Official Inscriptions of Governors

There are three known official inscriptions of local officials who may have lived during the reign of one of the Bazi Dynasty kings. Although the precise dates of these texts are not known, scholars generally place their date of composition around the late eleventh and tenth centuries BC and thus these inscriptions are often edited together with other inscriptions of the Bazi Dynasty.

Jump to Governors 2001   Governors 2002   Governors 2003

A clay tablet now in the Louvre (Paris) is inscribed with an archival copy of an Akkadian text recording that a governor of the Sealand, a certain Kaššû-bēl-zēri, dedicated a field to a goddess of the city Uruk (Uṣur-amāssu); the original provenance is not known, but it may have come from Uruk. According to the scribal note on the tablet, this text had been inscribed on a bead that formed part of a necklace worn by the goddess Uṣur-amāssu. Because personal names with the theophoric element Kaššû are only attested ca. 1008-955 BC, the inscription is thought to have been composed sometime around the time the Bazi Dynasty was in power.

Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/Q006285/] of Bazi Dynasty Unidentified Ruler 2001.

Source

Bibliography

• Thureau-Dangin 1922 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#thureaudangin1922], pp. 86-87 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 84-85 B.4.0.2201 (edition)

• Thureau-Dangin 1922 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#thureaudangin1922], pp. 86-87 (copy)

• Borger 1956 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#borger1956], p. 118, commentary to rev. 3 (line 13, study)
• Brinkman 1968 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#brinkman1968], p. 250, 257, and 297 (study)

A bronze arrow head in the Foroughi Collection in Teheran bears a proprietary inscription of a certain Ninurta-ušallim, a šangû-priest and an important official of the city Babylon. The object, which is reported to have come from Luristan, may have been incised sometime in the late eleventh or tenth century BC since numerous inscribed arrow heads of Babylonian rulers of that time are known, including at least one of the Bazi Dynasty rulers.

Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/Q006286/] of Bazi Dynasty Unidentified Ruler 2002.

Source

Bibliography

• Dossin 1962 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#dossin1962], p. 161 no. 24 (edition)
• Calmeyer 1969 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#calmeyer1969], p. 166 no. 77 (transliteration)
• Sass 1989 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#sass1989], p. 351 no. 9 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 85-86 B.4.0.2002 (edition)

• Dossin 1962 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#dossin1962], pl. XXIX no. 24 (photo)

• Brinkman 1968 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#brinkman1968], pp. 11 no. 9 and 363 no. m (study)
• Moorey 1971 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#moorey1971], p. 33 no. 9 (study)

A bronze arrow head in the Foroughi Collection in Teheran has a proprietary inscription of an individual (...-Marduk) who may have been a provincial governor, possibly in the late eleventh or tenth century BC. The piece is said to have come from Luristan.

Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/Q006287/] of Bazi Dynasty Unidentified Ruler 2003.

Source

Bibliography

• Dossin 1962 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#dossin1962], p. 162 no. 25 (edition)
• Calmeyer 1969 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#calmeyer1969], p. 166 no. 78 (transliteration)
• Sass 1989 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#sass1989], p. 351 no. 12 (edition)
• Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], p. 86 B.4.0.2003 (edition)

• Dossin 1962 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#dossin1962], p. 162 no. 25 (copy)

• Brinkman 1968 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#brinkman1968], pp. 11 no. 8, 304, and 363 no. n (study)
• Moorey 1971 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/bibliography/index.html#moorey1971], p. 33 no. 9 (study)

Jamie Novotny

Jamie Novotny, 'Official Inscriptions of Governors', RIBo, Babylon 4: The Inscriptions of the Bazi Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2017 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/rulers/governors/]