The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue)

        The woman Ummu-dhabat,1 the daughter of Nebo-bil-utsur, the wife of Samas-yuballidh,

the son of Bel-Ê-Babara the priest of Samas (Utu / Shamash),2 who has brought a tablet to him,3

and also Samas-edhir, Nidittuv, and Arad-Kin,4 her sons [three in number5],

(and) who has spoken as follows to Bel-yuballidh, the priest of Sippara:6

“They have not (yet) entered the House of the Males; with my sons I have lived;

with my sons I have grown (old) since they were little,7 until they have been counted among the men”;

on the day when Ummu-dhabat [has said this],

may she enter the House of the Males, according to8 the writing of the document

which (is) before Bel-yuballidh the priest of Sippara (Sippar) for Samas-edhir,

  (damaged king stands before Utu, giant alien designated as the Sun god)

Nidittuv, [and Arad-Kin]her [three] sons she gives to [the service of the Sun-] god (Utu).

The witnesses are: Nebo-zira-yukin the son of Bel-[natsir] the son of Mukallim,

Bel-natsir the son of Samas-yuballidh; Nebo-[musetiq-udda] the son of Tsillâ;

Rimut the son of Musezib-Bel, the son of Babutu; [… the son] of Bel-yukin, the son of Rimmon-yumê:

(dated) [Sippara1] the 21st day of the month Nisan,

the fifth year of Kambyses, king of Babylon, the king of the world.”

Footnotes

112:1 The name signifies “The mother is good.”

112:2 The Sun-god (Utu), the presiding deity of Sippara (Sippar), where the great temple of E-Babara (Utu’s temple / residence in Sippar), or E-Parra, was dedicated to him.

112:3 Among a literary and business-like people like the Babylonians no act was valid unless embodied in writing, and drawn up according to the legal forms. Consequently a mere verbal declaration, as in the case of Hannah, was not sufficient; it had to be accompanied by the prescribed legal document with the names of the witnesses attached to it.

112:4 “The servant of Kin.” The triad or trinity of deities worshipped at Sippara consisted of Samas (Utu), A (who, in the Semitic period, was regarded as the wife of the Sun-god), and Kin (perhaps the son of Samas and A). The reading of the last name is doubtful, and may be Khur.

112:5 The traces of the characters given by Dr. Strassmaier show that this must be the reading (sal-si anna).

112:6 Sippara, written Sippar in the cuneiform, the Sepharvaim or “two Sipparas” of the Old Testament (2 Kings xvii. 31, etc.), is now represented by the mounds of Abu Habba and Anbar (?). It consisted of two cities, one known as “Sippara of Samas,” and the other as “Sippara of Anunit (Inanna, twin sister to Utu).”

112:7 ’Sikhurrutû.

112:8 We must read akî instead of adî.

113:1 The characters are illegible here, but the fact that Ummu-dhabat appeared before the priest of Sippara shows that we must supply the name of that city.

BCHP 15: Gold theft chronicle (British Museum)

The Chronicle Concering the Theft of Gold from the Day One Temple, or Gold Theft Chronicle (BCHP 15), is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. The tablet can be dated to SE 150/151 (=162/1 BCE) ands belongs therefore to the brief reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus V Eupator (164-162).

A new reading is proposed by Bert van der Spek of the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Irving Finkel of the British Museum.* Please notice that this is a preliminary version of what will be the chronicle’s very first edition.

BCHP 15: Gold theft chronicle (British Museum).**

Description of the tablet

Again a small one-column tablet, more or less square, dealing with a brief period, one year at most.

The preserved length of the tablet is 4.0 – 4.9 cm, the width is 4.5 cm, the thickness 1.7 cm. The upper edge is crumbled off, but signs of line 1 are preserved. The left edge is preserved, but uninscribed; the right edge is also preserved.  Eight lines continue on the right edge. The lower edge is mutilated and was possibly inscribed. The lower end of the reverse was left blank with room for 1.5 or 2 lines.

