Jump to Nabonidus 1001 Nabonidus 1002 Nabonidus 1003 Nabonidus 1004 Nabonidus 1005 Nabonidus 1006 Nabonidus 1007 Nabonidus 1008 Nabonidus 1009 Nabonidus 1010 Nabonidus 1011
A fragment of a two-column clay cylinder bears an Akkadian inscription of a Neo-Babylonian king recording the restoration of a palace between the Šamaš Gate and the Euphrates River; the script is archaizing Neo-Babylonian. The text, which is sometimes referred to as the "Palace Cylinder" in scholarly literature, has been attributed to Nebuchadnezzar II (Unger and Weissbach), Amēl-Marduk (Weissbach), and Nabonidus (Berger, Beaulieu, Borger, George, and Schaudig). Following more recent scholarship, the text is tentatively included in this volume, as a 1000-number text of Nabonidus. Moreover, it is unclear where the royal residence whose rebuilding is being described here was located: Babylon (Berger, Beaulieu), Borsippa (Schaudig), Dilbat (Unger), Sippar (George), and Uruk (George) have all been suggested as possible locations.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005463/] of Nabonidus 1001.
Source
Commentary
The royal 'author' of the inscription and where the palace whose construction is described in this text was located have long been debated and there is no scholarly consensus on these two matters. Based on the script and shape of the cylinder, it is very plausible that BM 38346 was written in the name of Nabonidus; both are remarkably similar to the archaizing Neo-Babylonian copies of text no. 2 (Emašdari Cylinder; exs. 1–2). It is not impossible that the same scribe who inscribed VA Bab 2971 (text no. 2 ex. 1) and/or IM 95927 (text no. 2 ex. 2) also wrote out the inscription on BM 38346 (this text). Orthography and lexicography also point to this inscription probably being composed during Nabonidus' reign. At present, the following words/names are known only from positively identified inscriptions of Nabonidus and the text written on BM 38346: rûmtu ("darling") in i 7, Gattu ("Euphrates") in ii 1, and urāšu (a building) in ii 7. Many of the other extant words in this inscription are well attested in both the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus; rebītu ("street") and teknû ("care"), however, are only attested in the official inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II. Note that the word gušūru ("beam") is attested in one inscription of Nabopolassar and four inscriptions of Nabonidus, but usually written logographicly as GIŠ.ÙR; GIŠ.ÙR.MEŠ; it is not found in extant inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II or Neriglissar. Given the current evidence, it is very likely that the text written on BM 38346 dates to the time of Nabonidus, as P.-R. Berger, P.-A. Beaulieu, R. Borger, A.R. George, and H. Schaudig have already suggested. Based on the script and shape of the cylinder, both of which closely match those of two copies of the Emašdari Cylinder Inscription (text no. 2), it is possible that the palace whose restoration is commemorated in this text was located in Babylon, as already proposed by Berger and Beaulieu. This not only fits geographic information recorded in ii 1 — which would place the royal residence in western part of Babylon, in the Tuba district, near the Šamaš Gate and the Euphrates River — but also the fact that the word rûmtu ("darling") in i 7 is likewise attested in text no. 2 (Emašdari Cylinder; i 2), an inscription commemorating the rebuilding of the temple of the Ištar of Agade in Babylon. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to assume that this inscription was already composed to record work in Babylon. Because neither Nabonidus nor Babylon appear in the preserved text, the authors cannot prove with absolute certainty that this text was composed in the name of Nabonidus to record the renovation of a palace located in the Tuba district of Babylon. Therefore, it is best to edit this inscription as a 1000-number of Nabonidus, rather than as a 1000-number of Nebuchadnezzar II or Amēl-Marduk.
