Nebuchadnezzar II 102
| Obverse | ||
| Column i | ||
| i 1i 1 | (i 1) Nebuchadnezzar (II), king of Babylon, the humble, submissive, (and) pious one who reveres the lord of lords, the one who provides for Esagil and Ezida, legitimate heir of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, am I: | |
| i 22 | ||
| i 33 | ||
| i 44 | ||
| i 55 | ||
| i 66 | ||
| i 77 | (i 7) When the god Marduk, the great lord, the wisest of the gods, the proud one, gave me the land and people to shepherd, | |
| i 88 | ||
| i 99 | ||
| i 1010 | ||
| i 1111 | (i 11) at that time, (with regard to) Ebabbar, the temple of the god Šamaš, which is in Larsa, which in the distant past had turned into a heap of ruins, in which sand had piled up, and (therefore) its ground plans were not exposed, (it was) during my reign (that) the great lord, the god Marduk, had compassion towards that temple. | |
| i 1212 | ||
| i 1313 | ||
| i 1414 | ||
| i 1515 | ||
| i 1616 | ||
| i 1717 | ||
| i 1818 | ||
| i 1919 | ||
| i 2020 | (i 20) He raised the four winds, removed the earth inside of it, and (thereby) its ground plans could be seen (again). He greatly commissioned me, Nebuchadnezzar (II), the king of Babylon, the servant who reveres him, to build that temple. | |
| i 2121 | ||
| i 2222 | ||
| i 2323 | ||
| i 2424 | ||
| i 2525 | ||
| Column ii | ||
| ii 1ii 1 | ||
| ii 22 | (ii 2) I examined (and) checked the original foundation(s) and (then) spread out ritually pure earth over its original foundation(s) and (thereby) secured its brickwork. | |
| ii 33 | ||
| ii 44 | ||
| ii 55 | ||
| ii 66 | ||
| ii 77 | (ii 7) For the god Šamaš, the one who resides in Ebabbar — which is in Larsa — the great lord, my lord, I built Ebabbar, the true house, the residence of the god Šamaš — my lord. | |
| ii 88 | ||
| ii 99 | ||
| ii 1010 | ||
| ii 1111 | ||
| ii 1212 | (ii 12) O Šamaš, great lord, when you enter into Ebabbar, the seat of your lordship, during joyous celebrations, look upon my fine handiwork with pleasure so that a life of distant days, a secure throne, and longevity of reign may be set upon your lips. | |
| ii 1313 | ||
| ii 1414 | ||
| ii 1515 | ||
| ii 1616 | ||
| ii 1717 | ||
| ii 1818 | ||
| ii 1919 | ||
| ii 2020 | ||
| ii 2121 | ||
| ii 2222 | (ii 22) May the door-jamb(s), door bolt(s), bolt(s), (and) doors of Ebabbar speak without interruption about my good deeds in your presence. | |
| ii 2323 | ||
| ii 2424 | ||
| ii 2525 | ||
| ii 2626 |
1The mention of Larsa being buried under sand is mentioned twice by Nabonidus (555–539). For example, Nbn. 16 (Larsa Cylinder) i 31–46: “When the god Šamaš, the great lord of heaven and earth, shepherd of the black-headed (people), lord of humankind, (with regard to) Larsa, his beloved city, (and) Ebabbar, the seat of his happiness, which had fallen to pieces (and) turned into ruins in distant days, (and) over which sand dune(s) and dust heap(s), (as well as) massive pile(s) of earth, were heaped, so that its ground plan could not be determined (and) its design could not be seen, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (II), a former king, son of Nabopolassar, the sand dune(s and) pile(s) of earth that were heaped over the city and that temple were removed and he discovered the foundation(s) of the Ebabbar of Burna-Buriaš, a former king who had come before (him). He then sought out the foundation(s) of an ancient king (who came) before Burna-Buriaš, but did not find (them)” (Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 99). See also ibid. p. 135 Nbn. 27 (Cylinder III, 4) i 38–45. For further information (including earlier scholarly literature) on the Ebabbar temple at Larsa, see pp. 25–26.
2IM.LÍMMU.BA ú-ša-at-ba-am-ma “he raised the four winds”: Two inscriptions of Nabonidus refer to divine help in removing the sand and earth over the ruins. See Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 pp. 99–100 Nbn. 16 (Larsa Cylinder) ii 10–19 and p. 135 Nbn. 27 (Cylinder III, 4) i 46–49a. For example, Nbn. 16 ii 10–19 reads as follows: “By the command of the god Marduk, the great lord, their four winds, the [great] stor[ms], rose up, (and) the sand dune(s) that were covering the city and that temple were removed and the foundation(s) of Ebabbar, the awe-inspiring shrine, the urāšu-building of [si]nging, the residence of the god Šamaš and the goddess [A]ya, and the ziggurat, his (Šamaš’) exalted sacred building, the eternal cella, the chamb[er of their] desire, their foundation(s) became visible and their ground plans could be seen.”
3te-me-en-šu la-bi-ri “the original foundation(s)”: te-me-en-šu la-bi-ri “the original foundation(s)”: According to the inscriptions of Nabonidus, these were the foundations of the Kassite king Burna-Buriaš, and not those laid by the Old-Babylonian ruler Ḫammu-rāpi (1792–1750), which were uncovered only by Nabonidus’ workmen. See Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 pp. 99–100 Nbn. 16 (Larsa Cylinder) i 43b–49 and ii 20–27 and pp. 135 Nbn. 27 (Cylinder III, 4) i 49b–58 and 71b–ii 10. For example, Nbn. 16 i 43b–46, which reads as follows: “He discovered the foundation(s) of the Ebabbar of Burna-Buriaš, a former king who had come before (him). He then sought out the foundation(s) of an ancient king (who came) before Burna-Buriaš, but did not find (them).”
4a-ḫi-iṭ ab-re-e-ma “I examined (and) checked”: This two-word combination is attested eleven other times in the Nebuchadnezzar II corpus. It is attested once in Nabopolassar’s inscriptions, once in Neriglissar’s texts, and twice in Nabonidus’ inscriptions.
Created by Frauke Weiershäuser and Jamie Novotny, 2015-25, 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. At the present time, there is no stable, citable URL for this text and, therefore, the RINBE team kindly requests that this edition be cited as "RIBo Nebuchadnezzar II C24".