer Palace. Because the authors were not able to examine the text firsthand, Da Riva's proposal could not be verified.

Bibliography

This poorly-preserved Akkadian inscription, which is written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script, is known from a small fragment of a two-column clay cylinder. The text is not sufficiently intact to be able to identify the building/structure in Babylon whose construction the main building report commemorated; R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 pp. 111 and 129) has very tentatively suggested that this text recorded work on one of the three palaces at Babylon. This inscription is sometimes called "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C026."

Access Nebuchadnezzar II 26 [ /ribo/babylon7/Q005497/].

Source

Commentary

Following the tentative suggestion of R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 pp. 111 and 129) that its main building report would have described work on a palace at Babylon, this text is provisionally grouped together with the other inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II commemorating the construction of the (old) South Palace, the (new) North Palace, South Palace, and the (new) Summer Palace. Given the present fragmentary state of preservation of the inscription, Da Riva's proposal cannot be verified or refuted. J. Novotny examined the original cylinder in the British Museum (London).

Bibliography

This lengthy Akkadian inscription records that Nebuchadnezzar II completed the construction of the god Marduk's multi-tiered ziggurat at Babylon, Etemenanki, work that began when his father Nabopolassar was king. The text, which is written on all of the exemplars using archaizing Neo-Babylonian script, is known from fourteen clay cylinder fragments. The text, which was over 450 words long, was distributed over four columns; the number of columns was due to the fact that the script was rather large and, therefore, required more space to write out the inscription. As for the work on Etemenanki, which clearly took a long time to complete given the massive scale of the project, this text records that Nabopolassar's workmen were only able to finish the lowest tier, which they had carefully built on the ziggurat's (earlier) foundations and raised to a height of thirty cubits; the outer mantle is said to have been made from baked bricks and bitumen. With the help of people mustered from all over (including the Levant) and from areas controlled by client rulers, Nebuchadnezzar was able to complete the rest of the massive brick structure of Marduk's ziggurat at Babylon, as well as to construct the temple that sat atop its summit. The text ends with two prayers: the first is addressed to Marduk and the second to Etemenanki. Given the lack of firm historical references, it is uncertain when in Nebuchadnezzar's reign this inscription was composed. Previous editions and studies refer to this text as "[Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder] C41" or "Nebuchadnezzar Cylinder IV, 1."

Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005498/] or the score [/ribo/bab7scores/Q005498/score] of Nebuchadnezzar II 27.

Sources

Commentary

Most of the pieces come from or are assumed to have originated from Babylon. Ex. 2 (Sb 1700), however, was found at Susa, the Elamite religious capital; that piece was probably brought there after Etemenanki was damaged during two revolts in 484, when it rebelled against the Persian king Xerxes I (r. 485–465).

There were at least three other inscriptions written to commemorate the construction of Babylon's ziggurat: (1) Nbk. 28 (CTMMA 4 170), which was also written on four-column cylinders in an archaizing Neo-Babylonian script; (2) Nbk. 45 (VA Bab 623), which is written on two column cylinders in Neo-Babylonian script; and (3) Nbk. 46 (VA Bab 1922), which is inscribed on three column cylinders in Neo-Babylonian script. Note that P.-R. Berger (NbK pp. 295–297) and R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 p. 121) regarded VA Bab 1922 (BE 14819) as an exemplar of this text (C41). Because the text preserved on that fragment is regarded by the present authors as an earlier and shorter version of the present text, it is edited separately, as Nbk. 46; see the commentary of that inscription for further details. Compare also Nbk. 45, which is also a shorter and earlier inscription commemorating the rebuilding of Etemenanki. The compositional relationship between this text and the following text is uncertain, so it is unclear which of the two inscriptions was the earlier of the two. Since the main building report of this inscription is concerned with the rebuilding and completion of Marduk's ziggurat at Babylon, this text is very likely to have been composed earlier than the inscriptions in whose prologues the mention of Etemenanki's completion appear. These texts are: Nbk. 2 (East India House), 19 (C34), 23 (C35), 31 (C33), 32 (C36), 36 (C031), 54 (B 21), C212, C041, C32, C37, C38, WBA, and WBC. Moreover, the present text might have been written earlier than Nbk. 1 (Babylon Stele) — although this cannot be proven with any degree of certainty — because that inscription also records work on Eurmeiminanki, the god Nabû's ziggurat at Borsippa; that major undertaking seems to have begun later in Nebuchadnezzar's reign than the rebuilding and completion of Etemenanki; this will be discussed further in the introduction of RINBE 1/2.

