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Boundary stone (kudurru)

Babylonian, about 1125-1104 BC
From Sippar, southern Iraq

A legal statement about the freeing of taxes and obligations.

The cuneiform text of this kudurru describes the military services of Ritti-Marduk to King Nebuchadnezzar I (1125-1104 BC) during a campaign in Elam (to the south-east of Mesopotamia) in retaliation for Elamite raids in northern Babylonia. The campaign was carried out in summer and the Babylonian army suffered considerably from the heat and lack of water. Ritti-Marduk, the Captain of the chariots, led the attack against the Elamites.

The text sets out the details of how Nebuchadnezzar rewarded Ritti-Marduk by freeing the towns of Bit-Karziyabku, of which Ritti-Marduk was head-man, from the jurisdiction of the neighbouring city. His reward included giving the inhabitants freedom from all taxation, from forced labour, and from liability to arrest by imperial soldiers. It also prevented the billeting of imperial soldiers on the towns.

The texts list thirteen high officials who were present at the granting of the charter, and invokes nine gods to protect the monument. There are also twenty divine symbols carved in relief.”

[British Museum]

Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon from 604-561 BC, building palaces and the famed hanging gardens.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon

Men walk along the Processional Road to Nebuchadnezzar’s Throne Hall.

Location:Babylon, Iraq. Photographer:UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD/National Geographic Stock

A clay cuneiform cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar found in Wana-Sedoum (Diwaniya, Iraq)

Cuneiform cylinder: inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II commemorating the reconstruction of Etemenanki, the ziggurat at Babylon

[Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY]

ancientpeoples:

Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar II

Neo-Babylonian dynasty, about 604-562 BC
From Babylon, southern Iraq

This clay cylinder was found in the ruins of the city of Babylon. The cuneiform text describes the three palaces which Nebuchadnezzar II (reigned 604-562 BC) built for himself in Babylon. The first palace was a rebuilding of the palace used by his father Nabopolassar (reigned 625-605 BC), which Nebuchadnezzar says had become dilapidated. When he had finished, he decided that it was not grand enough, so he built himself a new palace on the northern edge of Babylon. This palace had a blue parapet and was surrounded by massive fortification walls.

Later Nebuchadnezzar erected new city walls around the east side of Babylon, and built himself a third palace next to the River Euphrates. This is known today as his ‘summer’ palace, as it had ventilation shafts of a type still used today for cooling houses in the Near East. All three palaces were built of baked brick and bitumen, with roofs and doors constructed from fine imported timbers, cedar, cypress and fir.

Cylinders of this type were buried in the corners of all large buildings by Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. They were meant to be found and read by future kings whenever the buildings had to be repaired.

(Source: The British Museum)

Remains on Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in Babylon, Iraq

Ruins of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in city of Babylon.

At the Minnesota Opera.

Anyone going?