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Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, Text

(circa 1780 B.C.)

Translated by L. W. King

http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/hamcode.asp

(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…)

         (King Anu in his winged sky-disc, father in heaven to his “sons of god” on Earth, “those who came down”)

        When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki (father of the gods on planet Nibiru & Earth Colony),

            (Enlil, King Anu’s son & heir; Enlil in his sky-disc over Sumer) 

         and Bel (Enlil) the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land,

            (Enki & his 4 main sons in the Abzu marshlands of Eridu)

         assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea (Enki), God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man,

         and made him great among the Igigi (space truckers of goods from Earth to Mars to Nibiru),

         they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it,

         whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth;

               (Hammurabi the mixed-breed “exalted prince” picked by alien forefathers)

         then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God,

         to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land,

         to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the         weak;

            (Utu & loyal king picked by giant gods, Hammurabi, chosen to rule the little earthling black-hairs)

        so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash (Utu),

         and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

           2e - King Hammurabi, king of Marduk's city  (Hammurabi, giant mixed-breed picked by gods for kingship, & Inanna to be her spouse)

         Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase,

         enriching Nippur (Enlil’s patron city) and Dur-ilu beyond compare, sublime patron of E-kur;

          3a - Enlil's Ekur-House in Nippur (E-kur, Enlil’s ziggurat / mountain residence in Nippur)

         who reestablished Eridu (Enki’s patron city) and purified the worship of E-apsu (Enki’s residence in Eridu);

         who conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the name of Babylon (Marduk’s patron city),

2 - Marduk upon a ram (Marduk, Enki’s eldest son, stands upon his zodiac symbol Aries the Ram)

rejoiced the heart of Marduk, his lord who daily pays his devotions in Saggil;

2bc - Nanna & his symbol (Nannar / Sin, designated moon crescent god, patron god of Ur)

the royal scion whom Sin (Nannar) made; who enriched Ur (Nannar’s patron city);

the humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal;

2a - Utu, Shamash, twin to Inanna (Utu, designated Sun god, patron god of Sippar, Nannar’s son)

the white king, heard of Shamash (Utu), the mighty,

who again laid the foundations of Sippara (Sippar, Utu’s patron city);

who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green;

2b - City of Sippar with Utu's Ziggurat (E-babbar & Sippar ruins discovered)

who made E-babbar (“shining house”, Utu’s ziggurat / residence in Sippar) great, which is like the heavens,

  (Larsa ruins discovered – 1912 photo)

the warrior who guarded Larsa (Nannar’s city) and renewed E-babbar,

  (Utu shows the way to mixed-breed king Hammurabi, scribing the Law Code for him to implement upon the “black-headed”, using their mixed-breed offspring for go-betweens the gods & men, keeping a distance from earthlings)

with Shamash (Utu) as his helper; the lord who granted new life to Uruk (Inanna’s patron city),

who brought plenteous water to its inhabitants,

raised the head of E-anna (Anu’s & Inanna’s ziggurat / residence in Uruk),

3b - Anu of planet Nibiru 2a - Nannar statue 2,000 B.C. (alien Anunnaki giant king Anu; & his grandson Nannar)

and perfected the beauty of Anu and Nana (Nannar);

  (Isin discovered, & to this very day, heavily looted for profits, or artefacts destruction)

shield of the land, who reunited the scattered inhabitants of Isin;

who richly endowed E-gal-mach (Bau’s ziggurat / residence in Isin);

 (Ninurta, warrior god, 2nd in line for Nibiru kingship, after King Anu & father Enlil)

the protecting king of the city, brother of the god Zamama (Ninurta, Bau’s spouse);

who firmly founded the farms of Kish (his mother Ninhursag’s city),

crowned E-me-te-ursag (Ninhursag’s ziggurat residence in Kish) with glory,

redoubled the great holy treasures of Nana, managed the temple of Harsag-kalama (temple of Ninhursag);

the grave of the enemy, whose help brought about the victory;

who increased the power of Cuthah; made all glorious in E-shidlam,

the black steer, who gored the enemy; beloved of the god Nebo (Nabu, patron god of Borsippa),

2bb - god Nabu & US Army  (Nabu in Baghdad Museum, now ignorantly & shamefully destroyed by Radical Islam)

who rejoiced the inhabitants of Borsippa, the Sublime;

  (Borsippa, ziggurat / residence, & Tower of Babel ruins discovered)

who is indefatigable for E-zida (Nabu’s ziggurat / residence in Borsippa);

the divine king of the city; the White, Wise; who broadened the fields of Dilbat,

 (Marduk’s son, mixed-breed king, earthling worker, Marduk upon his dragon symbol, & another of Marduk’s sons)

who heaped up the harvests for Urash (Marduk); the Mighty, the lord to whom come scepter and crown,

with which he clothes himself; the Elect of Ma-ma (another name for mother goddess Ninhursag);

who fixed the temple bounds of Kesh (Kish, Ninhursag’s patron city),

2e - Ninhursag & DNA experiments (Ninhursag, Enki’s sister-lover, 1/2 sister to Enlil, DNA medical scientist)

who made rich the holy feasts of Nin-tu (name for Ninhursag); the provident, solicitous,

  (Lagash, largest city of the day)

who provided food and drink for Lagash (Ninurta’s patron city) and Girsu,

who provided large sacrificial offerings for the temple of Ningirsu (her son Ninurta);

who captured the enemy, the Elect of the oracle who fulfilled the prediction of Hallab,

           IF (Inanna, Nannar’s daughter, Utu’s sister, the goddess of love)

who rejoiced the heart of Anunit (Inanna is called by dozens of names);

1b - Ishkur, Adad, Teshub (Adad, Enlil’s 3rd son after Ninurta & Nannar, the thunder god)

the pure prince, whose prayer is accepted by Adad; who satisfied the heart of Adad,

  (alien Anunnaki warrior-god Adad, with alien high-tech weaponry & communication towers; Adad, named thunder god from sound of his explosions)

the warrior, in Karkar, who restored the vessels for worship in E-ud-gal-gal (Adad’s ziggurat in Assyria);

Image result for adab city state  (Adab, Adad’s patron city areal view)

the king who granted life to the city of Adab; the guide of E-mach (Adad’s residence in Adab);

the princely king of the city, the irresistible warrior, who granted life to the inhabitants of Mashkanshabri,

and brought abundance to the temple of Shidlam;

the White, Potent, who penetrated the secret cave of the bandits,

saved the inhabitants of Malka from misfortune, and fixed their home fast in wealth;

who established pure sacrificial gifts for Ea (Enki) and Dam-gal-nun-na (Enki’s spouse Ninki),

who made his kingdom everlastingly great; the princely king of the city,

 (when Enki wears the “fishes suit” / wet suit, he is called Dagon, manned winged sky-disc above; Dagon in “fishes suit”)

who subjected the districts on the Ud-kib-nun-na Canal to the sway of Dagon (Enki in this case),

his Creator; who spared the inhabitants of Mera and Tutul;

the sublime prince, who makes the face of Ninni (Inanna) shine;

who presents holy meals to the divinity of Nin-a-zu (Enlil’s &/or Ereshkigal’s son),

who cared for its inhabitants in their need, provided a portion for them in Babylon in peace;

the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves; whose deeds find favor before Anunit,

who provided for Anunit in the temple of Dumash in the suburb of Agade;

  (Marduk’s son Ashur’s city of Assur, with his ziggurat / residence)

who recognizes the right, who rules by law; who gave back to the city of Ashur its protecting god (Ashur);

who let the name of Ishtar (Inanna) of Nineveh remain in E-mish-mish (her house there);

the Sublime, who humbles himself before the great gods; successor of Sumula-il;

the mighty son (“mighty man” mixed-breed) of Sin-muballit; the royal scion of Eternity;

the mighty monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays shed light over the land of Sumer and Akkad;

the king, obeyed by the four quarters of the world;

Beloved of Ninni (Inanna), am I.

3bb - Marduk in battle riding reptilian symbol (Marduk & son Nabu ready for war)

When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land,

I did right and righteousness in . . . , and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.

CODE OF LAWS

(282 laws, then the text continues…)

1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.

4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the action produces.

5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge’s bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement.

6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.

7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death.

8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death.

9. If any one lose an article, and find it in the possession of another: if the person in whose possession the thing is found say “A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses,” and if the owner of the thing say, “I will bring witnesses who know my property,” then shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him, and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witnesses who can identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony–both of the witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses who identify the lost article on oath. The merchant is then proved to be a thief and shall be put to death. The owner of the lost article receives his property, and he who bought it receives the money he paid from the estate of the merchant.

10. If the purchaser does not bring the merchant and the witnesses before whom he bought the article, but its owner bring witnesses who identify it, then the buyer is the thief and shall be put to death, and the owner receives the lost article.

11. If the owner do not bring witnesses to identify the lost article, he is an evil-doer, he has traduced, and shall be put to death.

12. If the witnesses be not at hand, then shall the judge set a limit, at the expiration of six months. If his witnesses have not appeared within the six months, he is an evil-doer, and shall bear the fine of the pending case. [editor’s note: there is no 13th law in the code, 13 being considered and unlucky and evil number]

14. If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

15. If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death.

16. If any one receive into his house a runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus, the master of the house shall be put to death.

17. If any one find runaway male or female slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.

18. If the slave will not give the name of the master, the finder shall bring him to the palace; a further investigation must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his master.

19. If he hold the slaves in his house, and they are caught there, he shall be put to death.

20. If the slave that he caught run away from him, then shall he swear to the owners of the slave, and he is free of all blame.

21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.

22. If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.

23. If the robber is not caught, then shall he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the community, and . . . on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it was compensate him for the goods stolen.

24. If persons are stolen, then shall the community and . . . pay one mina of silver to their relatives.

25. If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.

26. If a chieftain or a man (common soldier), who has been ordered to go upon the king’s highway for war does not go, but hires a mercenary, if he withholds the compensation, then shall this officer or man be put to death, and he who represented him shall take possession of his house.

27. If a chieftain or man be caught in the misfortune of the king (captured in battle), and if his fields and garden be given to another and he take possession, if he return and reaches his place, his field and garden shall be returned to him, he shall take it over again.

28. If a chieftain or a man be caught in the misfortune of a king, if his son is able to enter into possession, then the field and garden shall be given to him, he shall take over the fee of his father.

29. If his son is still young, and can not take possession, a third of the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and she shall bring him up.

30. If a chieftain or a man leave his house, garden, and field and hires it out, and some one else takes possession of his house, garden, and field and uses it for three years: if the first owner return and claims his house, garden, and field, it shall not be given to him, but he who has taken possession of it and used it shall continue to use it.

31. If he hire it out for one year and then return, the house, garden, and field shall be given back to him, and he shall take it over again.

32. If a chieftain or a man is captured on the “Way of the King” (in war), and a merchant buy him free, and bring him back to his place; if he have the means in his house to buy his freedom, he shall buy himself free: if he have nothing in his house with which to buy himself free, he shall be bought free by the temple of his community; if there be nothing in the temple with which to buy him free, the court shall buy his freedom. His field, garden, and house shall not be given for the purchase of his freedom.

33. If a . . . or a . . . enter himself as withdrawn from the “Way of the King,” and send a mercenary as substitute, but withdraw him, then the . . . or . . . shall be put to death.

34. If a . . . or a . . . harm the property of a captain, injure the captain, or take away from the captain a gift presented to him by the king, then the . . . or . . . shall be put to death.

35. If any one buy the cattle or sheep which the king has given to chieftains from him, he loses his money.

36. The field, garden, and house of a chieftain, of a man, or of one subject to quit-rent, can not be sold.

37. If any one buy the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet of sale shall be broken (declared invalid) and he loses his money. The field, garden, and house return to their owners.

38. A chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent can not assign his tenure of field, house, and garden to his wife or daughter, nor can he assign it for a debt.

39. He may, however, assign a field, garden, or house which he has bought, and holds as property, to his wife or daughter or give it for debt.

40. He may sell field, garden, and house to a merchant (royal agents) or to any other public official, the buyer holding field, house, and garden for its usufruct.

41. If any one fence in the field, garden, and house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, furnishing the palings therefor; if the chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent return to field, garden, and house, the palings which were given to him become his property.

