Cylinder of Nabonidus
Neo-Babylonian, about 555-540 BC
From Sippar, southern Iraq
This clay cuneiform cylinder was discovered in the Temple of
Shamash at Sippar. It records the pious reconstruction by Nabonidus
(reigned 555-539 BC) of the temples of the moon-god Sin in Harran
and of the sun-god Shamash and goddess Anunitum at Sippar. He tells
us that during the work at Sippar, inscriptions of older kings
Naram-Sin (2254-2218 BC) and Shagaraki-shuriash (1245-1233 BC) were
discovered, and Nabonidus offers dates that considerably exaggerate
their age.
Nabonidus came to the throne after the assassination of two of
the successors of Nebuchadnezzar, even though he had no direct
family connection with the Babylonian royal family. He was old
enough to have a mature son (Bel-shar-usur, the biblical
Belshezzar) and was almost certainly an experienced soldier. A
number of Nabonidus' inscriptions include historical references
intended to show that his irregular accession to the throne had the
blessing of the gods and of earlier Babylonian kings. Linked to
this concern for legitimacy are the recurring references to
Nabonidus' search for earlier buildings in the course of his own
reconstruction work.
Collecting ancient documents and objects was already practised,
for example, at Ashurbanipal's library at his palace at Nineveh. In
the ruins of the Northern Palace at Babylon a museum-like
collection of 'antiquities' was found, apparently collected by
Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. This was probably still visible
in Persian times.
R.F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian litera (London, D. Appleton and Co., 1901)