Gold theft chronicle (BCHP 15)

Antiochus V Eupator

The Chronicle Concering the Theft of Gold from the Day One Temple, or Gold Theft Chronicle (BCHP 15), is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. The tablet can be dated to SE 150/151 (=162/1 BCE) ands belongs therefore to the brief reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus V Eupator (164-162). For a very brief introduction to the literary genre of chronicles, go here.

The cuneiform tablet (BM 32510 = 76-11-17,2251) is in the British Museum. On this website, a new reading is proposed by Bert van der Spek of the Free University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Irving Finkel of the British Museum. Please notice that this is a preliminary version of what will be the chronicle’s very first edition. This web publication is therefore intended to invite suggestions for better readings, comments and interpretations (go here to contact Van der Spek).

Commentary

General commentary

The chronicle is to be dated to Antiochus IV or later, but probably to Antiochus V. An Antiochus is mentioned in Rev. 11. The mentioning of politai makes Antiochus IV the first candidate and the content of the tablet reminds us of the temple robbery mentioned in the Astronomical Diary II, 476/7, No. -168 A 12′-20′ relating events of the month Arahsamna (VIII) of SE 143 = 15 November-13 December 169 BCE. In that diary the appointment of a zazakku (financial official, prostates) is reported, which seems to be a new function. In our chronicle the zazakku is in function, so that this chronicle postdates this diary.

This diary also concerns temple robbery but our chronicle obviously refers another incident. Theft of temple property is recorded fairly regularly (cf. Joannès 2000). The fact that the chronicle mentions a “governor of the king” (šakin ša šarri), points to the reign of Antiochus V. That office is only recorded during his reign and may regard the guardian of the minor king, appointed by Antiochus IV on his deathbed, Philip or Lysias (1 Maccabees,6.14-15; 2 Maccabees, 9.29).

Since it is likely that the death of an Antiochus is mentioned, the death of Antiochus V will be at issue. If so, the chronicle should be dated to a month between 1 VIII 150 and 22 VI 151 SE = 29 October 162-9 September 161 BCE (cf. Van der Spek 1997/98: 167-8). The death of Antiochus V was violent. His reign had been contested from the start by Demetrius I Soter, son of Seleucus IV, who was kept in Rome as hostage. He escaped, landed in Tripolis, acquired a lot of support and Antiochus, who just had conquered Antioch from Philippus, was handed over to Demetrius and upon his orders executed (1 Maccabees,7:1ff; 2 Maccabees 14:1ff; Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 12.389; Livy, Periochae, 46; Eusebius, Chron. 1 253).

Obverse

4, 10.
É UD.1.KAM, “Day-one-temple”, or “First-Day-temple”, is likely to be an alternative name of the New Year Temple (Bît Akiti), though there are some doubts. The name only occurs in late texts. The first attestation is AD II, p. 202, no. -204 C rev. 17. This astronomical diary reports that king Antiochus III the Great on 8 Nisannu (I) of year SE 107 (7 March 205 BCE) left the royal palace of Babylon, made offerings to Marduk in Esagila and subsequently entered the “Day-One-Temple”. From this passage it is fairly clear that this temple must be the New-Year’s Festival temple. The 8th of Nisan is a day of importance for the king in the New Year ritual (cf. above Seleucus III Chronicle, BCHP 12 = ABC 13b : 3′ with commentary).

Nevertheless, some doubts are in order. In one text the Day-One-Temple is mentioned alongside the Akitu-temple in an administrative document from the Rahimesu Archive (93 BCE), AB 244: 8 and 14 (McEwan 1981b: 133 (copy), 132 (transcription), 134 (translation) = Van der Spek 1998a, p. 234, no. 23). Otherwise the Akitu-temple is not mentioned anymore. In view of the above mentioned diary concerning Antiochus III it is likely, however, that both names refer to the same building.