42. If any one take over a field to till it, and obtain no harvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to the owner of the field.

43. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give grain like his neighbor’s to the owner of the field, and the field which he let lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner.

44. If any one take over a waste-lying field to make it arable, but is lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall plow the fallow field in the fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give it back to its owner, and for each ten gan (a measure of area) ten gur of grain shall be paid.

45. If a man rent his field for tillage for a fixed rental, and receive the rent of his field, but bad weather come and destroy the harvest, the injury falls upon the tiller of the soil.

46. If he do not receive a fixed rental for his field, but lets it on half or third shares of the harvest, the grain on the field shall be divided proportionately between the tiller and the owner.

47. If the tiller, because he did not succeed in the first year, has had the soil tilled by others, the owner may raise no objection; the field has been cultivated and he receives the harvest according to agreement.

48. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.

49. If any one take money from a merchant, and give the merchant a field tillable for corn or sesame and order him to plant corn or sesame in the field, and to harvest the crop; if the cultivator plant corn or sesame in the field, at the harvest the corn or sesame that is in the field shall belong to the owner of the field and he shall pay corn as rent, for the money he received from the merchant, and the livelihood of the cultivator shall he give to the merchant.

50. If he give a cultivated corn-field or a cultivated sesame-field, the corn or sesame in the field shall belong to the owner of the field, and he shall return the money to the merchant as rent.

51. If he have no money to repay, then he shall pay in corn or sesame in place of the money as rent for what he received from the merchant, according to the royal tariff.

52. If the cultivator do not plant corn or sesame in the field, the debtor’s contract is not weakened.

53. If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined.

54. If he be not able to replace the corn, then he and his possessions shall be divided among the farmers whose corn he has flooded.

55. If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.

56. If a man let in the water, and the water overflow the plantation of his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of corn for every ten gan of land.

57. If a shepherd, without the permission of the owner of the field, and without the knowledge of the owner of the sheep, lets the sheep into a field to graze, then the owner of the field shall harvest his crop, and the shepherd, who had pastured his flock there without permission of the owner of the field, shall pay to the owner twenty gur of corn for every ten gan.

58. If after the flocks have left the pasture and been shut up in the common fold at the city gate, any shepherd let them into a field and they graze there, this shepherd shall take possession of the field which he has allowed to be grazed on, and at the harvest he must pay sixty gur of corn for every ten gan.

59. If any man, without the knowledge of the owner of a garden, fell a tree in a garden he shall pay half a mina in money.

60. If any one give over a field to a gardener, for him to plant it as a garden, if he work at it, and care for it for four years, in the fifth year the owner and the gardener shall divide it, the owner taking his part in charge.

61. If the gardener has not completed the planting of the field, leaving one part unused, this shall be assigned to him as his.

62. If he do not plant the field that was given over to him as a garden, if it be arable land (for corn or sesame) the gardener shall pay the owner the produce of the field for the years that he let it lie fallow, according to the product of neighboring fields, put the field in arable condition and return it to its owner.

63. If he transform waste land into arable fields and return it to its owner, the latter shall pay him for one year ten gur for ten gan.

64. If any one hand over his garden to a gardener to work, the gardener shall pay to its owner two-thirds of the produce of the garden, for so long as he has it in possession, and the other third shall he keep.

65. If the gardener do not work in the garden and the product fall off, the gardener shall pay in proportion to other neighboring gardens. [Here a portion of the text is missing, apparently comprising thirty-four paragraphs.]

100. . . . interest for the money, as much as he has received, he shall give a note therefor, and on the day, when they settle, pay to the merchant.

101. If there are no mercantile arrangements in the place whither he went, he shall leave the entire amount of money which he received with the broker to give to the merchant.

102. If a merchant entrust money to an agent (broker) for some investment, and the broker suffer a loss in the place to which he goes, he shall make good the capital to the merchant.

103. If, while on the journey, an enemy take away from him anything that he had, the broker shall swear by God and be free of obligation.

104. If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any other goods to transport, the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and compensate the merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain a receipt form the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.

105. If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the money which he gave the merchant, he can not consider the unreceipted money as his own.

106. If the agent accept money from the merchant, but have a quarrel with the merchant (denying the receipt), then shall the merchant swear before God and witnesses that he has given this money to the agent, and the agent shall pay him three times the sum.

107. If the merchant cheat the agent, in that as the latter has returned to him all that had been given him, but the merchant denies the receipt of what had been returned to him, then shall this agent convict the merchant before God and the judges, and if he still deny receiving what the agent had given him shall pay six times the sum to the agent.

108. If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.

109. If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.

110. If a “sister of a god” open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.

111. If an inn-keeper furnish sixty ka of usakani-drink to . . . she shall receive fifty ka of corn at the harvest.

112. If any one be on a journey and entrust silver, gold, precious stones, or any movable property to another, and wish to recover it from him; if the latter do not bring all of the property to the appointed place, but appropriate it to his own use, then shall this man, who did not bring the property to hand it over, be convicted, and he shall pay fivefold for all that had been entrusted to him.

113. If any one have consignment of corn or money, and he take from the granary or box without the knowledge of the owner, then shall he who took corn without the knowledge of the owner out of the granary or money out of the box be legally convicted, and repay the corn he has taken. And he shall lose whatever commission was paid to him, or due him.

114. If a man have no claim on another for corn and money, and try to demand it by force, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver in every case.

115. If any one have a claim for corn or money upon another and imprison him; if the prisoner die in prison a natural death, the case shall go no further.

116. If the prisoner die in prison from blows or maltreatment, the master of the prisoner shall convict the merchant before the judge. If he was a free-born man, the son of the merchant shall be put to death; if it was a slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina of gold, and all that the master of the prisoner gave he shall forfeit.

117. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money or give them away to forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them, or the proprietor, and in the fourth year they shall be set free.

118. If he give a male or female slave away for forced labor, and the merchant sublease them, or sell them for money, no objection can be raised.

119. If any one fail to meet a claim for debt, and he sell the maid servant who has borne him children, for money, the money which the merchant has paid shall be repaid to him by the owner of the slave and she shall be freed.

120. If any one store corn for safe keeping in another person’s house, and any harm happen to the corn in storage, or if the owner of the house open the granary and take some of the corn, or if especially he deny that the corn was stored in his house: then the owner of the corn shall claim his corn before God (on oath), and the owner of the house shall pay its owner for all of the corn that he took.

121. If any one store corn in another man’s house he shall pay him storage at the rate of one gur for every five ka of corn per year.

122. If any one give another silver, gold, or anything else to keep, he shall show everything to some witness, draw up a contract, and then hand it over for safe keeping.

123. If he turn it over for safe keeping without witness or contract, and if he to whom it was given deny it, then he has no legitimate claim.

124. If any one deliver silver, gold, or anything else to another for safe keeping, before a witness, but he deny it, he shall be brought before a judge, and all that he has denied he shall pay in full.

125. If any one place his property with another for safe keeping, and there, either through thieves or robbers, his property and the property of the other man be lost, the owner of the house, through whose neglect the loss took place, shall compensate the owner for all that was given to him in charge. But the owner of the house shall try to follow up and recover his property, and take it away from the thief.

126. If any one who has not lost his goods state that they have been lost, and make false claims: if he claim his goods and amount of injury before God, even though he has not lost them, he shall be fully compensated for all his loss claimed. (I.e., the oath is all that is needed.)

127. If any one “point the finger” (slander) at a sister of a god or the wife of any one, and can not prove it, this man shall be taken before the judges and his brow shall be marked. (by cutting the skin, or perhaps hair.)

128. If a man take a woman to wife, but have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

129. If a man’s wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.

130. If a man violate the wife (betrothed or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives in her father’s house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall be put to death, but the wife is blameless.

131. If a man bring a charge against one’s wife, but she is not surprised with another man, she must take an oath and then may return to her house.

132. If the “finger is pointed” at a man’s wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband.

133. If a man is taken prisoner in war, and there is a sustenance in his house, but his wife leave house and court, and go to another house: because this wife did not keep her court, and went to another house, she shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the water.

134. If any one be captured in war and there is not sustenance in his house, if then his wife go to another house this woman shall be held blameless.

135. If a man be taken prisoner in war and there be no sustenance in his house and his wife go to another house and bear children; and if later her husband return and come to his home: then this wife shall return to her husband, but the children follow their father.

136. If any one leave his house, run away, and then his wife go to another house, if then he return, and wishes to take his wife back: because he fled from his home and ran away, the wife of this runaway shall not return to her husband.

137. If a man wish to separate from a woman who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children: then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field, garden, and property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought up her children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal as that of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of her heart.

138. If a man wishes to separate from his wife who has borne him no children, he shall give her the amount of her purchase money and the dowry which she brought from her father’s house, and let her go.

139. If there was no purchase price he shall give her one mina of gold as a gift of release.

140. If he be a freed man he shall give her one-third of a mina of gold.

141. If a man’s wife, who lives in his house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house, neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if her husband offer her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he take another wife, she shall remain as servant in her husband’s house.

142. If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: “You are not congenial to me,” the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father’s house.

143. If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water.

144. If a man take a wife and this woman give her husband a maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man wishes to take another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a second wife.

145. If a man take a wife, and she bear him no children, and he intend to take another wife: if he take this second wife, and bring her into the house, this second wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife.

146. If a man take a wife and she give this man a maid-servant as wife and she bear him children, and then this maid assume equality with the wife: because she has borne him children her master shall not sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave, reckoning her among the maid-servants.

147. If she have not borne him children, then her mistress may sell her for money.

148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then desire to take a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he has built and support her so long as she lives.

149. If this woman does not wish to remain in her husband’s house, then he shall compensate her for the dowry that she brought with her from her father’s house, and she may go.

150. If a man give his wife a field, garden, and house and a deed therefor, if then after the death of her husband the sons raise no claim, then the mother may bequeath all to one of her sons whom she prefers, and need leave nothing to his brothers.

151. If a woman who lived in a man’s house made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and has given a document therefor: if that man, before he married that woman, had a debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it. But if the woman, before she entered the man’s house, had contracted a debt, her creditor can not arrest her husband therefor.

152. If after the woman had entered the man’s house, both contracted a debt, both must pay the merchant.

153. If the wife of one man on account of another man has their mates (her husband and the other man’s wife) murdered, both of them shall be impaled.

154. If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven from the place (exiled).

155. If a man betroth a girl to his son, and his son have intercourse with her, but he (the father) afterward defile her, and be surprised, then he shall be bound and cast into the water (drowned).

156. If a man betroth a girl to his son, but his son has not known her, and if then he defile her, he shall pay her half a gold mina, and compensate her for all that she brought out of her father’s house. She may marry the man of her heart.

157. If any one be guilty of incest with his mother after his father, both shall be burned.

158. If any one be surprised after his father with his chief wife, who has borne children, he shall be driven out of his father’s house.

159. If any one, who has brought chattels into his father-in-law’s house, and has paid the purchase-money, looks for another wife, and says to his father-in-law: “I do not want your daughter,” the girl’s father may keep all that he had brought.

160. If a man bring chattels into the house of his father-in-law, and pay the “purchase price” (for his wife): if then the father of the girl say: “I will not give you my daughter,” he shall give him back all that he brought with him.

161. If a man bring chattels into his father-in-law’s house and pay the “purchase price,” if then his friend slander him, and his father-in-law say to the young husband: “You shall not marry my daughter,” the he shall give back to him undiminished all that he had brought with him; but his wife shall not be married to the friend.

162. If a man marry a woman, and she bear sons to him; if then this woman die, then shall her father have no claim on her dowry; this belongs to her sons.

163. If a man marry a woman and she bear him no sons; if then this woman die, if the “purchase price” which he had paid into the house of his father-in-law is repaid to him, her husband shall have no claim upon the dowry of this woman; it belongs to her father’s house.

164. If his father-in-law do not pay back to him the amount of the “purchase price” he may subtract the amount of the “Purchase price” from the dowry, and then pay the remainder to her father’s house.

165. If a man give to one of his sons whom he prefers a field, garden, and house, and a deed therefor: if later the father die, and the brothers divide the estate, then they shall first give him the present of his father, and he shall accept it; and the rest of the paternal property shall they divide.

