Nabonidus Cylinder from Sippar
Nabonidus Cylinder from Sippar: foundation text in which king Nabonidus of Babylonia (r.556-539) describes how he repaired three temples in Harran and Sippar.
In the Nabonidus Cylinder from Sippar, a foundation text buried in the foundation of a building, Babylonian king Nabonidus (r. 556-539) describes how he carefully - after checking older foundation texts - repaired three temples in Harran and Sippar.:
- the sanctuary of the moon god Sin in Harran;
- the temple of the sun god Šamaš in Sippar, called Ebabbar;
- the shrine of the warrior goddess Anunitu in Sippar.
One copy of this cylinder was excavated in Babylon, in the royal palace, and is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Another copy, shown to the right, is in the British Museum in London. The text was written after Nabonidus' return from Arabia in his thirteenth regnal year, but before war broke out with the Persian king Cyrus, who is presented as an instrument of the god Marduk.
The Nabonidus Cylinder contains echoes from earlier foundation texts, and develops the same themes as later ones, like the better-known Cyrus Cylinder, which is only a couple of years younger: a lengthy titulary, a story about an angry god who has abandoned his shrine, is reconciled with his people, orders a king to restore the temple, and a king who piously increases the daily offerings. Prayers are also included; we hear that the gods return to their abodes; and the line that the gods are pleased with their dwellings is repeated.
The translation of the Nabonidus Cylinder was made by Paul-Alain Beaulieu, who is also the author of The Reign of Nabonidus, King of Babylon 556-539 B.C. (1989).
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[ii.26-43a] O Sin, king of the gods of heaven and the netherworld, without whom no city or country can be founded, nor be restored, when you enter Ehulhul, the dwelling of your plentitude, may good recommendations for that city and that temple be set on your lips. May the gods who dwell in heaven and the netherworld constantly praise the temple of Sin, the father, their creator. As for me, Nabonidus king of Babylon, who completed that temple, may Sin, the king of the gods of heaven and the netherworld, joyfully cast his favorable look upon me and every month, in rising and setting, make my ominous signs favorable. May he lengthen my days, extend my years, make my reign firm, conquer my enemies, annihilate those hostile to me, destroy my foes. May Ningal, the mother of the great gods, speak favorably before Sin, her beloved, on my behalf. May Šamaš and Ištar, his shining offspring, recommend me favorably to Sin, the father, their creator. May Nusku, the august vizier, hear my prayer and intercede for me. |
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[ii.43b-46] The inscription written in the name of of Aššurbanipal, king of Assyria, I found and did not alter. I anointed it with oil, performed a sacrifice, placed it with my own inscription, and returned it to its place. |
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[ii.47-iii.7] For Šamaš, the judge of heaven and the netherworld, concerning Ebabbar ["shining house"], his temple which is in Sippar, which Nebuchadnezzar, a former king had rebuilt and whose old foundation deposit he had looked for but not found -yet he rebuilt that temple and after forty-five years the walls of that temple had sagged- I became troubled, I became fearful, I was worried and my face showed signs of anxiety. While I led Šamaš out of its midst and caused him to dwell in another sanctuary, I removed the debris of that temple, looked for its old foundation deposit, dug to a depth of eighteen cubits into the ground and then Šamaš, the great lord, revealed to me the original foundations of Ebabbar, the temple which is his favorite dwelling, by disclosing the foundation deposit of Naram-Sin, son of Sargon, which no king among my predecessors had found in three thousand and two hundred years.note In the month Tašrîtu,note in a propitious month, on an auspicious day, which Šamaš and Adad had revealed to me by means of divination, upon beds of silver and gold, choice gems, logs of resinous woods, aromatic herbs, and cuts of cedar wood, in joy and gladness, on the foundation deposit of Naram-Sin, son of Sargon, not a finger's breadth too wide or too narrow, I laid its brick work. Five thousand massive beams of cedar wood I set up for its roofing. Lofty doors of cedar wood, thresholds and pivots I affixed at its gates. Ebabbar, together with E-kun-ankuga ["pure stairway to heaven"], its ziggurat, I built anew and completed its work. I led Šamaš, my lord, in procession and, in joy and gladness, I caused him to dwell in the midst of his favorite dwelling. |