Note, that the traditional translation of É UD.1.KAM, “Day-One-Temple”, is not unequivocal either. UD.1.KAM is also the ideographical rendering of ûmakkal, “during one whole day” (AHw III, 1412: “ein Tag, einen Tag lang,” Borger, ABZ, p. 153, no. 381, and Borger MZ (2003), nr. 596) p. 380 and 382, “ganztägig, alltäglich”. UD-1-KAM may also be the rendering of ûmu, “day” (Borger, ibidem and BiOr 30, 182a). Hence, a translation “All-Day-Temple” should also be considered.

Secondly, the phrase “Day-One-Temple” might also refer to the first day of each month, hence be a “New Moon Temple”. However it may be, services were not only held on 1 Nisannu or the first day of another month, but during the entire year, as is clear from the Rahimesu document mentioned above, where money is spent for offerings in the Day-One-Temple from 15 Addaru (XII) to 15 Intercalary Addaru (XII2) 218 SE.

In view of the uncertainties it is advisable to translate É UD.1.KAM as “Day-One-Temple”, rather than as Akitu temple or New Year Temple.

6
For the translation of TA as “by”, see comment at the Ptolemy III chronicle (BCHP 11: obv. 11′, rev. 8′, 10′, 14′.) and Demetrius and Arabia fragment rev.1′).

KUR = kašâdu = “to reach, to arrive; to conquer; to capture (an enemy), to arrest (a criminal)”; kuššudu, “to chase away; to pursue; to approach; to make prisoner” (CAD K 271). The difficulty of this line is that a man seems to be arrested (@a-bit), who was caught (KUR) a half year before. Perhaps the meaning is that since a half year he was on the run from the governor and was now captured.

9
zazakku: see above, General Commentary.

^lúEN pi-qit^lúza-zak-ku, “the trustee of the zazakku“. ^lúEN pi-qit is a construct case in which case the meaning is “representative, trustee”, “Beauftragter” (cf. AHw I: 120) of someone else (i.c. the zazakku). The title also occurs in plural and as an overseer or clerk of certain profession groups, as in BRM I 88. See Boiy 2004: 211, who translates “clerk” and Bongenaar 1997: 151, n. 170. The bêl piqittu Eanna in Uruk, however, was an important royal overseer of the temple entrusted with the leasing of temple land. See e.g. YBT VI 40 and 41 (Cocquerillat 1968: 108-9; 39 sqq.; cf. Van der Spek 1987: 72) A bêl piqitti Esagila with the same kind of function is attested as well: CT 56, 463, cf. Bongenaar 1997: 62).

^lúEN pi-qit may also be an error for ^lúEN pi-qit-ti (as the final vowel probably was not pronounced), so that we can translate: “the trustee (supervisor), the zazakku, etc.” It seems to be a list of high functionaries, in which a “clerk” is not fitting.

11
The scribe wrote “12”, but the context requires “22”.

šá ina IGI-ma ina lìb-bi-šú-nu LÁ, “with which it had been weighed in the past”. For the use of ša … ina libbišunu, “with which^pl”, with an instrumental meaning: see the astronomical text AO 6478 (Thureau-Dangin, RA 10, 1913, 215-225; translation: Schaumberger ZA 50, 1952, 214-229) (suggestion M. Ossendrijver).

12
kî, “when, as soon as, after” (cf. CAD K p. 316). In Middle and Late Babylonian texts the conjunction kî, “when”, used as introduction to temporal subordinate clauses, is not constructed at the beginning of the sentence, but immediately before the verb. Cf. W. Von Soden, Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta Orientalia 33. (Rome 1969), p. 276, § 172 e. (suggestion M. Ossendrijver).

Reverse

3
^gišI.LU = ^gišKUN₄ = simmiltu = ladder, rack (Borger, 2003 [MZ], p. 203, no. 252). The rack of interrogation is also mentioned in a diary referring to similar (or the same?) events: AD II, p. 476, no. -168A rev. 18′. See also the commentary on the Chronicle of the Diadochi (BCHP 3) 30=11′ with other references.