166. If a man take wives for his son, but take no wife for his minor son, and if then he die: if the sons divide the estate, they shall set aside besides his portion the money for the “purchase price” for the minor brother who had taken no wife as yet, and secure a wife for him.

167. If a man marry a wife and she bear him children: if this wife die and he then take another wife and she bear him children: if then the father die, the sons must not partition the estate according to the mothers, they shall divide the dowries of their mothers only in this way; the paternal estate they shall divide equally with one another.

168. If a man wish to put his son out of his house, and declare before the judge: “I want to put my son out,” then the judge shall examine into his reasons. If the son be guilty of no great fault, for which he can be rightfully put out, the father shall not put him out.

169. If he be guilty of a grave fault, which should rightfully deprive him of the filial relationship, the father shall forgive him the first time; but if he be guilty of a grave fault a second time the father may deprive his son of all filial relation.

170. If his wife bear sons to a man, or his maid-servant have borne sons, and the father while still living says to the children whom his maid-servant has borne: “My sons,” and he count them with the sons of his wife; if then the father die, then the sons of the wife and of the maid-servant shall divide the paternal property in common. The son of the wife is to partition and choose.

171. If, however, the father while still living did not say to the sons of the maid-servant: “My sons,” and then the father dies, then the sons of the maid-servant shall not share with the sons of the wife, but the freedom of the maid and her sons shall be granted. The sons of the wife shall have no right to enslave the sons of the maid; the wife shall take her dowry (from her father), and the gift that her husband gave her and deeded to her (separate from dowry, or the purchase-money paid her father), and live in the home of her husband: so long as she lives she shall use it, it shall not be sold for money. Whatever she leaves shall belong to her children.

172. If her husband made her no gift, she shall be compensated for her gift, and she shall receive a portion from the estate of her husband, equal to that of one child. If her sons oppress her, to force her out of the house, the judge shall examine into the matter, and if the sons are at fault the woman shall not leave her husband’s house. If the woman desire to leave the house, she must leave to her sons the gift which her husband gave her, but she may take the dowry of her father’s house. Then she may marry the man of her heart.

173. If this woman bear sons to her second husband, in the place to which she went, and then die, her earlier and later sons shall divide the dowry between them.

174. If she bear no sons to her second husband, the sons of her first husband shall have the dowry.

175. If a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry the daughter of a free man, and children are born, the master of the slave shall have no right to enslave the children of the free.

176. If, however, a State slave or the slave of a freed man marry a man’s daughter, and after he marries her she bring a dowry from a father’s house, if then they both enjoy it and found a household, and accumulate means, if then the slave die, then she who was free born may take her dowry, and all that her husband and she had earned; she shall divide them into two parts, one-half the master for the slave shall take, and the other half shall the free-born woman take for her children. If the free-born woman had no gift she shall take all that her husband and she had earned and divide it into two parts; and the master of the slave shall take one-half and she shall take the other for her children.

177. If a widow, whose children are not grown, wishes to enter another house (remarry), she shall not enter it without the knowledge of the judge. If she enter another house the judge shall examine the state of the house of her first husband. Then the house of her first husband shall be entrusted to the second husband and the woman herself as managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep the house in order, bring up the children, and not sell the house-hold utensils. He who buys the utensils of the children of a widow shall lose his money, and the goods shall return to their owners.

178. If a “devoted woman” or a prostitute to whom her father has given a dowry and a deed therefor, but if in this deed it is not stated that she may bequeath it as she pleases, and has not explicitly stated that she has the right of disposal; if then her father die, then her brothers shall hold her field and garden, and give her corn, oil, and milk according to her portion, and satisfy her. If her brothers do not give her corn, oil, and milk according to her share, then her field and garden shall support her. She shall have the usufruct of field and garden and all that her father gave her so long as she lives, but she can not sell or assign it to others. Her position of inheritance belongs to her brothers.

179. If a “sister of a god,” or a prostitute, receive a gift from her father, and a deed in which it has been explicitly stated that she may dispose of it as she pleases, and give her complete disposition thereof: if then her father die, then she may leave her property to whomsoever she pleases. Her brothers can raise no claim thereto.

180. If a father give a present to his daughter–either marriageable or a prostitute (unmarriageable)–and then die, then she is to receive a portion as a child from the paternal estate, and enjoy its usufruct so long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.

181. If a father devote a temple-maid or temple-virgin to God and give her no present: if then the father die, she shall receive the third of a child’s portion from the inheritance of her father’s house, and enjoy its usufruct so long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.

182. If a father devote his daughter as a wife of Mardi of Babylon (as in 181), and give her no present, nor a deed; if then her father die, then shall she receive one-third of her portion as a child of her father’s house from her brothers, but Marduk may leave her estate to whomsoever she wishes.

183. If a man give his daughter by a concubine a dowry, and a husband, and a deed; if then her father die, she shall receive no portion from the paternal estate.

184. If a man do not give a dowry to his daughter by a concubine, and no husband; if then her father die, her brother shall give her a dowry according to her father’s wealth and secure a husband for her.

185. If a man adopt a child and to his name as son, and rear him, this grown son can not be demanded back again.

186. If a man adopt a son, and if after he has taken him he injure his foster father and mother, then this adopted son shall return to his father’s house.

187. The son of a paramour in the palace service, or of a prostitute, can not be demanded back.

188. If an artizan has undertaken to rear a child and teaches him his craft, he can not be demanded back.

189. If he has not taught him his craft, this adopted son may return to his father’s house.

190. If a man does not maintain a child that he has adopted as a son and reared with his other children, then his adopted son may return to his father’s house.

191. If a man, who had adopted a son and reared him, founded a household, and had children, wish to put this adopted son out, then this son shall not simply go his way. His adoptive father shall give him of his wealth one-third of a child’s portion, and then he may go. He shall not give him of the field, garden, and house.

192. If a son of a paramour or a prostitute say to his adoptive father or mother: “You are not my father, or my mother,” his tongue shall be cut off.

193. If the son of a paramour or a prostitute desire his father’s house, and desert his adoptive father and adoptive mother, and goes to his father’s house, then shall his eye be put out.

194. If a man give his child to a nurse and the child die in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurse another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.

195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.

196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [ An eye for an eye ]

197. If he break another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken.

198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.

199. If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.

200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out. [ A tooth for a tooth ]

201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.

202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.

203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.

204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.

205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.

206. If during a quarrel one man strike another and wound him, then he shall swear, “I did not injure him wittingly,” and pay the physicians.

207. If the man die of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he (the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall pay half a mina in money.

208. If he was a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

209. If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.

210. If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death.

211. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money.

212. If this woman die, he shall pay half a mina.

213. If he strike the maid-servant of a man, and she lose her child, he shall pay two shekels in money.

214. If this maid-servant die, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

215. If a physician make a large incision with an operating knife and cure it, or if he open a tumor (over the eye) with an operating knife, and saves the eye, he shall receive ten shekels in money.

216. If the patient be a freed man, he receives five shekels.

217. If he be the slave of some one, his owner shall give the physician two shekels.

218. If a physician make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.

219. If a physician make a large incision in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with another slave.

220. If he had opened a tumor with the operating knife, and put out his eye, he shall pay half his value.

221. If a physician heal the broken bone or diseased soft part of a man, the patient shall pay the physician five shekels in money.

222. If he were a freed man he shall pay three shekels.

223. If he were a slave his owner shall pay the physician two shekels.

224. If a veterinary surgeon perform a serious operation on an ass or an ox, and cure it, the owner shall pay the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a fee.

225. If he perform a serious operation on an ass or ox, and kill it, he shall pay the owner one-fourth of its value.

226. If a barber, without the knowledge of his master, cut the sign of a slave on a slave not to be sold, the hands of this barber shall be cut off.

227. If any one deceive a barber, and have him mark a slave not for sale with the sign of a slave, he shall be put to death, and buried in his house. The barber shall swear: “I did not mark him wittingly,” and shall be guiltless.

228. If a builder build a house for some one and complete it, he shall give him a fee of two shekels in money for each sar of surface.

229 If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death.

231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then he shall pay slave for slave to the owner of the house.

232. If it ruin goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means.

233. If a builder build a house for some one, even though he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must make the walls solid from his own means.

234. If a shipbuilder build a boat of sixty gur for a man, he shall pay him a fee of two shekels in money.

235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for some one, and do not make it tight, if during that same year that boat is sent away and suffers injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and put it together tight at his own expense. The tight boat he shall give to the boat owner.

236. If a man rent his boat to a sailor, and the sailor is careless, and the boat is wrecked or goes aground, the sailor shall give the owner of the boat another boat as compensation.

237. If a man hire a sailor and his boat, and provide it with corn, clothing, oil and dates, and other things of the kind needed for fitting it: if the sailor is careless, the boat is wrecked, and its contents ruined, then the sailor shall compensate for the boat which was wrecked and all in it that he ruined.

238. If a sailor wreck any one’s ship, but saves it, he shall pay the half of its value in money.

239. If a man hire a sailor, he shall pay him six gur of corn per year.

240. If a merchantman run against a ferryboat, and wreck it, the master of the ship that was wrecked shall seek justice before God; the master of the merchantman, which wrecked the ferryboat, must compensate the owner for the boat and all that he ruined.

241. If any one impresses an ox for forced labor, he shall pay one-third of a mina in money.

242. If any one hire oxen for a year, he shall pay four gur of corn for plow-oxen.

243. As rent of herd cattle he shall pay three gur of corn to the owner.

244. If any one hire an ox or an ass, and a lion kill it in the field, the loss is upon its owner.

245. If any one hire oxen, and kill them by bad treatment or blows, he shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen.

246. If a man hire an ox, and he break its leg or cut the ligament of its neck, he shall compensate the owner with ox for ox.

247. If any one hire an ox, and put out its eye, he shall pay the owner one-half of its value.

248. If any one hire an ox, and break off a horn, or cut off its tail, or hurt its muzzle, he shall pay one-fourth of its value in money.

249. If any one hire an ox, and God strike it that it die, the man who hired it shall swear by God and be considered guiltless.

250. If while an ox is passing on the street (market) some one push it, and kill it, the owner can set up no claim in the suit (against the hirer).

251. If an ox be a goring ox, and it shown that he is a gorer, and he do not bind his horns, or fasten the ox up, and the ox gore a free-born man and kill him, the owner shall pay one-half a mina in money.

252. If he kill a man’s slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

253. If any one agree with another to tend his field, give him seed, entrust a yoke of oxen to him, and bind him to cultivate the field, if he steal the corn or plants, and take them for himself, his hands shall be hewn off.

254. If he take the seed-corn for himself, and do not use the yoke of oxen, he shall compensate him for the amount of the seed-corn.

255. If he sublet the man’s yoke of oxen or steal the seed-corn, planting nothing in the field, he shall be convicted, and for each one hundred gan he shall pay sixty gur of corn.

256. If his community will not pay for him, then he shall be placed in that field with the cattle (at work).

257. If any one hire a field laborer, he shall pay him eight gur of corn per year.

258. If any one hire an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur of corn per year.

259. If any one steal a water-wheel from the field, he shall pay five shekels in money to its owner.

260. If any one steal a shadduf (used to draw water from the river or canal) or a plow, he shall pay three shekels in money.

261. If any one hire a herdsman for cattle or sheep, he shall pay him eight gur of corn per annum.

262. If any one, a cow or a sheep . . .

263. If he kill the cattle or sheep that were given to him, he shall compensate the owner with cattle for cattle and sheep for sheep.

264. If a herdsman, to whom cattle or sheep have been entrusted for watching over, and who has received his wages as agreed upon, and is satisfied, diminish the number of the cattle or sheep, or make the increase by birth less, he shall make good the increase or profit which was lost in the terms of settlement.

265. If a herdsman, to whose care cattle or sheep have been entrusted, be guilty of fraud and make false returns of the natural increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be convicted and pay the owner ten times the loss.

266. If the animal be killed in the stable by God ( an accident), or if a lion kill it, the herdsman shall declare his innocence before God, and the owner bears the accident in the stable.

267. If the herdsman overlook something, and an accident happen in the stable, then the herdsman is at fault for the accident which he has caused in the stable, and he must compensate the owner for the cattle or sheep.