F. Weiershäuser collated the originals in the British Museum (London), the Iraq Museum (Baghdad), and the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Berlin); N. Heeßel and D. Schwemer examined firsthand all of the pieces in the Eşki Şark Eserleri Müzesi (Istanbul); and G. Frame collated the fragments in the Louvre (Paris) and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva). Moreover, J. Novotny collated the exemplars in the Harvard Semitic Museum (Cambridge, MA), Louvre (Paris), and Penn Museum (Philadelphia) from high-resolution digital photographs; additional reviews of these fragments were made by Weiershäuser. Because none of the exemplars is complete, the edition provided here is a composite text. With help from other exemplars, the master text is generally ex. 1 in i 15–36, ii 13–43, and iii 12–iv 33; ex. 2 in i 1–11, 37–ii 8, and 54–iii 2; ex. 4 in ii 44–48; ex. 6 in ii 9–12; ex. 8 in i 12–14; ex. 10 in ii 49–53; and ex. 11 iii 3–11 and iv 32–41. A score is presented on Oracc and the minor (orthographic) variants are given at the back of the book, in the critical apparatus. Note that ex. 9 iii 1´–3´ are excluded in the score since they could not be confidently placed in the inscription, but it must have been somewhere between iii 42 and iii 1´. Given the damaged condition of all known exemplars of this text, as well as their significantly different distribution of the contents, it might have been more prudent to edit the inscription as a composite text with sequential lines numbers (like Da Riva, GMTR 4 pp. 20–22), rather than as a conflated four-column cylinder, with line numbers assigned to each of the four columns of text. Because such a treatment would obscure the fact that this inscription was written on four-column cylinders, a medium not commonly used, the authors have decided it best to edit this text as such, even though the column divisions are somewhat arbitrarily assigned, especially for cols. iii and iv since none of the extant exemplars are sufficiently intact to be able to determine exactly how the inscription was divided in that half of the text, especially the division between cols. iii and iv. Moreover, contrary to earlier editions and studies (for example, Berger, NbK pp. 295–297; and Da Riva, GTMR 4 p. 19), this inscription is not fully intact: There is a small lacuna in the main building report, between iii 50 and iii 1´. Given the different arrangements of the text on exs. 1, 5, 11, and 13, it is not known precisely how big this break in the text is, but it is assumed here that it was not more than a few lines. The discovery of new pieces will hopefully clarify matters.

For further information (including earlier scholarly literature) on Etemenanki, Marduk's ziggurat at Babylon, see pp. 7–8 (with nn. 33–34).

Bibliography

This fragment of a four-column clay cylinder preserves part of an Akkadian inscription that commemorated the completion of Marduk's ziggurat at Babylon, Etemenanki; the piece comes from the second and third columns. The text, which is written in archaizing Neo-Babylonian script, is similar to the previous text (Nbk. 27 [C41]). The extant portion of the inscription records that Nebuchadnezzar II's father Nabopolassar had started the work on the ziggurat, but had not completed it, and that Nebuchadnezzar recruited workmen throughout his land in order to complete this monumental task.

Access Nebuchadnezzar II 28 [ /ribo/babylon7/Q005499/].

Source

Commentary

MMA 86.11.284 was collated by G. Frame from the original in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). The present edition is based on Frame's publication, as well as an examination of the fragment from high-resolution digital photographs hosted on the MMA online collection website. This inscription is similar to Nbk. 27 (C41), but with some deviation; the contents of col. iii 1´–3´ do not appear in the C41 inscription. Col. ii 1–10 and ii 1´–iii 9, as far as they are preserved, duplicate verbatim Nbk. 27 ii 1–8 and 53–iii 9 and, therefore, the restorations in those lines are based on that text.

Bibliography

Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser

Jamie Novotny & Frauke Weiershäuser, 'Inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II from Babylon', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2024 [/ribo/babylon7/Rulers/NebuchadnezzarII/Texts21-28Babylon/]