Nabopolassar’s Inscriptions: 1 (2024-08-15)

Created by: Wang Jinyan

Hollow clay cylinder with a flat and closed bottom, with an inscription of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabopolassar; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia (CBS 09090).

Nabopolassar was the founder of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty (626–539 BCE). So far, only around a dozen inscriptions have been discovered that can be assigned to this king (see Da Riva, The Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscriptions: An Introduction, [2008] Appendix 1). This number is quite small considering that he reigned for 21 years. Almost all of his inscriptions concern his building activities, such as temples, city walls, and canals. This cylinder was discovered in the 1880s in a niche in the long side of the Etemenanki temple in Babylon, the construction of which is the primary subject of the text (for the editions of the two examples, see Da Riva, The Inscriptions of Nabopolassar, Amēl-Marduk and Neriglissar, [2013] 77–92). The account of the building of this temple also appears in four other shorter brick inscriptions (see Da Riva, op.cit., [2013] B1, B3, B5, and B6). This is a three-column inscription, which adopts an archaising script, mimicking the writing style of the Old Babylonian dynasty in the early half of the second millennium BCE. Nabopolassar’s accomplishment of achieving Babylonian independence from the Assyrian empire was commemorated (Col. I, lines 19–27). Nebuchadnezzar II, who was a prince at the time, is also mentioned in the context of the construction of the temple (Col. III, lines 5–13). The royal inscription found on this cylinder is also known from another copy, which is currently housed in the British Museum in London (BM 91090). CDLI entry: P264520

credit: jw