268. If any one hire an ox for threshing, the amount of the hire is twenty ka of corn.

269. If he hire an ass for threshing, the hire is twenty ka of corn.

270. If he hire a young animal for threshing, the hire is ten ka of corn.

271. If any one hire oxen, cart and driver, he shall pay one hundred and eighty ka of corn per day.

272. If any one hire a cart alone, he shall pay forty ka of corn per day.

273. If any one hire a day laborer, he shall pay him from the New Year until the fifth month (April to August, when days are long and the work hard) six gerahs in money per day; from the sixth month to the end of the year he shall give him five gerahs per day.

274. If any one hire a skilled artizan, he shall pay as wages of the . . . five gerahs, as wages of the potter five gerahs, of a tailor five gerahs, of . . . gerahs, . . . of a ropemaker four gerahs, of . . .. gerahs, of a mason . . . gerahs per day.

275. If any one hire a ferryboat, he shall pay three gerahs in money per day.

276. If he hire a freight-boat, he shall pay two and one-half gerahs per day.

277. If any one hire a ship of sixty gur, he shall pay one-sixth of a shekel in money as its hire per day.

278. If any one buy a male or female slave, and before a month has elapsed the benu-disease be developed, he shall return the slave to the seller, and receive the money which he had paid.

279. If any one by a male or female slave, and a third party claim it, the seller is liable for the claim.

280. If while in a foreign country a man buy a male or female slave belonging to another of his own country; if when he return home the owner of the male or female slave recognize it: if the male or female slave be a native of the country, he shall give them back without any money.

281. If they are from another country, the buyer shall declare the amount of money paid therefor to the merchant, and keep the male or female slave.

282. If a slave say to his master: “You are not my master,” if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.

THE EPILOGUE

             5dd - Shamash & Hammurabi  (King Hammurabi receiving orders, & alien giant Utu, god of laws)

         LAWS of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established.

         A righteous law, and pious statute did he teach the land.

           Image result for hammurabi on government building  (giant mixed-breed Babylonian King Hammurabi on “Gallery of Doors” of US Capitol Building)

         Hammurabi, the protecting king am I.

         I have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel (Enlil) gave to me,

         the rule over whom Marduk gave to me, I was not negligent,

         but I made them a peaceful abiding-place.

         I expounded all great difficulties, I made the light shine upon them.

         With the mighty weapons (alien advanced high-tech weaponry)

             4e - Inanna, Ninurta, & Enlil (Inanna, Ninurta, & Enlil with alien advanced weaponry)

         which Zamama (Ninurta) and Ishtar (Inanna) entrusted to me,

            2a - Enki keeper of the MUs-knowledge disks (Enki, Marduk’s father, eldest & wisest giant alien on Earth, 1st to arrive on Earth with crew of 50)

         with the keen vision with which Ea (Enki) endowed me,

            2d - Marduk & flying discs (Marduk, eldest son to Enki, patron god of Babylon)

         with the wisdom that Marduk gave me,

         I have uprooted the enemy above and below (in north and south),

         subdued the earth, brought prosperity to the land,

         guaranteed security to the inhabitants in their homes; a disturber was not permitted.

         The great gods have called me, I am the salvation-bearing shepherd,

         whose staff is straight, the good shadow that is spread over my city;

            (Sumer; Akkad)

         on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of the land of Sumer and Akkad;

         in my shelter I have let them repose in peace; in my deep wisdom have I enclosed them.

         That the strong might not injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans,

             (Apkulla / pilot,   Enki, Anu in his sky-disc, Enlil, winged eagle-headed pilot / Apkulla – minor god pilots)

         I have in Babylon the city where Anu and Bel (Enlil) raise high their head,

         in E-Sagil, the (ziggurat) Temple, whose foundations stand firm as heaven and earth,

         in order to bespeak justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries,

         set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone,

         before the image of me, as king of righteousness.

         The king who ruleth among the kings of the cities am I.

         My words are well considered; there is no wisdom like unto mine.

            3a - Utu in the mountains with weapons of brilliance (Utu cuts launch pads into the mountains, Commander of the Space Ports)

         By the command of Shamash (Utu), the great judge of heaven and earth,

         let righteousness go forth in the land:

            2c - Marduk relief, flowing waters of Babylon (Marduk, patron god of Babylon, then of Egypt)

         by the order of Marduk, my lord, let no destruction befall my monument.

         In E-Sagil, which I love, let my name be ever repeated; let the oppressed, who has a case at law,

         come and stand before this my image as king of righteousness;

         let him read the inscription, and understand my precious words:

         the inscription will explain his case to him; he will find out what is just,

         and his heart will be glad, so that he will say:

              (Hammurabi, king of the known world, given him by alien giant gods)

         “Hammurabi is a ruler, who is as a father to his subjects, who holds the words of Marduk in reverence,

             

         who has achieved conquest for Marduk over the north and south, who rejoices the heart of Marduk, his lord,

         who has bestowed benefits for ever and ever on his subjects, and has established order in the land.”

         When he reads the record, let him pray with full heart to Marduk, my lord,

         and Zarpanit (Marduk’s spouse), my lady; and then shall the protecting deities and the gods,

         who frequent E-Sagil (temple / residence), graciously grant the desires

         daily presented before Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady.

         In future time, through all coming generations, let the king, who may be in the land,

         observe the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument;

         let him not alter the law of the land which I have given,

         the edicts which I have enacted; my monument let him not mar.

         If such a ruler have wisdom, and be able to keep his land in order,

         he shall observe the words which I have written in this inscription;

         the rule, statute, and law of the land which I have given;

         the decisions which I have made will this inscription show him;

         let him rule his subjects accordingly, speak justice to them, give right decisions,

         root out the miscreants and criminals from this land, and grant prosperity to his subjects.

               5d - Utu the Law Giver  (famous Babylonian King Hammurabi getting directions from Utu)

         Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash (Utu) has conferred right (or law) am I.

         My words are well considered; my deeds are not equaled;

         to bring low those that were high; to humble the proud, to expel insolence.

         If a succeeding ruler considers my words, which I have written in this my inscription,

         if he do not annul my law, nor corrupt my words, nor change my monument,

             2c - Utu - Shamash, Commander of the Space Port (giant alien god Utu handed down the Law Code of Hammurabi for all Babylonia to follow)

         then may Shamash (Utu) lengthen that king’s reign, as he has that of me,

         the king of righteousness, that he may reign in righteousness over his subjects.

         If this ruler do not esteem my words, which I have written in my inscription,

         if he despise my curses, and fear not the curse of God,

         if he destroy the law which I have given, corrupt my words, change my monument,

         efface my name, write his name there, or on account of the curses commission another so to do,

         that man, whether king or ruler, patesi, or commoner, no matter what he be,

            (Anunnaki King Anu in his sky-disc, lord over planet Nibiru & Earth Colony)

         may the great God (Anu), the Father of the gods, who has ordered my rule,

         withdraw from him the glory of royalty, break his scepter, curse his destiny.

            (unidentified female with dinner, Utu climbs Enlil’s Nippur ziggurat, & Enlil)

         May Bel (Enlil), the lord, who fixeth destiny, whose command can not be altered,

         who has made my kingdom great, order a rebellion which his hand can not control;

         may he let the wind of the overthrow of his habitation blow,

         may he ordain the years of his rule in groaning, years of scarcity,

         years of famine, darkness without light, death with seeing eyes be fated to him;

            (Bel / Enlil, Earth Colony Commander of all alien Anunnaki on Earth, Mars, & in-between)

         may he (Bel) order with his potent mouth the destruction of his city,

         the dispersion of his subjects, the cutting off of his rule,

         the removal of his name and memory from the land.

            (Enlil with plow, father-in-law Haia – barley god, mother-in-law Nisaba – grain goddess, spouse Ninlil – grain goddess, & unidentifeid)

         May Belit (Ninlil), the great Mother, whose command is potent in E-Kur

              (Enlil’s E-kur, alien Earth Colony Command Central)

         (Enlil’s ziggurat / residence in Nippur) (the Babylonian Olympus) ,

         the Mistress, who harkens graciously to my petitions,

         in the seat of judgment and decision (where Bel fixes destiny),

         turn his affairs evil before Bel, and put the devastation of his land,

         the destruction of his subjects, the pouring out of his life like water into the mouth of King Bel.

          3b - Enki image (Enki, patron god of Eridu, god of waters, god of knowledge)

         May Ea (Enki), the great ruler, whose fated decrees come to pass,

         the thinker of the gods, the omniscient, who maketh long the days of my life,

         withdraw understanding and wisdom from him, lead him to forgetfulness,

         shut up his rivers at their sources, and not allow corn or sustenance for man to grow in his land.

            5aa - giant god Utu, Shamash, Throne of Sippar (Shamash / Utu & his “wheel of justice”, the original!)

         May Shamash, the great Judge of heaven and earth, who supporteth all means of livelihood,

         Lord of life-courage, shatter his dominion, annul his law, destroy his way,

         make vain the march of his troops, send him in his visions forecasts

         of the uprooting of the foundations of his throne and of the destruction of his land.

            7 - Inanna. Utu, & Earthling underfoot (Inanna & twin Utu with alien weaponry in hand, & small earthling underfoot)

         May the condemnation of Shamash overtake him forthwith;

         may he be deprived of water above among the living, and his spirit below in the earth.

           3aa - Nanna & his symbol (Nannar, god of Ur, capitol of Sumer many times, symbolized as the moon crescent)

         May Sin (Nannar) (the Moon-god), the Lord of Heaven, the divine father,

         whose crescent gives light among the gods, take away the crown and regal throne from him;

         may he put upon him heavy guilt, great decay, that nothing may be lower than he.

         May he destine him as fated, days, months and years of dominion filled with sighing and tears,

         increase of the burden of dominion, a life that is like unto death.

           3 - Adad with divine weapons (Adad with alien high-tech weaponry in each hand, god of thunder / explosive blasts, god of canals)

         May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler of heaven and earth, my helper,

         withhold from him rain from heaven, and the flood of water from the springs,

         destroying his land by famine and want; may he rage mightily over his city,

         and make his land into flood-hills (heaps of ruined cities).

         May Zamama (Ninurta), the great warrior, the first-born son of E-Kur (Enlil‘s residence),

         who goeth at my right hand, shatter his weapons on the field of battle,

         turn day into night for him, and let his foe triumph over him.

         May Ishtar (Inanna), the goddess of fighting and war, who unfetters my weapons,

         my gracious protecting spirit, who loveth my dominion, curse his kingdom in her angry heart;

           6c - Anu & Inanna (King Anu & great-granddaughter Inanna in battle dress atop her war-lion / zodiac symbol Leo)

         in her great wrath, change his grace into evil,

         and shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and war.

         May she create disorder and sedition for him, strike down his warriors,

         that the earth may drink their blood,

         and throw down the piles of corpses of his warriors on the field;

         may she not grant him a life of mercy, deliver him into the hands of his enemies,

         and imprison him in the land of his enemies.

           4d - Nergal & sky-chariot 1600 B.C.   (Nergal, warrior god in his sky-chariot / sky-disc, lord of the Under World)

         May Nergal, the might among the gods, whose contest is irresistible, who grants me victory,

         in his great might burn up his subjects like a slender reedstalk,

         cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons, and shatter him like an earthen image.

          3c - Ninhursag, Inanna, & staff (Ninhursag / Nintu, Inanna, & 2 unidentified helper goddesses)

         May Nin-tu, the sublime mistress of the lands, the fruitful mother,

         deny him a son, vouchsafe him no name, give him no successor among men.

            (King Anu’s Princess daughter Bau, spouse to Ninurta, also his aunt)

         May Nin-karak (Bau / Gula), the daughter of Anu, who adjudges grace to me,

         cause to come upon his members in E-kur high fever, severe wounds,

         that can not be healed, whose nature the physician does not understand,

         which he can not treat with dressing, which, like the bite of death,

         can not be removed, until they have sapped away his life.

         May he lament the loss of his life-power,

         and may the great gods of heaven and earth, the Anunaki,

         altogether inflict a curse and evil upon the confines of the temple,

         the walls of this E-barra (the Sun temple of Sippara) (Sippar, Utu’s city),

         upon his dominion, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and his troops.

         May Bel curse him with the potent curses of his mouth that can not be altered,

         and may they come upon him forthwith.

