Nebuchadnezzar II 111
| Obverse | ||
| Column i | ||
| i 1i 1 | (i 1) Nebuchadnezzar (II), pious prince, the desire of the god Marduk’s heart, exa[lted] ruler, beloved of the god Nab[û], the one who deliberates and acquires wi[sdom], the one who is unceasingly mindful of provisioning Esagil (and) Ezida, ..., the true shepherd who is [the fa]vorite of the god Marduk, ..., [the who] provides for the cult centers of the gods, ..., the one who renovates ..., foremost heir of Nabopolassar, [king of] Babylon, am I. | |
| i 22 | ||
| i 33 | ||
| i 44 | ||
| i 55 | ||
| i 66 | ||
| i 77 | ||
| i 88 | ||
| i 99 | x nu ta mu? a x x bi-ki?-ka? | |
| i 1010 | ||
| i 1111 | ⸢mi⸣-gi-ir d⸢AMAR.UTU⸣ x x-nim? | |
| i 1212 | ⸢za⸣-ni-in ma-ḫa-zi DINGIR.⸢DINGIR x x x (x⸣) | |
| i 1313 | mu-ud-di-iš x x x x | |
| i 1414 | ||
| i 1515 | ||
| i 1616 | ||
| i 1717 | [...] x dUTU be-lí-<<RA>>-ia? | (i 17) [When (...)] the god Šamaš, my lord, answer[ed m]e in (divine) pronouncement(s) and extispicy with a firm ‘yes’ [...] to (re)build ..., I built in Sippar Ebabbar, the [true] house, the residence of [the god Šamaš, my lord], ... [...] ... |
| i 1818 | [...] x ID? x | |
| i 1919 | [...] e?-pe?-šu x x x | |
| i 2020 | ||
| i 2121 | ||
| i 2222 | ||
| i 2323 | ||
| i 2424 | ||
| i 2525 | x x x [...] x x x | |
| i 2626 | ||
| i 2727 | (i 27) At that time, (with regard to) Ekunankuga, the ziggurat of Sippar, which a king of the past had bu[ilt and] whose walls had collapsed, (and) which a former king had restored (and) made [its] structure suitable, a long time [ago] it became weak, collapsed, and, (on account of) he[avy] ra[ins] and downpo[urs, its] wall(s) were carried away. The god Šamaš, the exal[ted] judge, prompted me to renovate [it]. | |
| i 2828 | ||
| Column ii | ||
| ii 1ii 1 | ||
| ii 22 | ||
| ii 33 | ||
| ii 44 | ||
| ii 55 | ||
| ii 66 | ||
| ii 77 | ||
| ii 88 | ||
| ii 99 | ||
| ii 1010 | ||
| ii 1111 | ||
| ii 1212 | ||
| ii 1313 | (ii 13) I put its brickwork in good or[der and] rebui[lt] it[s] collapsed section(s). I renovated (and) completed (it). I raised up i[ts] superstructure (and) beautified it[s] structure. I had (it) made like daylight for the god Šamaš, the great lord. | |
| ii 1414 | ||
| ii 1515 | ||
| ii 1616 | ||
| ii 1717 | ||
| ii 1818 | ||
| ii 1919 | ||
| ii 2020 | ||
| ii 2121 | (ii 21) O Šamaš, great lord, look with favor and pleasure (upon my good deeds). May a life of distant days be (your) gift so that ... in your bright light until the attainment of very old age. | |
| ii 2222 | ||
| ii 2323 | ba-la-⸢ṭa₄ <<x>> u₄⸣-um da-rí-ú-tim | |
| ii 2424 | ||
| ii 2525 | ||
| ii 2626 | ta pa x x ti x x na x | |
| ii 2727 | ||
| ii 2828 | (ii 28) On the day that I pray to you, O Šamaš, [my] lord, in (divine) pronouncement(s) and extispicy, answer m[e] un[equivocall]y. | |
| ii 2929 | ||
| ii 3030 |
1Compare Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 48 Ner. 6 (C022) i 1–13, which is nearly identical to this passage.
2It is uncertain if the omission of the omission of the title “king of Babylon” (LUGAL KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI) is intentional or a scribal error. See the commentary for additional details.
3A near-verbatim description of the renovation of Eunirkitušmaḫ, the ziggurat of the god Zababa at Kish, appears in the still-unpublished Nbk. 101 (IM 227410) i 24–ii 15. See the forthcoming Jawad, Iraq 87 (2025).
4Compare Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 48 Ner. 6 (C022) ii 2–4, which have zi-qú-ra-at ⸢ZIMBIR⸣.[KI] ša LUGAL ma-aḫ-ri i-⸢pú⸣-[šu-ma] zu-un-nu ù ra-a-[du] ú-na-as-su-ú li-bi-it-⸢tu⸣-[ša]. “ the ziggurat of Sip[par], which a former king had b[uilt and whose] brickwor[k] rains and downpo[urs] had carried away.”
5Compare Nebuchadnezzar’s description of his father’s work on this ziggurat in Nbk. 112 (VA Bab 1975) ii 2´–6´: [a]-bi ba-⸢nu-ú⸣-[a] ⸢li⸣-bi-it-ta-ša ik-ši-ru-ú-[ma?] ⸢ma⸣-qí-it-ta-ša ú-uš-zi-iz-⸢ma 22⸣ KÙŠ ik-ši-ru-ú-⸢ma⸣ la ú-ul-lu-ù re-e-ša-a-ša, “my [fa]ther who had engendered [me], had restored its [br]ickwork [and] had rebuilt its [co]llapsed section(s). He restored (it to a height of) twenty-two cubits, bu[t] he had not raised up its superstructure (to its summit).” Compare Neriglissar’s description of the unfinished work on Sippar’s temple-tower: LUGAL pa-nim ik-ši-ru-⸢ma⸣ li-bi-it-ta-ša ú-uš-te-[ši-ir-ma] ma-qí-it-ta-šu ú-uš-[zi-iz-ma] 22 KÙŠ i-pú-šu-ma la ⸢ú⸣-[šak-li-lu] re-e-ša-[a-ša] “a king of the past had restored, had put its brickwork in goo[d order], had reb[uilt] its collapsed section(s), had constructed (it to a height of) twenty-two cubits, but [had] not co[mplete its] superstructu[re]” (Weiershäuser and Novotny, RINBE 2 p. 49 Ner. 6 [C022] ii 5–9).
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 VA 8410".