8
MÁ.MEŠ. The signs look like RI.MEŠ, but this conveys no meaning. In astronomical diary AD III, no. -132A r. 19-20 the scribe wrote the sign MÁ = (eleppu, “ship”) in a way that it can hardly be distinguished from RI. Cf. Labat 1963 no. 122 (má) and no. 86 (ri).

 Babylon

7-9
The exact meaning of the phrase escapes us. It may refer to repair of ships in harbour upstream of Babylon just outside the palace, which was situated on the river on the north wall of Babylon (see map).

9
ig-da-áš-ru-ú: perf, of kašâru A, “to repair (ruined or damaged walls, buildings, etc.)” or kašâru C, “to replace” (CAD K 284-5)?

10-12
The phrase “I heard” suggests that something happened to Antiochus far away from Babylon. Antiochus V was murdered in Antioch by Demetrius I. See general commentary.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/rp/rp201/rp20138.htm

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue)

1. Barachiel is a slave of ransom 1 belonging to Gagâ the daughter of

  (giant semi-divine king Nebuchadnesser II, 605-562 B.C.)

2 …… whom in the 35th year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 2

3. [from Akhi-]nuri, the son of Nabu-nadin-akh, for the third of a mina and 8 shekels

4. she had bought. Recently 3 he has instituted an action, saying thus: I am the son of a (noble) ancestor, of the family 4 of Bel-rimanni,

5. who have joined the hands (in matrimony) of Samas-mudammiq the son of Nabu-nadin-akh

6. and the woman Qusadu the daughter of Akhi-nuri, even I. In the presence of

  (Nabonidus & his inscriptions on 2 ancient stelai)

7. the high-priest, 5 the nobles and the judges of Nabonidus king of Babylon

8. they pleaded the case and listened to their arguments in regard to the obligation of servitude

9. of Barachiel. From the 35th year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

(Nabonidus & symbols of gods, ruled Babylon 556-539 B.C.)

10. to the 7th year of Nabonidus king of Babylon, 6 he had been sold for money, had been put

11. in pledge, (and) as the dowry of Nubtâ the daughter

12. of Gagâ had been given. Afterwards Nubtâ had alienated him by a sealed contract; 7

13. in exchange for a house and slaves to Zamama-nadin

14. her son and Idinâ her husband had given him. They read (the evidence) and

15. said thus to Barachiel: Thou hast brought an action and said: The son of a (noble) ancestor

16. am I. Prove to us thy (noble) ancestry. Barachiel his former statement

17. retracted, saying: Twice have I run away from the house of my master, but many people (were present),

18. and 1 I was seen. I was afraid and said (accordingly) that I am the son of a (noble) ancestor.

19. My citizenship exists not; I am the slave of ransom of Gaga.

20. Nubtâ her daughter received me as (her) dowry; Nubtâ

21. alienated me by a sealed contract, and to Zamama-nadin her son and Idinâ 2 her husband

22. gave me in exchange; and after the death of Gagâ (and) Nubtâ,

23. to Itti-Marduk-baladh the son of Nabu-akhe-iddin of the family of Egibi, for silver

24. I [was sold]. I am a slave. Go now, [pronounce sentence] about me.

25. [The high-priest], the nobles and the judges heard the evidence

26. [and] restored [Barachiel] to his condition as slave of ransom, notwithstanding the absence of Samas-mudammiq

27. [the son of Nabu-nadin-akh] and Qudasu the daughter of Akhi-nuri, the seller 3

28. [of the slave]. For the registration of this [decision] Musezib the [priest]

29. [and] Nergal-akhe-iddin the judges

30 of the family of Epis-el, in the city of the palace of the king of Babylon, the 17th day of

31. the month Marchesvan 1 [the 7th? year] of Nabonidus king of Babylon.

Footnotes

156:1 The father of Akhi-nuri was Nabu-nadin-akh (“Nebo (Nabu) gives a brother”), and the father of the son-in-law bears the same name. But it is by no means certain that the uncle married his niece, since the two persons may have been different.

156:2 It would be a useful work to collect the names of all the banû or ancestors, men of noble birth, like Egibi, Nur-Sin, and others.