THE END

Translated by L. W. King

This document originates from the Internet, via World Wide Web, at gopher://gopher.vt.edu:10010/11/


This text is part of the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.

© Paul Halsall March 1998
[email protected]

TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST DYNASTIC TABLETS FROM BABYLON

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/rp/rp201/rp20106.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 bluemixed-breed demigods in teal…)

 

Obverse

1. Sumu-abi, the king: 15 years.

2. ’Sumu-la-ilu, the son of the same: 35 years.

3. Zabû, the son of the same: 14 years.

4. Abil-Sin, the son of the same: 18 years.

5. Sin-muballidh, the son of the same: 30 years.

6. Khammu-ragas, 1 the son of the same: 55 years.

7.Sam’su-iluna, 2 the son of the same: 35 years.

8. Ebisum, 3 the son of the same: 25 years.

9. Ammi-satana, the son of the same: 25 years.

10. Ammi-sadugga, 4 the son of the same: 21 years.

11. ’Sam’su-satana (?), the son of the same: 31 years.

12. 11 kings of the dynasty of Babylon.

Reverse

1. (The dynasty of) Uru-azagga. 5 Anman the king.

2. Ki-[An] Nigas. 6

3. Damki-ili-su. 7

4. Is-ki-pal. 1

5. Sussi.2

6. Gul-ki-sar.3

7. Kirgal-dara-mas, the son of the same.

8. A-dara-kalama, the son of the same.

9. A-kur-du-ana.5

10. Melam-kurkura. 6

11. Ea-ga(mil?). 7

12. 1[1] kings of the dynasty of Uru-azagga.


Footnotes

13:1 The first five names of the dynasty are Semitic. Khammuragas is Kassite or Kossæan, and is interpreted “of a large family.” Sin-muballidh may have married a foreign wife.

13:2 “The Sun-god (Utu) (is) our god,” another Semitic name.

13:3 “The doer,” also Semitic.

13:4 Kassite, interpreted “the family is established.”

13:5 Uru-azagga is now represented by a part of the mounds of Telloh (the ancient Sirpurla) or its immediate vicinity.

13:6 Nigas was an Elamite word.

13:7 Semitic, signifying “gracious is his god.”

14:1 Perhaps to be read in Semitic Sapin-mat-nukurti, “the sweeper away of the land of the foe.” The name seems to have been a title.

14:2 Perhaps the Semitic sussu, “sixty.”

14:3 In Semitic Muabbid-kissati, “the destroyer of hosts.”

14:4 Apparently, therefore, the son of the preceding king.

14:5 Rendered by the Semitic Abil-Bel-u’sum-same, “the son of Bel (Marduk) (the lord) of the treasury of heaven.”

14:6 “The glory of the world.”

14:7 The last character is partially destroyed. If my restoration is correct, the name would be Semitic and signify “Ea (Enki) has rewarded.”

TRANSLATION OF THE SECOND DYNASTIC TABLET FROM BABYLON

          Column I

The first eleven lines are destroyed.

12. 11 kings [of the dynasty of Babylon] for [294 years].

_________

13. Anma[n] for [5]1 (years).

14. Ki-an [Nigas] for 55 (years).

15. Damki-ili[su] for 46 1 (years).

16. Is-ki-[pal] for 15 (years).

17. Sussi, (his) brother, for 27 (years).

18. Gul-ki-[sar] for 55 (years).

19. Kirgal-[dara-mas] for 50 (years).

20. A-dara-[kalama] for 28 (years).

21. A-kur-du-[ana] for 26 (years).

22. Melamma-[kurkura] for 6 (years).

23. Bel-ga[mil?] for 9 (years).

24. For 368 (years) the 11 kings of the dynasty of Uru-azagga.

_________

25. Gandis for 16 (years).

26. Agum-si[pak] his son for 22 (years).

27. Guya-si[pak] for 22 (years). 2

28. Ussi his son for 8 (years).

29. Adu-medas for … (years).

_________

30. Tazzi-gurumas for … (years).

31. [Agum-kak-rimi 1 for … years].

The next line of this column and the first thirteen lines of the next are destroyed.

          Column II

14. …… for 22 (years).

15. …… for 26 (years).

16. …… for 17 (years).

17. Kara … 2 for 2 (years).

18. Gis-amme … ti for 6 (years).

19. Saga-sal[tiyas] for 13 (years).

20. Kasbat his son for 8 (years).

2r. Bel-nadin-sumi for 1 year (and) 6 months.

22. Kara-Urus 3 for 1 year (and) 6 months.

23. Rimmon-nadin-suma for 6 (years).

24. Rimmon-suma-natsir for 30 (years).

25. Meli-Sipak 4 for 15 (years).

26. Merodach-abla-iddin (Merodach-baladan) his son for 13 (years).

27. Zamama-nadin-sumi 5 for 1 (year).

28. Bel-suma … 6 for 3 (years).

29. For 576 (years) 9 months the 36 kings [of the dynasty of the Kassites]. 7

_________

30. Merodach- … for 17 (years).

31. ……… for 6 (years).

The next line of this column and the first four of the next are destroyed.

          Column III

5. …… for 22 (years).

6. Merodach-nadin- … 1 for 1 year and 6 months.

7. Merodach-kul[lat] … 2 for 13 (years).

8. Nebo-nadin- … for 9 (years).

9. For 72 (years and) 6 months the 22 kings of the dynasty of Isin.

_________

10. Simmas-si[pak] for 18 (years).

11. Bel-mukin-[ziri] for 5 months.

12. Kassû-nadin-akhi for 3 (years).

13. For 21 (years and) 5 months the three kings of the dynasty of the land of the Sea.

_________

14. E-ulbar-sakin-sumi for 17 (years).

15. Uras-kudurri-[utsur] for 3 (years).

16. Silanim (?)-Sugamu[na] for 3 months.

17. For 20 (years and) 3 months the 3 kings of the dynasty of Bit-[Bazi].

_________

18. an … [an Elamite] for 6 (years).

19. …… for 13 (years).

20. …… for 6 months (and) 12 (days).

The next twelve lines of the column and the first line of the fourth column are destroyed.

          Column IV

2. Nebo-suma-yukin [the son of Dakuri] for … (years).

3. Nabu-[natsir] 1 for [14] (years).

4. Nebo-nadin-ziri 2 his son for 2 (years).

5. Nebo-suma-yukin his son for 1 month and 12 days.

6. The 31 [kings? 3 of the dynasty of Babylon.

_________

7. Yukin-zira of the dynasty of Sasî 4 for 3 (years).

8. Pulu 5 for 2 (years).

9. Ululâ 6 of the dynasty of Tinu for 5 (years).

10. Merodach-abla-iddina (Merodach-baladan) of the dynasty of the country of the Sea for 12 (years).

11. Sargon for 5 (years).

12. Sin-akhe-erba (Sennacherib) of the dynasty of Khabi the greater for 2 (years).

13. Merodach-zakir-sumi the son of Arad-… for 1 month.

14. Merodach-abla-iddina a soldier of Khabi 7 for 6 months.

15. Bel-ebus of the dynasty of Babylon for 3 (years).

16. Assur-nadin-sumi of the dynasty of Khabi the greater for 6 (years).

17. Nergal-zusezib for 1 (year).

18. Musezib-Merodach of the dynasty of Babylon for 4 (years).

19. Sin-akhe-erba (Sennacherib) for 8 (years).

20. Assur-akhe-iddina (Esarhaddon) for [12 years].

21. Samas-suma-yukin (Saosdukhinos) for [20 years].

22. Kandal-[anu] (Khineladanos) for [22 years].

The rest of the tablet is destroyed.


Footnotes

15:1 Mr. Pinches’ copy gives 36 years.

15:2 Is this king merely a duplicate of his predecessor, the different spelling of the name having caused the annalist to divide one king into two?

16:1 Supplied from an inscription of the king himself, who styles himself the son of Tassi-gurumas, the descendant of Ahi … the son of Agum . and the offspring of the god Suqamuna.

16:2 Identified by Dr. Oppert with Kudur-Bel, who, according to Nabonidos, was the father of Sagasalti-buryas, the latter of whom reigned 800 years before himself (B.C. 1340). But the identification is doubtful, since the names do not agree.

16:3 “The servant of Bel (Marduk) (Kudur-Bel) in Kassite.

16:4 “The man of Merodach (Marduk) in Kassite.

16:5 Zamama-nadin-sumi was a contemporary of the Assyrian king Assur-dan-an (whose name should probably be read Assur-dan, and be identified with that of Assur-dayan, the great-grandfather of Tiglath-PileserI.)

16:6 Or Bel-nadin- …

16:7 The Kassites were a rude tribe of the Elamite mountains on the northeast side of Babylonia. Nöldeke has shown that they must be identified with the Kossæans ofclassical geography.

17:1 Perhaps Merodach-nadin-akhi, the antagonist of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I., 418 years before the conquest of Babylon by Sennacherib, and consequently B.C. 1106.

17:2 Perhaps the Merodach-sapik-kullat of the Synchronous Tablet, who was a contemporary of Assur-bil-kala, the son of Tiglath-Pileser I.

17:3 Isin (pa-se) was also called Pate’si (“the city of the high-priest” in Babylonia), according to W.A.I., ii. 53, 13.

17:4 That is, the Persian Gulf. Merodach-baladan is described below as also belonging to the dynasty of the country of the Sea, and his ancestral kingdom was that of the Kaldâ or Chaldees in Bit-yagina among the marshes at the mouth of the Euphrates.

18:1 The Nabonassar of Ptolemy’s Canon, B.C. 747.

18:2 Called Nadinu in the Babylonian Chronicle.

18:3 Possibly we should supply “years” instead of “kings.”

18:4 The annals of Tiglath-Pileser III show that we should read Sapi or Sape. Yukinzira is the Khinziros of Ptolemy’s Canon.

18:5 Pulu is the Pul of the Old Testament, the Pôros of Ptolemy’s Canon. His name is replaced by that of Tiglath-Pileser in the Babylonian Chronicle, and the two years of his reign correspond with the two years during which Tiglath-Pileser reigned over Babylonia.

18:6 The Shalmaneser of the Babylonian Chronicle and the Assyrian monuments, the Ilulaios of Ptolemy’s Canon.

18:7 Does this imply that he was a different person from the famous Merodach-baladan, the contemporary of Sargon and Hezekiah?

TRANSLATION OF THE THIRD DYNASTIC TABLET

Obv.—COLUMN I

Only the ends of two lines in the middle have been preserved.

600 (years) he reigned.

[The kings] … (were) in all.

Obv.—COLUMN II

ili ……

(an) Illadu 1 the son of the same for … (years).

Mul-men-nunna …

Abil (?)-Kis the son of …

Obv.—COLUMN III

Is entirely lost. It contained about seventy lines.

Rev.—COLUMN IV

[The dynasty] of Babylon, [11 kings for 294 years].

Sumu-[abi for 15 years].

Zabû [for 14 years.]

Abil-Sin [for 18 years].

Sin-[muballidh for 30 years].

The next six lines are destroyed.

The 1[1 kings of the dynasty of Uru-azagga].

For 3[68 years].

_________

An[man] …

Ki[-An-nigas] …

The rest of the column is destroyed.

Rev.—COLUMN V

The marshmen (?) of the country of the sea (were) in all:

_________

The leader of the marshmen (?) of the land of the sea

(was) Siminas-sipak the son of Erba-Sin;

whose reign was prosperous: his god brought him aid;

for 17 years he reigned.

In the palace of Sargon (his corpse) was burned.

Ea-mukin-zira established himself as king,

the son of Kha’smar; 1 for 3 months he reigned.

In the vestments of Bit-Kha’smar he was burned.

Kassû-nadin-akhi the son of Sappâ 2 reigned for 6 years.

[He was burned] in the palace.

The 3 kings of the dynasty of the country of the Sea reigned for 23 years.

_________

[E]-ulbar-sakin-sumi the son of Bazi reigned for 15 years:

in the palace of Kar-Merodach [he was burned].

[Uras]-kudurri-utsur the son of Bazi reigned for 2 years.

[Silanim]-Suqamuna the son of Bazi reigned for 3 months:

in the palace of LuSa [he was burned].

_________

[The 3] kings of the dynasty of the house of Bazi reigned for 20 years (and) 3 months.

