---

Records of the Past, 2nd series, Vol. I

By A. H. Sayce

---

Translation of the Second Dynastic Tablet from Babylon

Column I

The first eleven lines are destroyed.

12. 11 kings [of the dynasty of Babylon] for [294 years].

_________

13. Anma[n] for [5]1 (years).

14. Ki-an [Nigas] for 55 (years).

15. Damki-ili[su] for 46 1 (years).

16. Is-ki-[pal] for 15 (years).

17. Sussi, (his) brother, for 27 (years).

18. Gul-ki-[sar] for 55 (years).

19. Kirgal-[dara-mas] for 50 (years).

20. A-dara-[kalama] for 28 (years).

21. A-kur-du-[ana] for 26 (years).

22. Melamma-[kurkura] for 6 (years).

23. Bel-ga[mil?] for 9 (years).

24. For 368 (years) the 11 kings of the dynasty of Uru-azagga.

_________

25. Gandis for 16 (years).

26. Agum-si[pak] his son for 22 (years).

27. Guya-si[pak] for 22 (years). 2

28. Ussi his son for 8 (years).

29. Adu-medas for … (years).

_________

30. Tazzi-gurumas for … (years).

31. [Agum-kak-rimi 1 for … years].

The next line of this column and the first thirteen lines of the next are destroyed.

Column II

14. …… for 22 (years).

15. …… for 26 (years).

16. …… for 17 (years).

17. Kara … 2 for 2 (years).

18. Gis-amme … ti for 6 (years).

19. Saga-sal[tiyas] for 13 (years).

20. Kasbat his son for 8 (years).

2r. Bel-nadin-sumi for 1 year (and) 6 months.

22. Kara-Urus 3 for 1 year (and) 6 months.

23. Rimmon-nadin-suma for 6 (years).

24. Rimmon-suma-natsir for 30 (years).

25. Meli-Sipak 4 for 15 (years).

26. Merodach-abla-iddin (Merodach-baladan) his son for 13 (years).

27. Zamama-nadin-sumi 5 for 1 (year).

28. Bel-suma … 6 for 3 (years).

29. For 576 (years) 9 months the 36 kings [of the dynasty of the Kassites]. 

_________

30. Merodach- … for 17 (years).

31. ……… for 6 (years).

The next line of this column and the first four of the next are destroyed.

Column III

5. …… for 22 (years).

6. Merodach-nadin- … 1 for 1 year and 6 months.

7. Merodach-kul[lat] … 2 for 13 (years).

8. Nebo-nadin- … for 9 (years).

9. For 72 (years and) 6 months the 22 kings of the dynasty of Isin. 3

_________

10. Simmas-si[pak] for 18 (years).

11. Bel-mukin-[ziri] for 5 months.

12. Kassû-nadin-akhi for 3 (years).

13. For 21 (years and) 5 months the three kings of the dynasty of the land of the Sea. 4

_________

14. E-ulbar-sakin-sumi for 17 (years).

15. Uras-kudurri-[utsur] for 3 (years).

16. Silanim (?)-Sugamu[na] for 3 months.

17. For 20 (years and) 3 months the 3 kings of the dynasty of Bit-[Bazi].

_________

18. an … [an Elamite] for 6 (years).

19. …… for 13 (years).

20. …… for 6 months (and) 12 (days).

The next twelve lines of the column and the first line of the fourth column are destroyed.

Column IV

2. Nebo-suma-yukin [the son of Dakuri] for … (years).

3. Nabu-[natsir] 1 for [14] (years).

4. Nebo-nadin-ziri 2 his son for 2 (years).

5. Nebo-suma-yukin his son for 1 month and 12 days.

6. The 31 [kings?] 3 of the dynasty of Babylon.

_________

7. Yukin-zira of the dynasty of Sasî 4 for 3 (years).

8. Pulu 5 for 2 (years).

9. Ululâ 6 of the dynasty of Tinu for 5 (years).

10. Merodach-abla-iddina (Merodach-baladan) of the dynasty of the country of the Sea for 12 (years).

11. Sargon for 5 (years).

12. Sin-akhe-erba (Sennacherib) of the dynasty of Khabi the greater for 2 (years).

13. Merodach-zakir-sumi the son of Arad-… for 1 month.

14. Merodach-abla-iddina a soldier of Khabi 7 for 6 months.

15. Bel-ebus of the dynasty of Babylon for 3 (years).

16. Assur-nadin-sumi of the dynasty of Khabi the greater for 6 (years).

17. Nergal-zusezib for 1 (year).

18. Musezib-Merodach of the dynasty of Babylon for 4 (years).

19. Sin-akhe-erba (Sennacherib) for 8 (years).

20. Assur-akhe-iddina (Esarhaddon) for [12 years].

21. Samas-suma-yukin (Saosdukhinos) for [20 years].

22. Kandal-[anu] (Khineladanos) for [22 years].

The rest of the tablet is destroyed.

Footnotes
15:1 Mr. Pinches’ copy gives 36 years.

15:2 Is this king merely a duplicate of his predecessor, the different spelling of the name having caused the annalist to divide one king into two?

16:1 Supplied from an inscription of the king himself, who styles himself the son of Tassi-gurumas, the descendant of Ahi … the son of Agum . and the offspring of the god Suqamuna.

16:2 Identified by Dr. Oppert with Kudur-Bel, who, according to Nabonidos, was the father of Sagasalti-buryas, the latter of whom reigned 800 years before himself (B.C. 1340). But the identification is doubtful, since the names do not agree.

16:3 "The servant of Bel" (Kudur-Bel) in Kassite.

16:4 "The man of Merodach" in Kassite.

16:5 Zamama-nadin-sumi was a contemporary of the Assyrian king Assur-dan-an (whose name should probably be read Assur-dan, and be identified with that of Assur-dayan, the great-grandfather of Tiglath-Pileser I.)

16:6 Or Bel-nadin- …

16:7 The Kassites were a rude tribe of the Elamite mountains on the northeast side of Babylonia. Nöldeke has shown that they must be identified with the Kossæans of classical geography.

17:1 Perhaps Merodach-nadin-akhi, the antagonist of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I., 418 years before the conquest of Babylon by Sennacherib, and consequently B.C. 1106.

17:2 Perhaps the Merodach-sapik-kullat of the Synchronous Tablet, who was a contemporary of Assur-bil-kala, the son of Tiglath-Pileser I.

17:3 Isin (pa-se) was also called Pate’si ("the city of the high-priest" in Babylonia), according to W.A.I., ii. 53, 13.

17:4 That is, the Persian Gulf. Merodach-baladan is described below as also belonging to the dynasty of the country of the Sea, and his ancestral kingdom was that of the Kaldâ or Chaldees in Bit-yagina among the marshes at the mouth of the Euphrates.

18:1 The Nabonassar of Ptolemy's Canon, B.C. 747.

18:2 Called Nadinu in the Babylonian Chronicle.

18:3 Possibly we should supply "years" instead of "kings."

18:4 The annals of Tiglath-Pileser III show that we should read Sapi or Sape. Yukinzira is the Khinziros of Ptolemy's Canon.

18:5 Pulu is the Pul of the Old Testament, the Pôros of Ptolemy's Canon. His name is replaced by that of Tiglath-Pileser in the Babylonian Chronicle, and the two years of his reign correspond with the two years during which Tiglath-Pileser reigned over Babylonia.

18:6 The Shalmaneser of the Babylonian Chronicle and the Assyrian monuments, the Ilulaios of Ptolemy's Canon.

18:7 Does this imply that he was a different person from the famous Merodach-baladan, the contemporary of Sargon and Hezekiah?