160:1 For the meaning of this expression see above, p. 158.

160:2 B.C. 590.

160:3 Ana eninni, not a proper name as Dr. Revillout supposes!

160:4 Read lu zir. Several distinguished persons were called Bel-rimanni, among others a priest of the Sun-god.

160:5 Sangu.

160:6 B.C. 549.

160:7 The text does not seem to me to have been correctly copied here.

161:1 Not ka.

161:2 Such names are all, I think, emphatic imperatives: Idinâ, “give!” Basâ, “exist!” Iribâ, “multiply!” Considering the Aramaic transcription of the last name, we ought perhaps to pronounce Idinai, Basai.

161:3 Nadinan, a singular noun with the same termination as makhiranu, “the buyer;” masikhanu, “the measurer;” paqiranu, “the plaintiff;” napalkattanu, “the defendant.”

162:1 October.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/rp/rp201/rp20137.htm

Besides the story of the Creation in a series of successive acts, Mr. George Smith brought to light the fragments of two tablets containing another legend of the Creation which varied very considerably from it. The tablets belonged to the library of Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh, but the colophon informs us that they had been copied from older documents which came from the library of Cutha, now Tel Ibrahim, in Babylonia. The text has never been published, but a translation was given of it by Mr. Smith in his Chaldean Genesis, and a revised version by myself in the Records of the Past, vol. xi. As much progress has been made in cuneiform studies during the ten years which have elapsed since the latter was published, I now give another translation of the inscription, embodying the improvements which our increased knowledge of the Assyrian language has enabled me to make.

The Cuthæan legend, it will be observed, knows nothing of a creation in successive acts. Chaos is a period when as yet writing was unknown. But the earth already existed, and was inhabited by the chaotic brood of Tiamat, imperfect first attempts, as it were, of nature, who lived in a city underground. They were destroyed, not by Merodach (Marduk), the god of Babylon, but by Nergal, the patron-deity of Cutha, who is identified with Nerra, the god of pestilence, and Ner, the mythical monarch of Babylonia who reigned before the Deluge. The words of the poem are put into the mouth of Nergal, and the poem itself was written for his great temple at Cutha.

The legend of Cutha agrees better with that reported by Bêrôssos than does the legend of the Epic. In both alike we have a first creation of living beings, and these beings are of a composite nature, the offspring of Tiamat or Chaos. In both alike the whole brood is exterminated by the gods of light.

The date to which the legend in its present form may be assigned is difficult to determine. The inscription is written in Semitic only, like the other creation-tablets, and consequently cannot belong to the pre-Semitic age. It belongs, moreover, to an epoch when the unification of the deities of Babylonia had already taken place, and the circle of the great gods was complete. Ea (Enki), Istar (Inanna), Zamama (unidentidied?), Anunit (unidentified?), even Nebo (Nabu) and Samas (Utu / Shamash), are all referred to in it. Possibly it may be dated in the age of Khammuragas (cir. B.C. 2350).

The Cuthaean Legend of the Creation

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue….mixed-breed kings in teal)

COLUMN I

Many lines are lost at the commencement.

2. His word (is) the command of the gods …
3. His glancing-white instrument (is) the glancing-white instrument (of the gods).
4. (He is) lord of that which is above and that which is below, the lord of the spirits of earth,
5. who drinks turbid waters and drinks not clear waters;
6. in whose field that warrior’s weapon all that rests there (?)
7. has captured (and) destroyed.
8. On a tablet he wrote not, he opened not (the mouth), and bodies and produce
9. he caused not to come forth in the land, and I approached him not.
10. Warriors with the body of a bird of the valley, men
11. with the faces of ravens,
12. did the great gods create.
13. In the ground the gods created his city.
14. Tiamat gave them suck.
15. Their progeny 1 the mistress of the gods created.
16. In the midst of the mountains they grew up and became heroes and
17. increased in number.
18. Seven kings, brethren, appeared as begetters;
19. six thousand (in number were) their armies.
20. The god Ba-nini their father (was) king; their mother
21. the queen (was) Melili;

22. their eldest brother who went before them, Me-mangab 1 (was) his name;
23. (their) second brother, Me-dudu 2 (was) his name;
24. (their) third brother, [Me-man]pakh (was) his name;
25. (their) fourth brother, [Me-da]da (was) his name;
26. (their) fifth brother, [Me-man]takh (was) his name;
27. (their) sixth brother, [Me-ru]ru 3 (was) his name;
28. (their seventh brother, Me-rara was) his name.