…… a descendant of the race of Elam reigned for 6 years.

In the palace of Sargon he was burned.

_________

[One king] of the dynasty of Elam reigned for 6 years.

The rest of the tablet is lost.


Footnotes

20:1 This was the Semitic reading; the Accadian seems to have been Pallil.

21:1 May also be read Kutmar. The word meant “a hawk” in the Kassite language.

21:2 “The Sappite.”

TRANSLATION OF THE BABYLONIAN CHRONICLE

Obv.—COLUMN I

1. [In the 3d year of Nabonassar] king of Babylon

2. [Tiglath-pileser] in Assyria sat on the throne.

3. In the same year [Tiglath-pileser] descended into the country of Accad, and

4. the cities of Rabbiku and Khamranu he spoiled,

5. and the gods of the city of Sapazza he carried away.

_________

6. In the time of Nabu-natsir (Nabonassar) the town of Borsippa (Nabu’s city)

7. was separated from Babylon. The battle which Nabonassar

8. fought against Borsippa is not described. 1

_________

9. In the 5th year of Nabu-natsir Umma(n)-nigas

10. in Elam sat upon the throne.

_________

11. In (his) 14th year Nabu-natsir fell ill and died 2 in his palace.

12. For 14 years Nabu-natsir reigned over Babylon.

13. Nadinu 3 his son sat upon the throne in Babylon.

_________

14. In the second year Nadinu was slain in an insurrection.

15. For two years Nadinu reigned over Babylon.

16. Suma-yukin 4 the governor, the leader of the insurrection, sat upon the throne.

17. For 2 months and … days Suma-yukin reigned over Babylon.

18. Yukin-zira … seized upon the throne.

_________

19. In the 3d year of Yukin-zira Tiglath-pileser,

20. when he had descended into the country of Accad,

21. destroyed Bit-Amukanu and captured Yukin-zira.

22. For 3 years Yukin-zira reigned over Babylon.

23. Tiglath-pileser sat upon the throne in Babylon.

_________

24. In (his) 2d year Tiglath-pileser died in the month Tebet. 1

25. For [22] years Tiglath-pileser the sovereignty over Accad

26. and Assyria had exercised. For two years he reigned in Accad.

27. On the 25th day of the month Tebet Sulman-asarid (Shalmaneser) in Assyria

28. sat upon the throne. He destroyed the city of Sabarahin. 2

_________

29. In (his) 5th year Sulman-asarid died in the month Tebet.

30. For 5 years Sulman-asarid reigned over the countries of Accad and Assyria.

31. On the 12th day of the month Tebet Sargon sat upon the throne in Assyria.

32. In the month Nisan Merodach-baladan sat upon the throne in Babylon.

_________

33. In the 2d year of Merodach-baladan Umma(n)-nigas king of Elam

34. in the province of Dur-ili fought a battle against Sargon king of Assyria, and

35. caused a revolt from Assyria: he overthrew them 1 utterly.

36. Merodach-baladan and his army, which to the assistance

37. of the king of Elam had gone, did not obtain a battle: he arrived too late. 2

_________

38. In the 5th year of Merodach-baladan Umma(n)-nigas king of Elam died.

39. [For 3 years] Umma(n)-nigas reigned over Elam.

40. [Sutruk 3-nankhun]du the son of his sister sat on the throne in Elam.

41. …… up to the 10th year

The remaining lines of the column are destroyed.

COLUMN II

1. In the … the year …

2. A battle …

3. For 12 years [Merodach-baladan reigned over Babylon]. 4

4. Sargon [sat upon. the throne in Babylon].4

The next fourteen lines are destroyed.

19. The Babylonians he did not oppress (?) 5

20. he (Sennacherib) was angry also with Merodach-baladan, and [took him prisoner];

2 I. he devastated his country, and …

22. the cities of Larak and Sarraba[nu 6 he destroyed].

23. After his capture (Sennacherib) placed Bel-ibni upon the throne in Babylon.

_________

24. In the first year of Bel-ibni Sennacherib.

25. destroyed the cities of Khirimma and Khararatum.

_________

26. In the 3d year of Bel-ibni Sennacherib into the country of Accad

27. descended, and devastated the country of Accad.

28. Bel-ibni and his officers he transported into Assyria.

29. For 3 years Bel-ibni reigned over Babylon.

30. Sennacherib his son, Assur-nadin-suma

31. placed upon the throne in Babylon.

_________

32. In the first year of Assur-nadin-suma Sutruk-[nan]khundu 1 king of Elam

33. was seized by his brother Khallusu who closed the gate before him. 2

34. For 18 years Sutruk-[nan]khundu had reigned over Elam.

35. His brother Khallusu sat upon the throne in Elam.

_________

36. In the 6th year of Assur-nadin-suma Sennacherib

37. descended into the country of Elam, and the cities of Nagitum, Khilmi,

38. Pellatum and Khupapanu he destroyed.

39. He carried away their spoil. Afterwards Khallusu the king of Elam

40. marched into the country of Accad and entered Sippara on the march (?).

41. He killed some people (but) the Sun-god did not issue forth from the temple of E-Babara.

42. He captured Assur-nadin-suma and he was carried to Elam.

43. For 6 years Assur-nadin-suma reigned over Babylon.

44. The king of Elam placed Nergal-yusezib in Babylon

45. on the throne. He caused [a revolt] from Assyria.

_________

46. In the 1st year of Nergal-yusezib, on the 16th day of the month Tammuz, 1

47. Nergal-yusezib captured Nipur 2 and occupied its neighborhood (?).

48. On the first day of the month Tammuz the soldiers of Assyria had entered Uruk. 3

COLUMN III

1. They spoiled the gods belonging to Uruk as well as its inhabitants.

2. Nergal-yusezib fled after the Elamites, and the gods belonging to Uruk

3. as well as its inhabitants (the Assyrians) carried away. On the 7th day of the month Tisri 4 in the province of Nipur

4. he fought a battle against the soldiers of Assyria and was taken prisoner in the conflict, and

5. he was carried to Assyria. For 1 year and 6 months Nergal-yusezib

6. reigned over Babylon. On the 26th day of the [month Tisri?]

7. against Khallusu king of Elam his people revolted, [the gate before] him

8. they closed. They slew him. For 6 years Khallusu reigned over Elam.

9. Kudur in Elam sat upon the throne. Afterwards Sennacherib

10. descended into Elam and from the country of Rasi as far as

11. Bit-Burna 5 he devastated.

12. Musezib-Merodach sat upon the throne in Babylon.

13. In the first year of Musezib-Merodach on the 17th day of the month Ab 1

14. Kudur king of Elam was seized in an insurrection and killed. For 10 months

15. Kudur had reigned over Elam. Menanu in Elam

16. sat upon the throne. I do not know the year 2 when the soldiers of Elam and Accad

17. he collected together and in the city of Khalule a battle against Assyria

18. he fought, and caused a revolt from Assyria. 3

19. In the 4th year of Musezib-Merodach on the 15th day of Nisan 4

20. Menanu king of Elam was paralysed, 5 and

21. his mouth was seized and he was deprived of speech.

22. On the first day of the month Kisleu 6 the city [of Babylon] was taken, Musezib-Merodach

23. was taken and led away to Assyria.

24. For 4 years Musezib-Merodach reigned over Babylon.

25. On the 7th day of the month Adar 7 Menanu king of Elam died.

26. For 4 years Menanu reigned over Elam.

27. Khumma-khaldasu 8 in Elam sat upon the throne.

_________

28. In the eighth year of the king there was … in Babylon. On the 3d day of the month Tammuz

29. the gods belonging to Erech went down from the city Of Eridu 9 to Erech.

30. On the 3d day of the month Tisri Khumma-khaldasu the king of Elam by the Fire-god

31. was stricken and perished through the power (?) of the god. For 8 years Khumma-khaldasu

32. reigned over Elam.

33. Khumma-khaldasu the second in the country of Elam sat upon the throne.

34. On the 10th day of the month Tebet, 1 Sennacherib king of Assyria

35. by his own son 2 was murdered in an insurrection. For [24] years Sennacherib

36. reigned over Assyria. From the 20th day of the month Tebet until

37. the 2d day of the month Adar is described as a period of insurrection in Assyria.

38. On the 8th day of the month Sivan 3 Assur-akhi-iddina (Esar-haddon) his son sat on the throne in Assyria.

_________

39. In the first year of Esar-haddon, Zira-kina-esir 4 of the sea coast, 5

40. when he had laid fetters on the city of Erech (Uruk), the city. of [Erech?]

41. destroyed in sight of the officers of Assyria and [fled] to the country of Elam.

42. In Elam the king of Elam took him and [slew him] with the sword.

43. In a month I do not know the officer called Gu-enna was … in the city of Nipur.

_________

44. In the month Elul, 6 the god Gu’si 7 and the gods [of the city of …]

45. proceeded to Dur-ili; [the gods of ……]

46. proceeded to Dur-Sargon ……

47. In the month Adar the heads of ……

_________

48. In the second year the major-domo ……

The next two lines are destroyed.

Rev.—COLUMN IV

1. …… akhe-sullim the Gu-enna.

2… [the Gimir]ri 1 marched against Assyria and in Assyria were slain.

3… the city of Sidon was taken; its spoil was carried away.

4. The major-domo mustered a gathering in Accad.

_________

5. In the 5th year on the 2d day of the month Tisri the Assyrian soldiers Bazza 2

6. occupied. In the month Tisri the head of the king of the country of Sidon

7. was cut off, and brought to Assyria. In the month Adar the head of the king

8. of the countries of Gundu and ’Si’sû 3 was cut off and brought to Assyria.

_________

9. In the 6th year the king of Elam entered Sippara. He offered sacrifices. The Sun-god (Utu / Shamash) 4 from

10. the temple of E-Babara did not issue forth. The Assyrians marched into Egypt. Ethiopia was troubled. 5

11. Khumma-khaldasu the king of Elam without being sick died in his palace.

12. For 5 years Khumma-khaldasu reigned over Elam.

13. Urtagu his brother sat upon the throne in Elam.

14. In a month I do not know Nadin-Suma the Gu-enna

15. and Kudur the son of Dakuri went to Assyria.

_________

16. In the 7th year on the 5th day of the month Adar the soldiers of Assyria marched into Egypt.

17. In the month Adar Istar of the city of Accad and the gods of the city of Accad

18. had departed from the country of Elam and on the 10th day of the month Adar entered the city of Accad.

_________

19. In the 8th year of Esar-haddon in the month Tebet on a day of which the date has been lost 1

20. the country of the Rurizâ was occupied; its spoil was carried away.

21. In the month Kisleu its spoil was brought into the city of Ur.

22. On the 5th day of the month Adar the wife of the king died.

_________

23. In the tenth year in the month Nisan the soldiers of Assyria marched into Egypt. 2

24. On the 3d day of the month Tammuz and also on the 16th and 18th days

25. three times the Egyptians were defeated with heavy loss. 3

26. On the 22d day Memphis, 4 the royal city, was captured.

27. Its king fled; his son descended into the country of [Ethiopia].

28. Its spoil was carried away; [its] men were [enslaved]; its goods were ……

_________

29. In the 11th year the king [remained] in Assyria; his officers ……

_________

30. In the 12th year the king of Assyria ……

31. On the march he fell ill, and died on the 10th day of the month Marchesvan. 1

32. For 12 years Esar-haddon reigned over Assyria.

33. Saul-suma-yukina in Babylon, Assur-bani-pal in Assyria, his two sons, sat on the throne.

_________

34. In the accession year of Saul-suma-yukina in the month Iyyar, 2

35. Bel (Marduk) and the gods of Accad from the city of Assur

36. had gone forth and on the 11th day of the month Iyyar had entered into Babylon.

37. In that year [against] the city of Kirbitum 3 [there was war]; its king is conquered.

38. On the 10th day of the month Tebet Bel-edir-nisi (?) in Babylon is seized and put to death.

_________

39. The first part (of the chronicle) has been written like its original and has been made public.

40. The tablet of Ana-Bel-kan the son of Libludhu

41. the son of Nis-Sin, by the hand of Ea-iddin the son of

42. Ana-Bel-kan the son of Libludhu of Babylon,

43. the 5th day of the month … the 22d year of Darius king of Babylon,

44. the king of the world.”


