Nabû-šuma-iškun
For a very brief introduction to the literary genre of chronicles, go here. More information can be found in Jean-Jacques Glassner, Mesopotamian Chronicles (Atlanta, 2004), in which this is text CM 52.
Translation
Column iMarduk-apla-usur [...] the Chaldaean. |
| [...] the Tigris [...] |
| [...] a messenger [...] he killed and [...]. |
| [...] |
| Forced labor and corvée were imposed and [...] slave. |
| and bread, the food offering for the fifth day that he had seized, he used up and [...]. |
| the boat Idhedu [...] for the Esagila. |
Column ii(...)On a propitious day, from Babylon, Nabû-šuma-iškun turned his attention toward his country but |
| on the order of the BREAK lords Nabû and Marduk, he went into the [...] inside the house and |
| no longer went into battle nor started into the field. |
| In the third year, again, he brought the statue of Nanaya, the goddess of the Ezida, the beloved of Nabû, into the Bit mummi but |
| kept Nabû in Babylon and had the ceremonies of the evening before and those of the day if the eššešu-festival celebrated in only one day. |
| He covered the fine garment of Nabû with the fine garment of Bêl of the month Šabatu. |
| Dressed as the latter, he proposed Bêl's marriage to Tašmetu. |
| Unshaven, he mutilated the fingers of his apprentice scribe, and, wearing fine gold, he entered into Bêl's cella of offering [...]. |
| A leek, a thing forbidden in the Ezida, he brought to the temple of Nabû and gave to eat to the one "entering the temple" (i.e., the priest). |
| Ea, the lord of wisdom, whose dwelling place was founded with pure heaven and earth, |
| he made him get up from the dwelling place, which befitted his great divinity, and made him sit in the exalted gateway of Bêl. |
| He removed Madanu, "Bêl of Babylon", his favorite god, from his seat and made him leave. |
| Without the authority of [...] this city, he did as he pleased, |
| of [...]ri, son of [...], who |
| He [...] BREAK [...] |
| [...] she who sits on the throne [...] seven lions. |
| [...] he unleashed and [...] allowed to roam freely. |
| He had her grasp [...] he had her leashed. |
| He had [...] of Ištar [...] disconnected. |
| [...] to the granary of the verdant countryside he offered [...] a dust storm [...]. |
| He presented [...] Belet-duri [...]. |
| [...] Nabû, detained several nights in Babylon and [...] seated among [...] without destinies. |
| [..] Babylon [...] which he destroyed by fire. |
| [...] the great lord Marduk [...] he went to Marduk in place of the king and |
| [...] he spoke [...] was placed. |
| [...] kept in order [...]. |
| [...] the kneeling lord [...] he made sing. |
Column iii[...] Nin [...] |
| When the proud lord, the freedom of Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha |
| and the sworn agreements of Enlil-ina-mati, the son of KU[...] BREAK, the governor of Larak, in their time had established |
| and when he had offered sacrifices at Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha before Bêl, Nabû, and Nergal. |
| Year after year, he made unbearable their burden of slaughter, robbery, murder, corvée, and forced labor. |
| In only one day, he burned alive sixteen Cutheans at Zababa's gate in the heart of Babylon. |
| He delivered inhabitants of Babylon to Hatti and Elam as a token of respect. |
| He made the inhabitants of Babylon with woman, children, and servants go out and settled them into the countryside. |
| He heaped up the houses of Babylon's inhabitants BREAK BREAK into piles of rubble, and he turned them into royal property. |
| The main street, the avenue of Šarur, his lord's beloved, who passes through the streets of his city in the month of Ululu, |
| its passage he blocked off and turned into royal property, making him pass into a cul-de-sac. |
| He seized Mudammiq-Adad, son of Adad-šuma-ereš, his court opponent, without having committed either a crime or a rebellion, and |
| his people, as many as there were, he carried off to the Chaldaeans and the Aramaeans, as a sign of respect. |
| His towns, his fields, his houses, his gardens, and everything that belonged to him, as many as there were, he appropriated for himself. |
| The man Iltagal-il of the town Dur-ša-Karbi, which is on the bank of the Euphrates, came to his presence and swore agreements and oaths, but |
| he committed insult and unspeakable slander, that are forbidden of princes, against him and counted his town as booty. |
| In the sixth year, he turned his attention toward the Esagila, the palace of the Enlil of the gods (i.e., Marduk), with a view to restoring it, but |
| the possessions of the Esagila, as much as was there, what earlier kings had brought there, |
| he took out, gathered them into his own palace, and made them his own: |
| silver, gold, choice and priceless stones, and everything that befits a deity, as much as was there. |
| According to his good pleasure, he made offerings of them to the gods of the Sealand, of the Chaldeans, and of the Aramaeans. |
| He would adorn the women of his palace with them, and would give them to Hatti and Elam as signs of respect. |
| At the beginning of the seventh year, he marched on the Bit-Dakkuri for evil. |
| Afterward, Nabû-šuma-iškun, the Dakkurean, in violation of the sworn agreements and the oath taken by the great gods, |
| ordered out horses, troops, and chariots and sent them to go on campaign with him. |
| He distributed bread, beer of the first quality, and flour to all his camp. |
| In the month of Addaru, the twentieth day, the days of games in honor of Šamaš and Marduk, he felt no fear with regard to the sworn agreements and oaths. |
| The people, as many as were lying like cattle in a meadow, made merry and celebrated. |
Column iv(...)[...] |
| [...] Bêl [...] |
| [...] Sin [...] he made get up. |
| [...] in the room [...]. |
| [...] |
| [...] Babylon [...] he [...] them. |
| [...] Babylon. |
| [...] he [...] and [...] they knelt. |
| [...] they made go up [...]. "I want to send [...]". |
| [...] the great lord Marduk [...] looked angrily at [...] Ezida and |
| [...] they made [...] attack him and he plundered its [...]. |
| [...] his survivors [...] confined and |
| [...] the fugitives [...] he returned and |
| [...] Akkad [...] he burned. |
| [...] Borsippa, [...], Dilbat, and Cutha. |
| [...] toward those who are in the vanguard, [...] he stole their goods. |
| [...] he marched to Larak and [...] the governor of Larak. |
| [...] sworn agreements and oaths before the great gods, seven times, [...] entered into with him. |
| [...] those people, without having committed any crime [...] he seized and |
| [...] he took them away and [...] made them live on the steppe. |
| [...] toward the Bitter Waters [...] them. |
| [...] he reached [...] and Nabû who, before [...] kept hold of Babylon. |
| [...] he caused to be done [...] Ekur not [...] he made him do but |
| Marduk, the great lord, and Nabû, the exalted crown-prince, commanded his scattering [...]. |
| [...] |
| [...] |
| [...] BREAK [...] |
|
|
Upper edge[Remains of a colophon] |
Babylonian Chronicles
Online 2006
Latest revision: 31 March 2006
Latest revision: 31 March 2006
Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles