Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 94. (Budapest, 2001)

EVERLING, JÁNOS: Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions of the Museum of Fine Arts

Inventory number Reign Place of Writing" Acquisition No. 1. 78.1 E Amar-Suen Eridu Purchase No. 2. 51.2399

s Nebuchadnezzar Taken over from an another museum No. 3. 63.4 E

9 Nebuchadnezzar Babylon Purchase No. 4. 78.2 E Nebuchadnezzar Borsippa Purchase No. 5. 80.3 E Nebuchadnezzar Babylon Purchase No. 6. 83.2 E Nebuchadnezzar Purchase No. 7. 83.3 E Nebuchadnezzar Purchase No. 8. 83.4 E Nebuchadnezzar Purchase No. 9. 83.5 E Nebuchadnezzar Purchase No.10. Nebuchadnezzar Private property The cuneiform royal inscriptions of the Egyptian Department commemorate the temple rebuilding activities of Mesopotamian rulers. The inscriptions are to be divided into two parts. First, we have at our disposal an inscription of Amar-Suen, third ruler of the Ur III Empire (no. I).

10 On the other hand we dispose of nine (nos. 2-9) inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II from the middle of the First Millennium B.C., one of the best-documented periods of the Mesopotamian history." The first inscription tells us about the rebuilding of the Abzu shrine/temple of Eridu by Amar-Suen, king of Ur, in honour of Enki, god of the subterranean waters, and also god of wisdom. Besides the name of the Enki's shrine/temple in Eridu, Abzu (in Akkadian apsu) was a "(partly) subterranean structure, a mythical place where life influencing powers reside".

12 It has also been interpreted as "water basin" and supposed: "This temple apparently stood over a fresh-water lagoon".

13 In literary compositions Enki is named as the builder of the Abzu: "I built Abzu, the shrine... I decreed a good fate for it"

14 and "when he (Enki) builds the Abzu and Eridu".

15 7 The writing places of the royal inscriptions are copied from the register of the Egyptian Department. 8 Previously published by Dávid, A., AcAnA (1956) pp. 31-34. 9 Previously published by Dávid, A., BullMusHongrBA 26 (1965) pp. 3-6. 10 Cf. the 30000 catalogued texts in Sigrist, M. - Gomi T., The Comprehensive Catalogue of Published Ur III Tablets, Bethesda 1991. " Cf. the 56400 catalogued texts in the author's Babylonian Chronology of the First Millennium B.C. (in preparation). 12 Sjöberg, A.W., The Sumerian Dictionary of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, vol. 1 A. Part II, Philadelphia 1994, (henceforth PSD), p. 184b. 13 Hayes, J.L., A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts, Malibu 1990, p. 157. 14 Cf. "Enki and the World Order", line 95, (cited by PSD A/2 186b) in Bottéro, J. - Kramer, S.N., Lorsque les dieux faisaient P

homme, Paris 1989, pp. 165-187. 15 Cf. "Nisaba and Enki", line 41, (cited by PSD A/2 186b) in Hallo, W.W., The Cultic Setting of Sumerian Poetry, in Finet, André (ed.), Actes de la XVIF Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Université Libre de Bruxelles 30 Juin-4 Juillet 1969, Ham-sur-Heure 1970, pp. 117-134.