Footnotes

22:1 That is, in the history from which the writer extracted his chronicles.

22:2 Literally “fate” (overtook him).

22:3 The Nebo-nadin-ziri (“Nebo has given a seed”) of the Dynastic Tablet; Nadios in Ptolemy’s Canon.

22:4 Called Nebo-suma-yukin in the Dynastic Tablet.

23:1 December.

23:2 Not to be confounded with ’Samerina or Samaria. M. Halévy may be right in identifying it with the city of Sibraim mentioned in Ezek. xlvii. 16 as lying between Damascus and Hamath.

24:1 That is, the Assyrians. The Annals of Sargon, on the other hand, claim the victory for Assyria, though Babylonia was left in the hands of Merodach-baladan.

24:2 Literally, “he undertook it too late” (ana arki itsbat-’sa).

24:3 The Elamite Sutruk was identified by the Assyrians with their goddess Istar (Inanna).

24:4 So restored by Winckler.

24:5 Ikhmi’s.

24:6 See W.A.I., ii. 69, No. 5, 13. Larak was the Larankha of Berossos, which the Greek writer seems to have confounded with Surippak near Sippara.

25:1 Written Is-tar-khu-un-du. The Susian inscriptions of the king himself write the name Su-ut-ru-uk-[an]-Nakh-khu-un-te.

25:2 That is, imprisoned him.

26:1 June.

26:2 Now Niffer.

26:3 Now Warka, the Erech of Gen. x. 10.

26:4 September.

26:5 Bit-Burna (-ki) is called Bit Buna (-ki) in the annals of Sennacherib.

27:1 July.

27:2 The chronicler’s sources here failed him, but Winckler has pointed out that the battle of Khalule must have taken place in either B.C. 691 or 690.

27:3 The annals of Sennacherib claim a complete victory for the Assyrians.

27:4 March.

27:5 Literally, “Tetanus constricted him” (misidtuv imisid, cf. W.A.I., ii. 27. 47, 48).

27:6 November.

27:7 February.

27:8 Called Umman-aldas in the Assyrian inscriptions.

27:9 Eridu was on the coast of the Persian Gulf.

28:1 December.

28:2 It will be noticed that the chronicler speaks of only one son, whereas two are named in the Old Testament.

28:3 May.

28:4 Called by Esar-haddon Nebo-zira-kina-esir (“Nebo (Nabu) has directed the established seed”), the son of Merodach-baladan.

28:5 That is, of the Persian Gulf.

28:6 August.

28:7 “The god of the favorable mouth,” a local divinity (perhaps belonging to Sippara, W.A.I., v. 3r, 30), and identified with Uras (W.A.I., ii. 57, 54).

29:1 So restored by Winckler. The Gimirrâ are the Gomer of the Old Testament, the Kimmerians of classical writers.

29:2 Apparently the district of Arabia Petræa called Bazu by Esar-haddon, Buz in the Old Testament.

29:3 Probably in Kilikia.

29:4 The Sun-god (Utu) whose temple has been discovered by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in the mounds of Abu-Habba was the patron-deity of Sipar or Sippara. Besides “Sippara of the Sun-god,” there was a neighbouring city called “Sippara of Anunit (Inanna?).” The two together formed the Scriptural Sepharvaim or “two Sipparas.”

29:5 Melukh imina.

30:1 In the history from which the chronicler derived his account.

30:2 The chronicler notes here that the last character in the line was wanting in his copy.

30:3 Literally, “massacres took place in Egypt.”

30:4 Written Membi.

31:1 October.

31:2 April.

31:3 Apparently the city of Karbat in Northern Egypt, conquered by Assur-bani-pal at the commencement of his reign.

THE TOWER OF BABEL STELE

(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 bluemixed-breed demigods in teal…)

ETEMENANKI: ZIKKURAT BABIBLI: CAPTION IDENTIFYING THE GREAT ZIGGURAT OF BABYLON, THE TOWER OF BABEL. THE ROYAL INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR CONTINUES:

        THE HOUSE, THE FOUNDATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH,

        ZIGGURAT IN BABYLON. ETEMENANKI (Marduk’s temple / residence in Babylon),

        I MADE IT THE WONDER OF THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD,

        I RAISED ITS TOP TO THE HEAVEN,

        MADE DOORS FOR THE GATES,

        AND I COVERED IT WITH BITUMEN AND BRICKS

        ms2603

  (Nebuchanesser II stele with faint Tower of Babel in front of him, & his inscription)
            
MS in Neo Babylonian on black stone, Babylon, 604-562 BC, the upper half of a stele with rounded top, 47x25x11 cm, originally ca. 80-100x25x11 cm, 3+24 lines in cuneiform script, to the left: carving of the Tower of Babel from a side view, clearly showing the relative proportions of the 7 steps and the buttress construction and a temple complex at its foot; to the right: the standing figure of Nebuchadnezzar II with his royal conical hat, holding a spear in his left hand and a scroll with the rebuilding plans of the Tower in his outstretched right hand; at the top: a line drawing of the ground plan of the temple on the top, showing both the outer walls and the inner arrangement of rooms, including the one that once had a fine large coach in it, richly covered, and a gold table beside it, according to Herodot: The Histories I:181; on the left edge: a line drawing of the ground plan of Esagila, the temple of Marduk, showing the buttresses as an integral part of the construction.

Context: The lower part of the stele with account of further building works on other temples, was in a religious institution in U.S.A. The stele was found in a special hiding chamber, broken into 3 parts in antiquity, at Robert Koldewey’s excavations of the site of the Tower of Babel in 1917. Its importance was immediately recognized. A photograph was taken with 3 archaeologists standing next to the stele. With the imminent danger of war breaking out in the area, they decided to rescue it, and each archaeologist carried one part out of the war zone. Two parts were taken to Germany, the third part to U.S.A. Now the 2 most important parts are reunited in The Schøyen collection. For bricks from the Tower of Babel, stamped with Nebuchadnezzar’s name, used during the rebuilding, see MS 1815/1-3. For the only other known architect’s plan of a known temple, see MS 3031.

Commentary: The Ziggurat in Babylon was restored and enlarged by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon 604-562, captured by Kyros (Cyrus) 538 BC, Dareios I 519 BC, Xerxes ca. 483 BC, (kings protected by Ashur) and entirely destroyed by Alexander I the Great 331 BC. (with Enlil’s protection) Until now our knowledge of the Tower of Babel has been based on the account in Genesis 11:1-9, and of Herodot: The Histories I:178 – 182, with the measurement of the first 2 steps, and a Seleucid tablet of 229 BC (Louvre AO 6555), giving the sizes of the steps.

However, no contemporary illustrations have been known, resulting in a long series of fanciful paintings throughout the art history until present. Here we have for the first time an illustration contemporary with Nebuchadnezzar II’s restoring and enlargement of the Tower of Babel, and with a caption making the identity absolutely sure. We also have the building plans, as well as a short account of the reconstruction process. Only 4 of 24 lines concerning this has so far been read.

The last of these lines also covers the restoration of the E-ir-inimanki ziggurat in Borsippa, once believed by some scholars to be the Tower of Babel. A German scholar identified a few worn wedges to represent the name of Nebuchadnezzar II; and Dr. Stefan Maul has recently confirmed the reading.

The Dedication of Three Babylonians to Divine Service

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.

Religious Chronicle (ABC 17)

The translation on this webpage 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 Religious Chronicle (ABC 17) is a historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with omens and events during the reign of several kings in the instable period between 1033 and 943: Nabû-šumu-libur, Simbar-šipak, Eulmaš-šakin-šumi, and Nabû-mukin-apli. The tablet was written in the Seleucid age.

The tablet, BM 35968 (Sp III, 504), on which the Religious Chronicle is inscribed measures 81 mm long and 99 mm wide. It is poorly preserved, the bottom and left-hand side being entirely broken away. There are several other smaller lacunae due to the flaking of the surface.

Translation of Column 1

1 […]

  (Nannar, patron moon crescent god of Ur)

2 […] Sin (Sin / Nannar)

3 […]

4 […]

5 […]

6 […] Bêlit-Nina […]

7 […] they killed him/it

8 […] Babylon […]

9 […] Bêlit-[…]

10 […] they went.

11 […] Tigris

12 […]

13 […] to the Abul-mahiri (“Gate of the rate of exchange”)

14 […] the temple of Ursag (Ninhursag’s house) which is in the district of Nippur.

15 […] who saw him/it.

16 […] Nabû-šumu-libur, the king,[1]

17 […] a lion was lying lurking and they killed it.

18 […] they went.

19 […] was removed.

20 […] he spoke

21 […] Tašmetum (Nabu’s spouse)

22 […] was seen.

23 […] was seen.

24 […]

25 […] lower

26 […]

Lacuna

Note 1:
Nabû-šumu-libur’s reign lasted from 1033 to1026. He was the last king of the Second Dynasty of Isin.

The Religious Chronicle (ABC 17) is a historiographical texts from ancient Babylonia. It deals with omens and events during the reign of several kings in the instable period between 1033 and 943: Nabû-šumu-libur, Simbar-šipak, Eulmaš-šakin-šumi, and Nabû-mukin-apli. The tablet was written in the Seleucid age.

Translation of Column 2

1 The king [1] arrived on the elevent day of the month Ajaru.

  (Marduk, Enki’s eldest son, believed he should be in line after Enki for Nibiru’s throne, not Enlil & his descendants)

2 He slaughtered but did not […] the lambs for the procession of Bêl (Marduk).

3 The sacrifices and table prepared for the god which they had received up to the day of the Akitu festival

4 they offered for four days in Esagila (Marduk’s ziggurat / residence in Babylon) and the other temples as in normal times.

5 Until the day of the sacrifices the king did not make a libation nor did the šešgallû-priest make a libation but he did inspect the temple.

6 In the month Du’ûzu a wolf was lurking in the west and he was killed.

7 In the month Âbu physicians saw[8] a badger in the Uraš (Ninhursag) gate at the door of the šatammu‘s residence.

9 On the twenty-fifth of the month Tašrîtu a live panther

10 floated down the Euphrates and was killed[11] behind Egidrikalamasuma.

11 It was carried on to dry land.

12 On the sixteenth day of the month Abû, in the seventh year, two deer

13 entered Babylon and were killed.

14 On the twenty-sixth of the month Simanu, in the seventh year, day turned to night and there was a fire in the sky.

15 In the month Ulûlu, in the eleventh year, water flowed within the wall of the lower forecourt.

16 In the thirteenth year, the fourteenth year, and the fifteenth year, for three years in succession,

17 the chariot of Bêl did not come out from the third day of the month Addaru until the month Nisannu.

18 In the month Nisannu, in the fifteenth year, Bêl did not come out.

19 On the fourteenth day of the month Ajaru, in the seventeenth year, the outer wall of the Uraš gate

20 was seen to move. On the fifteenth day of the month Simanu, in the eighteenth year,

  (Inanna’s private entrance into Babylon, made of blue-hued lapis-lazuli stone bricks, her favorite!)

21 when a wave[?] of water[23] came down from the Ištar (Inanna) gate to the Euphrates

22 and entered Babylon in the west and

23 two soldiers were killed. The cultic pedestal near the door of E[…]

24 the panels of the door below the […]-gate […]

25 and when it fell into the pit it was killed […]

26 […] in the fourteenth year […] [2]

27 […] the goddesses, troops […]

28 […] they gave […]

29 […]

Lacuna

Note 1:
It is likely that Simbar-šipak (1025-1008) is meant, the first king of the Second Dynasty of the Sealand.

Note 2:
We are now in the reign of another ruler, Eulmaš-šakin-šumi (1044-988), the first king of the Bazi dynasty.

Translation of Column 2

1 The king [1] arrived on the elevent day of the month Ajaru.

2 He slaughtered but did not […] the lambs for the procession of Bêl.

3 The sacrifices and table prepared for the god which they had received up to the day of the Akitu festival

4 they offered for four days in Esagila (Marduk’s temple / residence in Babylon) and the other temples as in normal times.

5 Until the day of the sacrifices the king did not make a libation nor did the šešgallû-priest make a libation but he did inspect the temple.

