Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 94. (Budapest, 2001)
EVERLING, JÁNOS: Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions of the Museum of Fine Arts
The nine other cuneiform royal inscriptions of the Museum of Fine Arts bear the name of Nebuchadnezzar II, second ruler of the Neo-BabyIonian Empire. All of them formulate exactly the same text dealing with the rebuilding of Esagil 26 and of Ezida 27 temples by the king. The name of Nebuchadnezzar is well known from the Bible (as well from cuneiform, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek tradition), because in 594. B.C. he brought the independence of the state of Judah 28 to a close and deported the Jews to Babylonia. 29 Because the complete evaluation of the cuneiform sources concerning the public constructions 30 of Nebuchadnezzar and his building activities both in Babylon 31 and in Borsippa 32 has been well known for a long time, we will not deal with this topic here. We will settle for quoting the relevant passages of one of his longer royal inscriptions: 33 "I established his abundant regular offerings, his pure cereal offerings in greater number than before. 34 Every day one fattened and perfect gumähu-bu\\, whose skin is perfect, 35 a long fleeced breed of sheep 36 is the sacrifice 137 for the gods of Esagil and the gods of Babylon. I provided abundantly 38 fish, birds, usummu-micQ (dormice? 39 ), (and) eggs, the best things from the reed marsh, 40 honey, ghee, milk, good oil, sweet 26 George, op. cit. (Note 20) p. 139: 6.sag. il, "House whose Top is High" 1, also written é.sag.gíl, temple of Marduk at Babylon. Rebuilt by Säbium (year 10), destroyed by Sennacherib and rebuilt by Esarhaddon (passim), completed and refitted by Assubanipal (Streck, Asb., p. 146, 17; Thompson, Prisms, p. 29, 21; etc.); further restored by Nebuchadnezzar 11 (passim), Neriglissar (CT 36 19, 9) and Antiochus I (VR 66). 27 George, op. cit. pp. 159-160: é.zi.da, "True House" 1, temple of Marduk as Tutu, later Nabu, at Borsippa. Variously rebuilt, repaired or reconstructed by Hammurapi (Frayne, RIME 4, p. 355, 31; Cf. CH iii 15), Marduk-apal-iddina I (VAS I 34, for Marduk). Marduk-sapik-zëri (LIH 1 70), Nabû-suma-imbi (Lambert, JAOS 88 [1968], p. 126, i b5ff.; ii b 33, for Nabu), Esarhaddon (Borger, Esarh., § 64, rev. 10), Assurbanipal (Streck, Ash, p. 242, 33; Thompson, Prisms, p. 30, 5; Nassouhi, AfK 2 [1924-25], p. 100, i 4-13; etc.) and Samas-sum-ukîn (Lehmann-Haupt, Samassumukín, II no. 3, 27), Nebuchadnezzar II (passim), and finally Antiochus I (VR 66). 28 Wiseman, D.J., Babylonia 605-539 B.C. in Boardman, J. - Edwards, I.E.S. - Hammond, N.G.L. Sollberger, E., The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and other States of the Near East, from the Eight to the Sixth Centuries B.C., in The Cambridge Ancient History, Second Edition, vol. 3, part 2, (CAH 3/2), Cambridge 1993, pp. 233-236. 29 Weidner, E.F., Jojachin, König von Juda, in babylonischen Keilschrifttexten, in Mélanges syriens offerts à Monsieur René Dussaud par ses amis et élèves!, Paris 1939, pp. 923-935. 30 Wiseman, op. cit. (Note 28) pp. 236-239. 31 Unger, E., Babylon, die heilige Stadt, nach der Beschreibung der Babylonier, Berlin - Leipzig 1931. 32 Joannes, F., Archives de Borsippa. La famille Ea-ilûta-bâni. Etude d'un lot d'archives familiales en Babylonie du VUf au V e siècles av. J.-C, Genève 1989, pp. 16-20. 33 Langdon, S., Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften, Vorderasiatische Bibliothek 4, Leipzig 1912, Nebuchadnezar Nr. 9. i pp. 13-38, ii pp. 1-35. 34 Cf. CAD N/2 237a. 35 Cf. CAD G 132b. 36 Cf. CAD S 371b. 37 Cf. CAD G 9a. 38 Cf. CAD D 130a. 39 Cf. CAD D 162a. 40 Cf. CAD A/2 181b.
