Inscriptions

Compared to the length of his reign and the importance attributed to this king in later sources, the corpus of Nebuchadnezzar's royal inscriptions, as far as it is known to us, is relatively small. The majority of these texts are written in Akkadian, but there are also one Sumerian inscription (no. 2, preserved on several bricks from Nippur), as well as three bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian inscriptions (nos. 1, 8+9, and 10). Only text nos. 1-4 are preserved on their original objects; the other inscriptions are known only from (mostly later) copies. Note that because of the texts' fragmentary states of preservation, some of the attributions are uncertain. Deviating from normal RIM/RIBo-standards, in addition to the known royal inscriptions, the introduction of a kudurru from Sippar has also been included here since it provides valuable historical information on a campaign of Nebuchadnezzar against the Elamites (no. 11).

Jump to Nebuchadnezzar I 1   Nebuchadnezzar I 2   Nebuchadnezzar I 3   Nebuchadnezzar I 4   Nebuchadnezzar I 5   Nebuchadnezzar I 6   Nebuchadnezzar I 7   Nebuchadnezzar I 8   Nebuchadnezzar I 9   Nebuchadnezzar I 10   Nebuchadnezzar I 11   Nebuchadnezzar I 12

1

Two fragments of probably the same limestone tablet preserve parts of a bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian inscription reporting that Nebuchadnezzar I undertook construction on Ekitušḫegaltila, the sanctuary of the god Adad at Babylon.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 01 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006241/].

Sources

(1) LB 1530 (2) A 03647

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2

A Sumerian building inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I records that this king of Babylon worked on Unumaḫ, a sanctuary of the Ekur temple of Enlil. Sseveral bricks at Nippur are reportedly stamped with this text, but only one of these is currently available.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 02 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006242/].

Source

CBS - (2N-T0483)

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3

Four bronze daggers of unknown origin (reportedly Luristan) contain an Akkadian possession inscription by Nebuchadnezzar I.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 03 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006243/].

Sources

(1-3) Foroughi (4) Iran Bastan Museum -

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4

(Possibly) two bronze hatchets in the Foroughi Collection -- reportedly from Luristan -- contain an Akkadian prayer to the god Marduk; the last line of the inscription gives the name of the objects' owner as "Nebuchadnezzar, king of the world."

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 04 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006244/].

Sources

(1-2) Foroughi -

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5

A prayer of Nebuchadnezzar I to the god Marduk regarding his desired "return" from the land Elam and the god's favorable answer (both in Akkadian) are preserved on a fragmentary tablet in the Kuyunjik Collection of the British Museum. That tablet -- according to its colophon -- contains a late Neo-Assyrian copy of a (historical-literary) text from Babylon.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 05 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006245/].

Source

K 03426

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6

The first part of an Akkadian historical-literary text, which is known from a Neo-Assyrian tablet now in the Kuyunjik Collection of the British Museum, mentions that the Elamites successfully campaigned against Babylonia in the time of the last rulers of the Kassite Dynasty, Zababa-šuma-iddina and Enlil-nādin-aḫi. These events are obviously reported in retrospect by a later king whose name is, however, unfortunately no longer preserved. Because of the similarity of the second part of the inscription with descriptions of Nebuchadnezzar's campaign against the Elamites, the text is usually assigned to that ruler.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 06 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006246/].

Source

K 02660

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7

Two fragments of a clay tablet found at Babylon preserve part of an Akkadian historical-literary text which purports to be a letter sent by a Babylonian king from Elam to the people of Babylon in order to report his victory and the resulting return of the god Marduk. Because of similarities between this account and the description of Nebuchadnezzar's campaign against the Elamites in other inscriptions (in particular Nebuchadnezzar I 11, i 12-43), it seems likely that the text refers to events that took place during his reign.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 07 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006247/].

Source

VAT 15584 (BE 46154)

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8

A bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian inscription written in the name of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, reports that the god Marduk had become angry with his people in the reign of a previous king, and, therefore, the Elamites were allowed to successfully attack Babylonia, lay waste to its settlements, carry off its gods, and turn their sanctuaries into ruins. This account provides the background for the description of Marduk's glorious return from Elam to Babylon in the time of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, which was inscribed on a second tablet (explicitly designated as such in a colophon on an exemplar from Ashurbanipal's library) that is listed here as separate inscription (Nebuchadnezzar I 9) although clearly belonging to the same text. The text had obviously been quite popular in antiquity: to date, copies of it (both in Babylonian and in Assyrian script; with varying arrangement of the Sumerian and Akkadian version) have been found at Babylon, Sippar and Nineveh.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 08 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006248/].

Sources

(1) K 04874 (+) Rm 0255 (+) K 06088 (2) K 02211 + K 03649 + K 06189 + K 08636 + K 09168 (+) K 10739
(3) VAT 17051 (BE 33135) (4) BM 047805 + BM 048032 + BM 048035 + BM 048037 + BM 048046 (1881-11-03, 0512 + 1881-11-03, 0741 + 1881-11-03, 0744 + 1881-11-03, 0746 + 1881-11-03, 0755)

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9

Despite of being edited separately in Frame, RIMB 2, Nebuchadnezzar I 9 is not an independent text, but simply the continuation of Nebuchadnezzar I 8. This bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian inscription, which reports on the wrath of the god Marduk and his subsequent return to Babylon, was so lengthy that it had to be split over two (numbered) tablets by the scribes of Ashurbanipal who copied it in the seventh century BC.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 09 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006249/].

Sources

(1) K 03444 + BM 099067 (Ki 1904-10-04, 0096) (2) K 03317 + K 03319
(3) K 05191 (4) BM 035000 (Sp 2, 524)

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10

A bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian historical-literary inscription preserved on a fragment of a clay cylinder reports how the sun-god appointed a royal descendant for kingship because of his piety and ordered his earthly representative (Nebuchadnezzar I) to plunder Elam. Since such an attack reportedly happened in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the inscription is tentatively attributed to him. (Note, however, that in this case, the responsible god is Šamaš, and not Marduk as in Nebuchadnezzar's other inscriptions.)

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 10 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006250/].

Source

BM 051255 (1882-03-23, 2251)

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11

Details about a campaign of Nebuchadnezzar I against Elam are given in the introductory section of a kudurru inscription. According to this text, special privileges (i.e., exemption from taxation and from the jurisdiction of the province Namar) were granted to the villages of Bīt-Karziabku, whose chief, a man called Šitti-Marduk, had been significantly involved in Nebuchadnezzar's victory over the Elamite king Ḫulteludiš.

Access the composite text of Nebuchadnezzar I 11 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/Q006251/].

Source

BM 090858 (1882-05-22, 1800)

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1001

R. Borger (HKL 2, p. 310) suggests that a badly damaged tablet in the Spartoli Collection of the British Museum (CT 51, no. 73) inscribed with an Akkadian, probably historical-literary text might refer to Nebuchadnezzar I since there seems to be mention of Elamite(s) (in line 12'). However, because of its very poor state of preservation, the attribution of the text is uncertain and, thus, no edition is given here.


Source

BM 034637 (Sp 2, 120)

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Alexa Bartelmus

Alexa Bartelmus, 'Inscriptions', RIBo, Babylon 2: The Inscriptions of the Second Dynasty of Isin, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2017 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon2/rulers/nebuchadnezzari/inscriptions/]

 
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