Bibliography
A fragment from the second column of a two-column clay cylinder bears the second half of an Akkadian inscription of a Neo-Babylonian king, possibly Nebuchadnezzar II (as the British Museum Online Collection website suggests) or Nabonidus (as R. Da Riva [GMTR 4 p. 131] proposes); the script is contemporary Neo-Babylonian. The text, which is difficult to read because the surface of the piece is badly worn, is not sufficiently preserved to confidently identify the inscription's royal author or to determine which building project it commemorated. Since Da Riva suggests that BM 38696 bore an inscription of Nabonidus, it is tentatively included in the present volume as a 1000-number text of that king. An attribution to Nebuchadnezzar II cannot be entirely ruled out since he is also known to have sponsored construction at Borsippa, the purported find spot of this cylinder fragment.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005464/] of Nabonidus 1002.
Source
Commentary
R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 p. 131) tentatively proposes that BM 38696 came from the same two-column cylinder as BM 47814. Since the authors of the present volume cannot prove this, it is best to edit the two pieces separately; BM 47814 is edited in this volume as text no. 41. See the commentary of that inscription for further details.
Bibliography
A small fragment from the right side of the front of a basalt stele preserves parts of ten lines of an inscription of a Neo-Babylonian king written in archaizing Neo-Babylonian script. Based on its phraseology (in particular, la aqīpma [ar]taši niqitti "I [d]id not believe (them) and [be]came distress[ed]" in lines 6´–7´) and contents (praying to the gods Adad and Šamaš for advice in lines 8´–10´), the text is usually attributed to Nabonidus, although this cannot be proven conclusively. Too little of the text remains to know what the inscription commemorated, nevertheless, H. Schaudig (Inschriften Nabonids p. 536) has tentatively proposed that it may have recorded work on Ebabbar ("Shining House"), the temple of the god Šamaš at Sippar. In addition, it has been suggested that this stele fragment may belong to the same stele upon which text no. 4, or possibly text no. 3 (Babylon Stele), is written. Given the fragmentary nature of the piece and the uncertainty of its attribution, this inscription is arbitrarily edited in this volume as a 1000-number of Nabonidus.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005465/] of Nabonidus 1003.
Source
Bibliography
This small piece of a clay cylinder was discovered by French excavators at Kish and preserves part of an Akkadian inscription of a Neo-Babylonian king written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script. The text was originally dated to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, but this is unlikely, as P.-A. Beaulieu has already pointed out, since that ruler is mentioned as a previous king of Babylon, assuming that the Nebuchadnezzar mentioned in this inscription is the second, and not the first, king with that name. Therefore, the text must have been composed during the reign of Amēl-Marduk, Neriglissar, or Nabonidus. Since other cylinder fragments of Nabonidus were found by British excavators at Kish (text no. 14 [Kish Cylinder]) and since an inscription from Marad (text no. 19 [Eigikalama Cylinder]) records that he worked on that city's wall (Melem-kurkurra-dulla) and renovated its akītu-house, an attribution to Nabonidus seems plausible. If that attribution proves correct, then this inscription might have commemorated work on one of those two structures at Kish. Given the scant available evidence, one cannot entirely rule out an attribution to Amēl-Marduk or Nerglissar. Because the original was not avliable for study, the present edition is based on H. de Genouillac's published copy. This inscription is sometimes referred to as "Nabonidus Cylinder Fragment I, 1" and "[Nabonidus] Inscription X" in scholarly literature.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005466/] of Nabonidus 1004.
Source
Bibliography
A fragment of a brick found at Tell el-Laḥm (probably to be identified with ancient Kissik) preserves part of an inscription of a Babylonian king, perhaps Nabonidus since at least one inscription of his was found there. The text is not sufficiently preserved to confirm the attribution of the inscription with certainty. The edition is based on C.B.F. Walker's transliteration.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005467/] of Nabonidus 1005.
Source
Bibliography
A small fragment from the left side of a two-column clay cylinder preserves a small portion of a Neo-Babylonian royal inscription written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script. Too little of the text is extant to be absolutely certain that the inscription was composed during the reign of Nabonidus, as R. Da Riva (GMTR p. 131 sub Nabonidus 1.a) suggests. However, since several inscriptions of his begin with inum DN ("when DN"), an ascription to Nabonidus is likely; compare text nos. 19 (Eigikalama Cylinder), 23 (Ebabbar Cylinder), and 34 (En-nigaldi-Nanna Cylinder).