6 In the month Du’ûzu a wolf was lurking in the west and he was killed.

7 In the month Âbu physicians saw[8] a badger in the Uraš gate at the door of the šatammu‘s residence.

9 On the twenty-fifth of the month Tašrîtu a live panther

10 floated down the Euphrates and was killed[11] behind Egidrikalamasuma.

11 It was carried on to dry land.

12 On the sixteenth day of the month Abû, in the seventh year, two deer

13 entered Babylon and were killed.

14 On the twenty-sixth of the month Simanu, in the seventh year, day turned to night and there was a fire in the sky.

15 In the month Ulûlu, in the eleventh year, water flowed within the wall of the lower forecourt.

16 In the thirteenth year, the fourteenth year, and the fifteenth year, for three years in succession,

17 the chariot of Bêl did not come out from the third day of the month Addaru until the month Nisannu.

  (Marduk, patron god over Babylon, then Egypt)

18 In the month Nisannu, in the fifteenth year, Bêl did not come out.

19 On the fourteenth day of the month Ajaru, in the seventeenth year, the outer wall of the Uraš gate

20 was seen to move. On the fifteenth day of the month Simanu, in the eighteenth year,

  (Inanna carried through her private Babylonian gate)

21 when a wave[?] of water[23] came down from the Ištar (Inanna) gate to the Euphrates

22 and entered Babylon in the west and

23 two soldiers were killed. The cultic pedestal near the door of E[…]

24 the panels of the door below the […]-gate […]

25 and when it fell into the pit it was killed […]

26 […] in the fourteenth year […] [2]

27 […] the goddesses, troops […]

28 […] they gave […]

29 […]

Lacuna

Note 1:
It is likely that Simbar-šipak (1025-1008) is meant, the first king of the Second Dynasty of the Sealand.

Note 2:
We are now in the reign of another ruler, Eulmaš-šakin-šumi (1044-988), the first king of the Bazi dynasty.

Translation of Column 3

Lacuna

1 […]

2 In the month Ajaru a wolf […] was lurting. He was seen and killed.

3 In the month Ajaru a deer, which no one had seen enter the city

4 was seen in Bab-bêliya[3] and killed. In the month Nisannu, in the seventh year, the Aramaeans were belligerent,

  (Marduk & son Nabu)

5 so that the king could not come up to Babylon. Neither did Nabû (Marduk’s son) come

6 nor Bêl come out. In the month Nisannu, in the eighth year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king,

7 the Aramaeans were belligerent, and Bab-nibiri (“Gate of the Crossing”) of Kar-bel-matati

8 they captured. Thus the king could not cross, Nabû did not come,

9 and Bêl did not come out. The king did not offer the sacrifices of the Akitu festival in Esagil.

10 In the month Nisannu, in the nineteenth year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king, ditto.[1] the sacrifices […]

11 In the month Du’ûzu, in the sixteenth year, a lion which no one saw[12] enter the city

12 in the western quarter on the eighth orchard

13 was seen and killed. In the twentieth year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king,

14 Bêl did not come out nor did Nabû come. For nine years in succession

15 Bêl did not come out nor did Nabû come. In the twenty-fourth (-fifth, -sixth?) year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king,

16 the genius, which stands in the right-hand side of the door of the shrine of […]

17 was seen to move. A demon in the bed chambers

                                (Nabu & his father Marduk, Nabu is his 3rd son)

18 of Nabû was seen. […] upon […] Nabû in the meat was seen.

19 On the twenty-first day of the month Šabatu, in the twenty-sixth year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king, Adad thundered, his fire […]

                (Adad atop his Taurus symbol, alien winged sky-disc above)

Translation of Column 4

Lacuna

1 […]

2 […] caused to dwell therein

3 […] are/is not.

4 In the Nth year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king,

  (Babylonian King Nabu-munkin-apli stele with his cuneiform inscription)

5 […] Nabû-mukin-apli, the king,

6 […] out down

7 […] a weapon.

——————————————

8 […]

9 […]

10 […]”

Note 1:
I.e., “the king did not offer the sacrifices of the Akitu festival in Esagila (Marduk’s temple – residence in Babylon)“.

Gold theft chronicle (BCHP 15)

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: the Gold Theft Chronicle, reverse. Photo Bert van der Spek.
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.

TEXT: OBVERSE

TRANSLATION

1 [.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..] /x x\[.. .. | ..] /x x x\ [“.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..] x x [.. ..]
2 [.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ina qí-b]i šá 1+en SIG šá |GAL ERÍN KUR URI.KI [.. .. .. .. .. .. .. at the comma]nd of a certain dignitary of the satrap of Akkad
3 [KÙ.GI ana .. .. .. .. .. ..UK]KIN?šá É.SAG.GÍL na-din [gold? to? .. .. .. .. .. .. the assem]bly? of Esagila was given.
4 UD BI ina É UD.1.KAM ul-te-ri-bu-ú GAR.MEŠ|šú

That day into the Day-One-temple they made it enter (and) they put it there.

5 ni-gu-tú ina KUR GAR-nu UD 13.KAM mBa-ra-bu-|utdEN SIMUG

A festival they held. Day 13th, Barabut-Bel, the smith,

6šá TA šá-kin7šá LUGAL šá TA MURUB4 MU KUR

who had been pursued? by the governor of the king since the middle of the year,

7 ana UGU KÙ.GI MU-a-tim @a-bit ITI BI

was imprisoned on account of the gold aforementioned. That month,

8 UD 21.KAM ina qí-bi šá 1+en SIG šá GAL ERÍN | KUR URI.KI

day 21th, at the command of a certain dignitary of the strategos of Akkad,

9EN pi-qitza-zak-ku uE.KI.MEŠ |UKKIN šáÉ.SA[G.GÍL] the trustee (bêl piqitti) (of), the financial official (zazakku) and the Babylonians of the Council (kiništu) of Esa[gila],
10 KÙ.GI MU-a-tim TA É UD.1.KAM ul-te|@u-šú

one had brought outside the gold in question from the Day-One-Temple.

11ina KI.LÁ.MEŠ šá É KÙ.DIM šá ina IGI-ma ina lìb-bi-|šú-nu

When it was weighed[12] with the weight stones of the house of the goldsmiths, with which it had been weighed in the past,

12ki-i LÁ-šú2/3 6½ KÙ.GI in-da-&u

it was diminished by 2/3 mina and 6 ½ shekels [26.5 shekels].

13 ITI BI UD 12!.KAM šar-ra-q[í ] /MU-a\-tim

That month, day 22!? the thie[ves ] afore[mentioned]

14 ana tar-@a SIG MU-a-tim u /GAL.ERÍN.MEŠ\

in the presence of the dignitary in question and the x x x

15 u lú? x x x [.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..]

and the.. .. x x x [.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..]

edge mutilated, possibly inscribed

edge mutilated, possibly inscribed


TEXT: REVERSE

TRANSLATION

1 u ŠÀ?.T[AM .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .] and the šat[ammu of Esagila]
2 u E.KI.MEŠ l[ú? .. .. .. .. .. .. ..]

and the Babylonians (of) the [Council of Esagila?, the judge]

3šá LUGAL inagišI.LU m[a]-á[š-a-a-al-tú]

of the king on a rack of inter[rogation]

4 iš-šá-al-šú-nu-tú uk?t[in-nu-šú-nu-tú]

interrogatedsg them and con[victed them.]

5 šal-lat-su-nu ina KI.TA E.K[I .. .. .. ..]

Their prisoners [were taken to GN] below Babyl[on and]

6 ina IZI BIL.MEŠ ITI BI [UD.. .. ..]

were burned with fire. That month [day .. .. ..]

7pu-li-&e-e GIŠ GI x[.. MEŠ]

the politai wooden?? [.. ..]

8 šá MÁ.MEŠ AN.TA E.KI ana tar-@[a x (x)]

of the ships? above Babylon in fro[nt (of x (x))]

9 É.GAL /LUGAL\ ig-da-áš-ru-ú

of the palace of the king they repaired?

10 [.. ..] x x [.. ..] al-te-me

[Month MN. /That month\ I heard

11 [um-ma-a mA]n-ti-‘-uk-su

[as follows: A]ntiochus,

12 [LUGAL GAZ??] (vacat)

[the king, was killed”??] (vacat)

Gold theft chronicle (BCHP 15)

Coin of Antiochus V Eupator.

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.

EN pi-qitza-zak-ku, “the trustee of the zazakku“.EN 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).

EN pi-qit may also be an error for EN 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 whichpl”, 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
, “when, as soon as, after” (cf. CAD K p. 316). In Middle and Late Babylonian texts the conjunction , “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 () and no. 86 (ri).

Map of Babylon in the age of Alexander the Great. Design Jona Lendering. 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.

 

Translation of a Babylonian Lawsuit Relating to a Jew

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.

The Babylonian Story of the Creation According to the Tradition of Cutha

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.

Walker Chronicle

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 bluemixed-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

6b - King Tukulti-Ninurta I 1234-1197 B.C.  (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-shumu ussur driven from Egypt by father to Ramses III  (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.

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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.
Related image  (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.

Eclectic Chronicle (ABC 24)

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

Lacuna

1′ […]

2′ […]

3′ he carried off a great booty.

——————————————

4′ Marduk-šapik-zeri [1], the son of Marduk-nadin-ahhe, rebuilt the wall of Babylon. He conquered the

5′ kings of the lands. During his reign, the people of the land enjoyed prosperity.

6′ He made an entente cordiale with Aššur-bêl-kala, king of Assyria.[2]

7′ At that time, the king went from Assyria to Sippar.

——————————————

8′ Adad-apla-iddina,[3] descendant of Itti-Marduk-balatu, the Arameans and an usurper king rebelled against him

9′ and desecrated all the sanctuaries centers of the land. Der, Dur-Anki (Nippur).

10′ Sippar, Parsa (Dur-Kurigalzu) they demolished. The Suteans attacked and the booty of Sumer and Akkad

11′ they took home. He made frequent visits to the shrines of Marduk and appeased his heart. He totally restored his cult

——————————————

12′ Simbar-šihu, son of Eriba-Sin, knight of the Sealand,

13′ made the throne of Enlil at Ekur-igigal.

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14′ In the month of Nisannu of the fifth year of Eulmaš-šakin-šumi, the king.[4]

——————————————

15′ The fourteenth year [5]

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16′ The fourth year of Mar-biti-apla-usur [6]

——————————————

17′ The first year of Nabû-mukin-apli, the king [7]

——————————————

18′ The Nth year

Edge

Lacuna

Translation of reverse

1′ The Nth year of Mar-biti-ahhe-iddina [8]

——————————————

2′ Adad-nirari was the king of Assyria at the time of Šamaš-mudammiq.[9]

——————————————

3′ At the time of Nabû-šuma-ukin, Tukulti-Ninurta was the king of Assyria.[10]

——————————————

4′ At the time of Nabû-apla-iddina, son of Nabû-šuma-ukin, Aššur-nasir-apli was the king of Assyria.[11]

——————————————

5′ At the time of Marduk-zakir-šumi, son of Nabû-apla-iddina, and

6′ Marduk-bêl-usate, Šalmaneser was the king of Assyria.[12]

——————————————

7′ At the time of Marduk-balassu-iqbi and Marduk-zakir-šumi

——————————————

8′ For N years there was no king in the land.[13]

——————————————

9′ Eriba-Marduk, descendant of Marduk-šakin-šumi,

10′ took the hand of Bêl (Marduk) and the son of Bêl (Nabû) in his second year.

11′ The Aramaeans who had taken by murder and insurrection the fields of the inhabitants of Babylon and Borsippa,

12′ Eriba-Marduk slew by the sword, and he brought about their defeat.

13′ He took the fields and orchards away from the and gave them to the [Arameans?] and Borsippeans.

14′ In that same year, he set of the throne of Bêl in Esagila (Marduk’s temple – residence in Babylon) and Ezida (Nabu’s temple – residence in Borsippa) […]

15′ […] Eriba-Marduk […] to Babylon.

——————————————

16′ […] Eriba-Marduk went out from […]

——————————————

17′ […] Nabû-Nasir.[14]

——————————————

18′ […]

——————————————

19′ […] Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria, ascended the throne.[15]

——————————————

20′ Šalmaneser, king of Assyria, ascended the throne.”[16]

——————————————

Lacuna

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.