The cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament - The Search For ...

SECOND BOOK OF KINGS XXIV. 49
with the royal portrait *. By far the larger number of
these inscriptions—some of which are of considerable extent
— are exclusively occupied, when they are not of a
religious character, with the royal buildings at Babel and
Borsippa. This is a general characteristic of Babylonian, 363
as opposed to Assyrian, inscriptions—a feature that in the
interests of historical knowledge is greatly to be deplored.
We learn, however, from these records at all events the
ordinary title of the king as well as the name of his father.
We become acquainted with both from the legends on
bricks. One legend of six lines I have copied in the Bibel-
lexlkon, as well as inRiehm's Handworterbuch des Biblischen
Alterthums, from a brick preserved in the Zurich Museum.
The inscription runs thus : "1. Nabti-ku-dur-ri-usur
2. §ar Ba-bi-lu 3. za-uin I'. SAG. GA. TU (saggil)
4. u r. ZI. DA, 5. abal Nabti-ab al-u"sur 6. sar
Ba-bi-lu a-na-ku i. e. 1. Nebukadnezzar 2. king of
Babylon, 3. restorer of the temple of exaltation 4. and of
the temple of well-being (?) , 5. son of Nabopolassar,
6. king of Babylon, I".
Notes and Illustrations. 1. The name of the king is here written
in its first portion with the ordinary ideogram for the god Nebo; in
its second portion it is written phonetically ; while in its third portion
(usur) it is once more written ideographically with the sign SI8 which is
explained in a syllabary by nas&ru. See also Assyr. Babyl. Keilinsch.
pp. 124 foil. ;— 2. "Babylon" is both here and in line 6. written phone-
tically throughout; — 3. zanin partic. of zan§.nu often used in
the sense of "restore", "improve". Respecting the two templenames
see above pp. 122 foil. With respect to the name I'. ZI. DA,
* A representation of this portrait may be found in Schenkel's
Bibellexicon Vol. Ill, p. 511. Riehm, Handworterbuch des biblischen
Alterthums 1067 a. On the question of the genuineness and origin of
this cameo see Monatsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin,
pp. 293—298 (where a photographic reproduction is given) ; J. Menant
in Rev. Arch^ol. Par. 1885; A. Furtwangler in Sammlung zu Ehren
Leemanns', Leid. 1885 flg.
4