Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary This is a Summary or Display inscription which is incised on the front, left hip and back of a broken basalt statue of Shalmaneser. It was discovered in the 1903 German excavations at the entrance to a Parthian building where it had been moved from its original location at the Tabira Gate. The statue had been broken into two large and many small pieces and the head was missing. The text appears to date to 833 bce based on the…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary A Sumerian inscription from Ur belonging to Nur-Adad, eighth king of the Larsa dynasty (who reigned ca. 1865–1850 bce) deals with the king’s construction of a kir4-MAḪ “great (bread) oven” and a du8-MAḪ (possibly “great cauldron”) for the moon god Nanna. Copies of the text are inscribed on three copper cylinders and several clay cones that were found in a room northwest of t…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary The remains of twenty-one lines of a tablet, one fragment of which (K 6205) was formerly ascribed to Tiglath-pileser III ( ANET 282b), the other (82–3–23, 131) to Sargon. The reference to the Judean city of Azekah, as well as the name of Hezekiah (partially restored) definitively set the location of the battles in Judah, but there is still some question as to their date.…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary Numerous clay cones found or excavated at Isin record the construction by Lipit-Eshtar (the fourth king of the Isin I dynasty, who reigned ca. 1934–1924 bce) of a storehouse (ganīnum) for the gods Enlil and Ninlil. This text provides us with the earliest Akkadian translation of the Sumerian royal title lugal ki-en-gi ki-uri, Akkadian šar māt šumerim u akkadim, “king of the land of Sumer and Akkad.” Lipit-Es…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary The text was inscribed on a pavement slab for the gates at Dūr-Šarrukīn (Khorsabad). Pavement Inscription 4 (2.118G) ( lines 31–41) (Sargon II) … who conquered Samaria and the entire land of Bīt-Ḫumria (Israel);1 who plundered Ashdod (and) Šinuḫtu,2 who caught the Ionians3 like fish in the middle of the sea; who deported the Kasku, all of Tabal, and Ḫilakku; who drove away Mita (Mi…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary A different Sumerian cone inscription of Rim-Sin commemorates the construction of a temple of Nergal in Ur. Nergal was a deity venerated by Assyrian deportees (especially those from Cuthah) who were re-located in Samaria following the downfall of Israel in 722 bce. Rim-Sin (2.102B) Subject: 2 Kgs 17:30 ( 1–6) For the god Nergal, a supreme lord, who possesses great might, the one with a perfect fea…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary Gungunum, the fifth member of the Larsa dynasty and its first effective king, reigned from ca. 1931–1906 bce. A Sumerian cone inscription from Ur deals with the construction there of a storehouse for the sun god by En-ana-tuma, en-priestess of the moon god Nanna. Though installed by her father Ishme-Dagan of Isin (above, COSB.2.94), she was allowed to keep her p…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary This inscription, recorded on several clay cylinders found at Ur in the remains of the ziggurat, is probably the last building inscription of Nabonidus. It attests to the intensity of the king’s personal devotion to the moon god Sîn, and to his attempt to impose him as supreme deity of the Neo-Babylonian empire. Sîn is praised as “king/lord of the…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary This is a reconstructed recension (Recension D according to Schramm  EAK 2:76–77) based on inscriptions on two monumental bulls found at Calaḫ and supplemented by two small fragments of inscribed stones. The edition apparently dates to 841 bce1 and is the first edition of Shalmaneser’s annals that documents Shalmaneser’s campaign in his eighteenth regnal year against Hazael of Damascus…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary Sculpted from black alabaster, the famous “Black Obelisk,” is 2.02 meters in height and contains the longest account of Shalmaneser’s reign, stretching down to the king’s thirty-first regnal year.1 It was discovered by Layard at Calaḫ in 1846. The text is identified as Recension F and dates to 828–827 bce. The Obelisk is formed in the shape of a ziggurat, having four sides with five panels on each…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary A Sumerian cone inscription of Rim-Sin (the fourteenth king of the Larsa dynasty, who reigned ca. 1822–1763 bce) records the construction of a temple of the god Dumuzi in Ur. Dumuzi was in origin a Sumerian shepherd god who, with the goddess Inanna, served as tutelary deity of the ancient city of Badtibira (var.: Patibira), modern Tell al-Madaʾin. For the most recent discuss…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; “Functional” Inscriptions; Treaties Commentary Like  AT 2, this text stipulates only the extradition of fugitives. Agreement Between Pillia and Idrimi ( AT 3) (2.129) Subject: Lev 27:2–8 I. Introduction ( lines 1–5) 1 A tablet of agreement (was made) 2 when Pillia 3 swore a divine oath, 4 and made this agreement 5 [be]tween them. II. Stipulations regarding fugitives ( lines 6–43) 6 Fugitives who are among them 7 they shall always return. 8 Pillia’s fugitive 9 whom Idrimi seizes 10 to Pillia 11 he …