………

         COLUMN II

Many lines are destroyed.

1. … the evil curse …
2. He turned his word …
3. On a … I arranged …
4. On a tablet the evil curse he wrote (?) …
5. In … I urged the augurs on.
6. Seven against seven in breadth I arranged (them).
7. I set up the holy reeds (?).
8. I prayed to (?) the great gods,

  (Utu & twin sister Inanna)
9. Istar (Inanna), …, Zamama, Anunit (unidentified gods?),
10. Nebo (Nabu), …, (and) Samas (Shamash / Utu) the warrior,

  (Nebo / Nabu; Nannar, Moon Crescent God of Ur)
11. the son (of the Moon-god (Nannar), the …) of the gods my couriers.
12. …… he did not give, and
13. thus I spake to my heart
14. saying: Verily it is I, and
15. never may I go … beneath the dust!
16. never may I go … the prayer.
17. May I go when the son … my heart;
18. and may I renew the iron, may I assume the black garment. 4

19. The first year as it passed
20. one hundred and twenty thousand warriors I caused to go forth, and among them
2I. not one returned alive.
22. The second year as it passed I caused 90,000 soldiers to go forth and none returned alive.
23. The third year as it passed I caused 60,700 to go forth, and none returned.
24. They were carried away, they were smitten with sickness. I ate,
25. I lamented, 1 I rested.
26. Thus did I speak to my heart saying, “Verily it is I, and
27. (yet) what have I left to reign over?
28. I am a king who makes not his country whole,

COLUMN III

1. and a shepherd who makes not his people whole,
2. Since I have produced corpses and have left a desert.” 2
3. With terror of men, 3 night, death (and) plague have I cursed it.
4. With fear, violence, destruction (and) famine
5. (I have effected) the overthrow of all that exist.
6. …… there descended.
7. …… (I) caused a deluge.
8. ……… that deluge.
9. ………… all
10. the foundations (of the earth were shaken?)
11. The gods ……
12. Thou didst command me, and …
13. and they are created (?) …
14. Thou protectest …
15. A memorial of drinking and …

  (Ea / Enki, King Anu‘s eldest & wisest son, God of Waters)
16. in supplication to Ea …
17. holy memorial sacrifices …

18. holy laws …
19. I called the sons of the augurs …
20. seven against seven in breadth I arranged (them).
21. I placed the holy reeds (?) …
22. I implored (?) the (great) gods,
23. Ishtar (Inanna), …, Zamama, Anunit (unidentified gods),
24. Nebo (Nabu), … (and Samas (Shamash / Utu) the warrior)
25. the son (of the Moon-god (Nannar), the … of the gods my couriers)

………

COLUMN IV

Many lines are lost.

1. With …
2. the men …
3. the city Nak 1 …
4. a city which …
5. to….
6. powerful king …
7. the gods …
8. my hand …
9. Thou, O king, high priest, 2 shepherd, or any one else,
10. whom the god shall call (to) rule the kingdom,
11. this tablet I have made for thee, (this) stêlê I have inscribed for thee
12. in the city of Cutha in the temple of Sulim; 3

  (giant alien god Nergal, Lord of the Under World)
I3. in the ark 4 of Nergal I have left it for thee.
14. Hearken to the voice 5 of this stêlê, and
15. remove it not, forget 6 it not;
16. fear not, tremble not!
17. May he establish thy seat!
18. Mayest thou achieve success 7 in thy works!