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005468/] of Nabonidus 1006.
Source
Bibliography
A badly damaged and abraded two-column clay cylinder bears a difficult-to-read Akkadian inscription of a late Neo-Babylonian king, possibly Nebuchadnezzar II or Nabonidus since the text appears to deal with the rebuilding of Ebabbar ("Shining House"), the temple of the god Šamaš at Sippar, which these two kings are known to have restored; the script is contemporary Neo-Babylonian. Following R. Da Riva (GTMR 4 p. 131), the inscription on BM 40532+ is edited here with the texts of Nabonidus, rather than with those of Nebuchadnezzar II.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005469/] of Nabonidus 1007.
Source
Bibliography
A fragment of a three-column clay cylinder preserves part of an inscription of a first-millennium-BC (Assyrian or Babylonian) king commemorating work undertaken on Ebabbar ("Shining House"), the temple of the sun-god Šamaš at Sippar; the script is archaizing Neo-Babylonian, but with some contemporary Neo-Babylonian signs. The assignment to Nabonidus is not entirely certain, but the style and contents of the extant text seem to indicate that the inscription was likely composed during Nabonidus' reign, perhaps at the end of his second year (554) as king, rather than during the reigns of Šamaš-šuma-ukīn (667–648) or his brother Ashurbanipal (668–ca. 631). Unlike other texts recording work on the Ebabbar temple at Sippar, this inscription mentions the Old Babylonian king Samsu-iluna (1749–1712) as a previous builder of the temple. In scholarly literature, this text is sometimes referred to as the "Stone Wall Cylinder."
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005470/] of Nabonidus 1008.
Source
Bibliography
A tiny fragment of clay cylinder, possibly from Sippar, preserves parts of seven lines of an inscription of a Neo-Babylonian king written in archaizing Neo-Babylonian script. C. Bezold attributed the piece to Nabonidus, but this assignation is yet to be confirmed. BM 90907 has never been published and, unfortunately, can no longer be found in the collections of the British Museum (London), perhaps because it is now joined to another Nabonidus cylinder; see C.B.F. Walker's information about the fragment in Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids p. 485. Because Nabonidus has been suggested as the text's royal author, this inscription is tentatively included in the volume. This text is sometimes referred to in scholarly publications as "Nabonidus Cylinder Fragment I, 2" and "[Nabonidus] Inscription Y."
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q009187/] of Nabonidus 1009.
Source
Bibliography
A fragment of a multi-column clay cylinder, perhaps a three-column cylinder, known only from an illegible photograph published in Sumer 46 (1989–90), preserves part of an inscription of Nabonidus or some other Neo-Babylonian king. It is uncertain if the piece is inscribed with a unique text or a duplicate of text no. 28 (Eḫulḫul Cylinder).
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q009237/] of Nabonidus 1010.
Source
Bibliography
The obverse of a fragmentarily preserved clay tablet is inscribed with a text of a Neo-Babylonian king, possibly Nabonidus; the script is contemporary Neo-Babylonian. Based on the language of the text, especially that of lines 4´–5´, an attribution to Nabonidus is likely, as several certainly assigned texts of his use the expressions imlû ūmū ša iqbû ("the days that he had commanded had elapsed") and adannu ikšudamma ("the appointed time had arrived and"). Note, however, that these phrases are not unique to Nabonidus and, therefore, one cannot entirely rule out the possibility that this text should be assigned to an earlier first-millennium king, for example, Marduk-apla-iddina II, Esarhaddon, or Ashurbanipal; for details, see Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids p. 478. Following, H. Schaudig, this inscription is tentatively assigned to Nabonidus and, therefore, included here as a 1000-number of that king.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q009238/] of Nabonidus 1011.
Source
Bibliography
Frauke Weiershäuser & Jamie Novotny
Frauke Weiershäuser & Jamie Novotny, 'Inscriptions attributed to Nabonidus', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2022 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon7/rulers/nabonidus/texts10011011uncertainattribution/]