Inscriptions
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Nabû-šuma-iškun 1 Nabû-šuma-iškun 2001
The inscription comes from a clay tablet measuring 17.6x13.5x3 cm. The piece, badly damaged, was found in a private house at Uruk by the German excavations conducted in the site during the season 1970/71.
The Akkadian inscription is arranged on four columns and it is written in Late Babylonian script. The text, large portions of which are unfortunately poorly preserved, belongs to the historical-literary genre and lists a large number of crimes and impious act ascribed to Nabû-šuma-iškun. The various wrongdoings mentioned, among which are sacrileges against the gods, their worships and temples, oaths breaking, murdering, injustices towards the citizens of Babylon and their property, clearly show the discontent and the unrest of Babylonia during the reign of Nabû-šuma-iškun. The inscription was probably composed after the reign of the king, member of the Bīt-Dakkūri tribe and, remarkably enough, never called "king" in the preserved text.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/Q006302] of Nabû-šuma-iškun 1.
Source
Bibliography
- von Weiher 1984 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#vonweiher1984], pp. 197-224 (edition)
- Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 117-122 (edition)
- von Weiher 1988 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#vonweiher1988], no. 58 (edition)
- Glassner 1993 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#glassner1993], pp. 235-240 no. 51 (translation)
- von Weiher 1984 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#vonweiher1984], pls. 22-23 (photo)
- von Weiher 1988 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#vonweiher1988], no. 58 (copy)
- von Weiher 1979 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#vonweiher1979], p. 98 (provenance, study)
- von Weiher 1984 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#vonweiher1984], pp. 197-224 (study)
- Hunger 1986 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#hunger1986], p. 367 (iii 30-31, 44 and 56, study)
BM 033428 © The Trustees of the British Museum
This inscription is written on a solid clay cylinder preserved in the British Museum, where the two pieces by which the object is composed came in 1979/80 from Rassam's expedition in Babylonia.
The Akkadian inscription, arranged on two columns, concerns some restoration works conducted in a storehouse of the Ezida complex at Borsippa by the local governor Nabû-šuma-imbi. As in Nabû-šuma-iškun 1, also in this text disorders and turmoils are ascribed to the reign of this king, during or shortly after which the inscription was likely composed, event tough the ending statement mentioning the enclosure wall of the Ezida as its original context as well as some uses of signs seem to denote the inscription as a late copy.
Access the composite text [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/Q006303] of Nabû-šuma-iškun 2001.
Source
Bibliography
- Strong 1892 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#strong1892a], pp. 350-368 (edition)
- Winckler 1895 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#winckler1895], pp. 254-263 (edition)
- Lambert 1968 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#lambert1968], pp. 123-130 (edition)
- Frame 1995 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#frame1995], pp. 123-126 (edition)
- Strong 1892 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#strong1892a], pp. 351-357 (copy in type)
- Weidner 1915 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#weidner1915], pp. 103-105 (study)
- Meissner 1918 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#meissner1918], pp. 220-221 (study)
- Landsberger 1965 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#landsberger1965], p. 58 n. 110 (study)
- Brinkman 1968 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#brinkman1968], pp. 225-226 and 356 no. 32.2.3 (study)
- Reade 1986a [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#reade1986a], pp. 108-109 (provenance)
- Reade 1986b [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/bibliography/index.html#reade1986b], p. xxix (provenance)
Giulia Lentini
Giulia Lentini, 'Inscriptions', RIBo, Babylon 6: The Inscriptions of the Period of the Uncertain Dynasties, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2018 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon6/earlyfirstmillenniumrulers/nabushumaishkun/inscriptions/]