Cuneiform Tablets in the Collection of Lord Binning
1982; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/4200152
ISSN2053-4744
AutoresC. B. F. Walker, S. N. Kramer,
Tópico(s)Archaeology and Historical Studies
ResumoThe following summary is necessarily somewhat speculative and glosses over many problems of interpretation.The Broken beginning of the text (1′–3′) seems to describe a state of turmoil in southern Babylonia for which the king (Merodach-baladan) seems to be held responsible; Marduk and the gods in anger decide on the removal of the king (4′–5′) and the appointment of his successor (?, 6′). The new king, Bel-ibni (or rather, as the historical records show, his Assyrian patron Sennacherib), in the course of the campaign to remove Merodach-baladan, destroys and plunders the Babylonian shrines and removes the statues of the gods (7′). Among others this affects the goddess Ba-KUR and her temple Etenten in the town of Ša-Uṣur-Adad. Ninurta sends the king a vision concerning Ba-KUR (8′–9′) and the town of Šapija also sees Ba-KUR (10′). Alarmed by this Bel-ibni restores the statues of the gods plundered from Ša-Uṣur-Adad to Nabu-belšu (the local chief?) and grants the town freedom from certain state services (11′–13′). The statue of Ba-KUR is then brought back to her temple in Ša-Uṣur-Adad by Nabu-gamil, an official of the temple of Ba-KUR and Ninurta (14′–17′). Subsequently the king Bel-ibni wrote the official tablet exempting the town from state services and presented it to Nabu-gamil and gave the town free of claims to Nabu-belšu (18′–20′). The text continues with curses on any future person who harms Ša-Uṣur-Adad and its gods or alters the town's privileged status (21′–34′). The text of the king's decree ends with line 34′. There is a slight gap on the tablet before lines 35′–40′ which apparently form the colophon of the copy of the decree actually presented to Nabu-gamil, invoking curses on anyone who tampers with that copy. After a wider gap there follows a second colophon (41′–43′) identifying the scribe who copied the present tablet.
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