19. Build up 1 thy fortresses!
20. Fill 2 thy canals with water!
21. May thy papyri, 3 thy corn, thy silver,
22. thy goods, thy property,
23. (and) thy furniture, (all) of them
24. (be multiplied)! strengthen the … for (thy) hands!
25 … make perfect the stores of thine increase!
26. (As for the evil one) thou shalt cause him to go forth.
27. (As for the harmful one) thou shalt enchain him.”

Footnotes

149:1 Sasur.

150:1 “The voice” or “thunder strikes.” The Accadian proper names found in the legend indicate that although in its present form it is of Semitic origin it must be based on older pre-Semitic materials. Moreover, the expression “his name” is written in Accadian (mu-ni) which shows that it has been quoted from an Accadian text.

150:2 “The voice goes up and down.”

150:3 “The voice creates.”

150:4 Ati lutsbat.

151:1 Asus.

151:2 Buti.

151:3 Salummat nisi. This passage shows that salummat cannot signify “brilliance,” as Jensen supposes.

152:1 Perhaps nak(ru) “foreign.”

152:2 Pate’si.

152:3 The name of the great temple of Nergal in Cutha. For the reading see my Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians.

152:4 Papakh, “the ark “in which the image of the god was carried, and which stood in the inner shrine or “holy of holies” (parakku).

152:5 Literally “mouth.”

152:6 Tensi for temsi.

152:7 Sipar.

153:1 Urrim, whence arammu, “a wall.”

153:2 Nabli; comp. nubalu, W.A.I., i. 15, vii. 57.

153:3 Pi’sannati.

The Walker Chronicle was published by C.B.F. Walker in G. van Driel e.a. (eds.): Zikir Šumim: Assyriological Studies Presented to F.R. Kraus on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday (1982). More information can be found in Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, 2004)

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue …mixed-breed demigods in teal…)

The Walker Chronicle, which is sometimes called Chronicle 25, is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with events during the reign of the kings of the Kassite Dynasty and the Second Dynasty of Isin, and contains several duplicate lines with the Eclectic Chronicle.

Translation

(Adad, Ashur, mixed-breed demigod Tukulti-Ninurta, & Ninurta, gods appointing their king) 1 Tukulti-Ninurta, king of Assyria,[1] took Babylon and Sippar and controlled Karduniaš.

(Adad-shuma-ussur driven from Egypt by father to Ramses III) 2 Adad-šuma-usur [2; …] restored […] and rebuilt the wall of Nippur.

3 […] he firmly established. Enlil-kudurri-usur, king of Assyria,[3]

4 […] Adad-šuma-usur mustered his troops, attacked, and defeated him.

5 The officers of Assyria seized Enlil-kudurri-usur, their lord, and gave him to Adad-šuma-usur,

6 […] the people of Karduniaš who had fled to Assyria

7 surrendered to Adad-šuma-usur. Adad-šuma-usur, to conquer Babylon,

8 marched […] Somebody, the son of a nobody, whose name is not mentioned, [4] [ascended to the throne].

9 Hearing this unexpected news, Adad-šuma-usur raised a revolt, and, enjoying eternal divine protection, he entered Babylon and

10 he became ruler of the land and established himself on his royal throne.

——————————————

11 […] they killed him.

——————————————

12 […] he attacked and removed the king of Mari in a rebellion.

13 […] he controlled Mari.

——————————————

14 […] fear of Elam fell on him and

15 […] on the bank of the Euphrates he built a city and

16 […] of Sumer and Akkad he brought within it,

17 […] was cut off and the people became poor in deficiency and famine.

18 […] they killed him in a rebellion.

——————————————

19 Enlil-nadin-apli,[5] son of Nebuchadnezzar, marched on Aššur to conquer it.

(Marduk-nadin-ahhe, King of Babylonia, 1,140-1,086 B.C.) 20 Marduk-nadin-ahhe,[6] brother of Nebuchadnezzar, and the nobles rebelled against him and

21 Enlil-nadin-apli returned to his land his city. They killed him with the sword.

——————————————

22 Marduk-nadin-apli and the nobles rebelled against Enlil-nadin-apli

23 he returned

24 […] and defeated him.

