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A fragment from the first column of a two-column clay cylinder preserves part of an Akkadian inscription of Nabonidus written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script. The text is not sufficiently preserved to be able to determine which building project of the king it commemorated. The extant text includes only Nabonidus' unusually long list of titles and epithets.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005438/] of Nabonidus 41.
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Commentary
R. Da Riva (GMTR 4 p. 131) tentatively proposes that BM 47814 and BM 38696 belong to the same cylinder. Given that there is a ca. 2–3 cm gap between the two pieces, that BM 47814 is registered as coming from Ur and BM 38696 is said to have come from Borsippa, and that little of BM 38696 can be read because its surface is badly damaged, it is not yet possible to confirm Da Riva's proposed join between the two pieces. The online British Museum Collection website (March 2020) states that BM 38696 is inscribed with a hitherto unidentified text of Nebuchadnezzar II, however, the legible passages of that fragment seem to indicate that it could also be attributed to Nabonidus. Since the authors are unable to prove that BM 47814 and BM 38696 belong to one and the same cylinder, it is best to edit them separately. The former is edited here, while the latter is edited as text no. 1002.
The inscription, as far as it is preserved, is currently unparalleled by other Nabonidus texts and is unusual since it not only mentions the plague-god Erra and the goddess Ištar as the lady of battle, but also includes a petition to the gods to kill the king's enemies. The warlike elements included in this text might indicate an early date of composition for the text, although this cannot be proven with any degree of certainty given the poor state of preservation of the Nabonidus Chronicle.
Bibliography
This Akkadian inscription is known from a fragment from the left side of a two-column clay cylinder. Thirteen lines from the inscription's prologue are preserved and these parallel (with variation) Nabonidus' titulary in text no. 16 ([Larsa Cylinder] i 2–12), an inscription commemorating the restoration of Ebabbar ("Shining House"), the temple of the sun-god Šamaš at Larsa. Because nothing of the building report is preserved, it is not known if this inscription also recorded work at Larsa or if it commemorated construction in some other Babylonian city. The script is contemporary Neo-Babylonian. The edition is based on an unpublished transliteration of R. Da Riva.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005439/] of Nabonidus 42.
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The upper, right edge of a broken, rounded-top stele purchased by C. Rich in 1811 preserves sixteen lines of an Akkadian inscription of Nabonidus. The extant text, which is written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script, records the prices for various commodities, including barley, dates, oil, wool, and tin. As only the upper part of this basalt (or trachyte) stele survives and because only a small portion of the inscription remains, it is uncertain if this monument comes from Babylon, as Rich claims, or from elsewhere in Babylonia. Affinities between this text and text no. 47 (Ḫarrān Stele), seem to suggest that the stele was commissioned by Nabonidus after his thirteenth (543) regnal year, perhaps in his fourteenth (542) or fifteenth (541) year as king; for this opinion, see Beaulieu, Nabonidus p. 42 and Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids p. 48. In scholarly publications, this text is referred to as "Nabonidus Stele Fragment 1," "[Nabonidus] Inscription 14," and the "Tarif(f) Stele."
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005440/] of Nabonidus 43.
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Commentary
BM 90837 is one of the first Babylonian antiquities to have reached Europe; it is now housed in the British Museum (London). The face of the stele, as far as it is preserved, is engraved with a relief of Nabonidus standing before symbols of the moon (Sîn), sun (Šamaš), and Venus (Ištar). The left-facing king holds his staff in his left hand and addresses the gods with his right hand. Nothing of the inscription below the relief, assuming that surface was engraved with text, is preserved. That now-missing part of the inscription might have aided in determining where Nabonidus had that stele erected and when it was inscribed. The inscription was collated from legible photographs of the stele in print and online.
Bibliography
A fragmentarily preserved, single-column clay tablet is inscribed with a draft or archival copy of the beginning of an Akkadian inscription of Nabonidus; the script is contemporary Neo-Babylonian. The upper, left, and right edges, as well as parts of the first thirty-one and the last twenty lines written on the tablet are preserved. The inscription, as far as it is preserved, included Nabonidus' titulary and filiation, as well as the beginning of the building report, which may have recorded this king's work on Ezida ("True House"), the temple of the god Nabû at Borsippa, since that building's access way (tallaku) is mentioned. It is clear from the last line on the tablet (rev. 20´), which reads "[...] as utensils," that this tablet did not have the entire inscription written on it, but only the first part of it. The tablet inscribed with the rest of the text is still missing. The text is sometimes referred to as "[Nabonidus] Inscription G" in scholarly literature.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005441/] of Nabonidus 44.
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A small piece of a (multi-column?) clay tablet is inscribed with a collection of Akkadian inscriptions of Nabonidus written in contemporary Neo-Babylonian script. Only the final three lines (the concluding formulae) of one text and the first three lines (the prologue) of a second text remain. Not enough of the contents of either text is preserved to be able to suggest which building projects of Nabonidus the inscriptions commemorate or to propose when the tablet was inscribed.
Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005442/] of Nabonidus 45.
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Commentary
BM 58756 is a little unusual since its obverse is rounded and its reverse is flat; one expects the opposite, for the obverse to be flat and the reverse to be rounded. Moreover, the reverse, as far as it is preserved, has been carefully smoothed and is not inscribed. A horizontal ruling separates the two inscriptions written on the obverse.
Bibliography
Frauke Weiershäuser & Jamie Novotny
Frauke Weiershäuser & Jamie Novotny, 'Inscriptions of Nabonidus from Babylonia (original provenance uncertain)', 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/texts4145babylonia/]