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary A tablet from Nippur contains the copy of one (or more) Sumerian royal inscriptions of Ur-Ninurta (the fifth king of the Isin I dynasty, who reigned ca. 1923–1896 bce). The excerpted section deals with the fashioning of a statue depicting the king holding a votive goat kid at his breast; the statue was set up in the courtyard of the goddess Ninlil (Enlil’s spouse) in Nippu…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; “Functional” Inscriptions; Treaties Commentary This Old Babylonian text from Alalakh Level VII records the background behind the gift of the city of Alalakh as a reward for military efforts. Gifts of lands and towns are also reported in Joshua 13 where, as in  AT 1, they serve as a recollection of past events. See also Joshua 20 and 21 and the towns of asylum and of the Levites, both of which are presented as gifts of towns from the tribes to these groups. A similar gift of towns appears in  AT 456. Bot…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary A Sumerian clay cone records Nur-Adad’s construction of Enki’s abzu temple at Eridu. Nur-Adad (2.99B) ( 1–3) [For] the god En[ki], lord of Eridu, [his] lord, ( 4–8) Nur-[Adad], mighty man, provider of Ur, king of Larsa, subduer of the foreign land for the god Utu, ( 9–16) when he had restored Ur and Larsa, had resettled their scattered people in their residence, their captive people … the foundation tru[ly …

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary In the final years of Tiglath-pileser’s reign,1 the royal scribes composed what became the final “full” edition of his Annals, made up of seventeen palû’s (or regnal years). This edition was inscribed between two registers of reliefs on stone slabs already in place decorating the walls of Tiglath-pileser’s palace at Calah (Nimrud). However, the palace was…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary The Sippar Cylinder of Nabonidus Nabonidus’ Rebuilding of E-lugal-galga-sisa, The Ziggurat of Ur Nabonidus (2.123)

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary Discovered at Khorsabad, the text is inscribed on four barrel cylinders (two in the Louvre at Paris and two in the British Museum in London). The inscription commemorates the founding of Sargon’s new capital at Dūr-Šarrukīn. The Cylinder Inscription (2.118H) ( lines 19–20)1 (Sargon) who subjugated the extensive land of Bīt-Ḫumria (Israel), who inflicted a decisive defeat on Egypt at Rap…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions Commentary The text is written on a large, very fragmentary clay tablet1 (18.4 cm wide) which was recovered in excavations at Nimrud in 1955. The reverse of the tablet preserves narrations of Tiglath-pileser’s Levantine campaigns, arranged geographically and set off by rulings across the surface of the tablet. Summary Inscription 10 (K 2649),2 following Tadmor’s designation (1994:180), is a tiny fragment (2.×.…

Subject: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World; Akkadian Monumental Inscriptions; Building and Display Inscriptions; Early Old Babylonian Inscriptions Commentary A Sumerian cone inscription of Ur-dukuga, the thirteenth king of the Isin I dynasty (who reigned ca. 1830–1828 bce), records the construction of a temple of the god Dagan in the royal city of Isin. Dagan was an important Mesopotamian and West Semitic deity with major cult centres at ancient Tuttul (modern Tell Biʿa near the junction of the Euphrates and Balih rivers) and Terqa (m…