25 He attacked and he had him killed with the sword.

26 Tiglath-pileser, [7] king of Assyria attacked and […]

——————————————

27 Marduk-šapik-zeri,[8] son of Marduk-nadin-ahhe, rebuilt the wall of Babylon.

28 […] kings of the lands he defeated. During his reign, the people of the land enjoyed abundance and prosperity.

——————————————

29 Adad-apla-iddina,[9] descendant of Itti-Marduk-balatu, the Arameans and an usurper king rebelled against him and

30 desecrated all the sanctuaries of the land. Akkad, Der, Dur-Anki (Nippur),

31 Sippar and Parsa (Dur-Kurigalzu) they demolished.

32 The Suteans attacked and took home the booty of Sumer and Akkad.

33 He repeatedly visited the shrines of Marduk and appeased the heart of Bêl (Marduk) and the son of Bêl (Nabu).

34 [….] he fully restored their cults.

Note 1:
King of Assyria between 1233 and 1197.

Note 2:
A successful Babylonian king (1206-1177) who defeated Tukulti-Ninurta of Assyria.

Note 3:
King from 1186 to 1182.

Note 4:
A rebellion during the reign of Adad-šuma-usur. A ‘son of a nobody’ was a ruler without notable ancestors. The addition in italics is hypothetical.

Note 5:
Enlil-nadin-apli was king of Babylonia from 1103 to 1100. His father had ruled the country from 1125 to 1104.

Note 6:
King from 1099 to 1082.

Note 7:
Tiglath-pileser I was king from 1114 to 1076.

Note 8:
King of Babylonia from 1081 to 1069.

Note 9:
Adad-apla-iddina was king of Babylonia from 1068 to 1047; Itti-Marduk-balatu from 1139 to 1132. The section is identical to several lines from the Eclectic Chronicle.

The translation on this web page was adapted from A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975) and Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, 2004).

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue)

The Eclectic Chronicle (ABC 24) is one of the historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with events between 1080 and 822 that were important from a Babylonian point of view, but the exact purpose of this text is unclear. Some lines are duplicates of the Walker Chronicle.

The text of this chronicle is inscribed on a tablet, BM 27859 (98-7-11, 124), the top of which is missing. There is also a large piece missing from the lower left-hand corner. The preserved portion, about two thirds of the text, measures 45 mm wide and 60 mm long.

Translation of obverse

Translation of reverse

Note 1:
King of Babylonia between 1081 and 1069.

Note 2:
Ruled 1073-1056.

Note 3:
Adad-apla-iddina was king of Babylonia from 1068 to 1047; Itti-Marduk-balatu from 1139 to 1132. The section is identical to several lines from the Walker Chronicle.

Note 4:
This king ruled from 1004 to 988; his fifth year is 1000 BCE.

Note 5:
In this period, only Eulmaš-šakin-šumi had more than thirteen regnal years, so his fourteenth year, 991 BCE) can be meant.

Note 6:
Mar-biti-apla-usur was king of Babylonia from 984 to 979; his fourth year is 981.

Note 7:
This king ruled from 978 to 943.

Note 8:
Became king of Babylonia in 942.

Note 9:
Adad-nirari II ruled from 911 to 891.

Note 10:
Tukulti-Ninurta II was king of Assyria in 890-884.

Note 11:
Aššur-nasir-apli II of Assyria reigned from 883 to 859.

Note 12:
Šalmaneser III of Assyria was king from 858 to 824. His contemporaries can not be dated more accurately.

Note 13:
In fact, an Assyrian king must have ruled over the country The events mentioned in the next section can not be dated exactly.

Note 14:
King of Babylonia, 747-734.

Note 15:
The first full regnal year of Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria is 744; he must have ascended in 745.

Note 16:
The first full regnal year of Šalmaneser V of Assyria is 726; he must have ascended in 727.