Column i

Marduk-apla-usur […] the Chaldaean.

[…] the Tigris […]

[…] a messenger […] he killed and […].

[…]

Forced labor and corvée were imposed and […] slave.

and bread, the food offering for the fifth day that he had seized, he used up and […].

the boat Idhedu […] for the Esagila (Marduk’s ziggurat / temple / residence in Babylon).

Column ii

(…)
On a propitious day, from Babylon, Nabû-šuma-iškun turned his attention toward his country but

  (Marduk & son Nabu, patron gods of Babylon & Borsippa)

on the order of the BREAK lords Nabû and (father) Marduk, he went into the […] inside the house and

no longer went into battle nor started into the field.

  (Nabu’s spouse Nanaya seated, Babylonian King Meli-shipak II & ill daughter before her, with symbols of gods above)

In the third year, again, he brought the statue of Nanaya (Nabu’s spouse), the goddess of the Ezida (residence of Nabu & Nanaya in Borsippa), the beloved of Nabû, into the Bit mummi but

kept Nabû in Babylon and had the ceremonies of the evening before and those of the day if the eššešu-festival celebrated in only one day.

  (life-size alien god Nabu; Nabu & mixed-breed king)

He covered the fine garment of Nabû with the fine garment of Bêl (Marduk) of the month Šabatu.

Dressed as the latter, he proposed Bêl’s marriage to Tašmetu (Nabu’s spouse).

Unshaven, he mutilated the fingers of his apprentice scribe, and, wearing fine gold, he entered into Bêl’s cella of offering […].

  (Nabu’s Ezida & Tower of Babel in his patron city of Borsippa)

A leek, a thing forbidden in the Ezida, he brought to the temple of Nabû and gave to eat to the one “entering the temple” (i.e., the priest).

  (life-size giant god Enki; Enki’s ziggurat / residence in Eridu)

Ea (Enki), the lord of wisdom, whose dwelling place was founded with pure heaven and earth,

he made him get up from the dwelling place, which befitted his great divinity, and made him sit in the exalted gateway of Bêl.

   (Babylon; Bel / Marduk, patron god of Babylon, sky-disc)

He removed Madanu, “Bêl of Babylon” (Marduk), his favorite god, from his seat and made him leave.

Without the authority of […]  this city, he did as he pleased,

of […]ri, son of […], who

He […] BREAK […]

[…] she who sits on the throne […] seven lions.

[…] he unleashed and […] allowed to roam freely.

He had her grasp […] he had her leashed.

  (Inanna, goddess of love, & eager goddess of war)

He had […] of Ištar (Inanna) […] disconnected.

[…] to the granary of the verdant countryside he offered […] a dust storm […].

He presented […] Belet-duri […].

[…] Nabû, detained several nights in Babylon and […] seated among […] without destinies.

[..] Babylon […] which he destroyed by fire.

  (Marduk, warrior son to Enki, & patron god of Babylonia)

[…] the great lord Marduk […] he went to Marduk in place of the king and

[…] he spoke […] was placed.

[…] kept in order […].

[…] the kneeling lord […] he made sing.

Column iii

[…] Nin […]

When the proud lord, the freedom of Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha

and the sworn agreements of Enlil-ina-mati, the son of KU[…] BREAK, the governor of Larak, in their time had established

 (Marduk & rival younger brother Nergal)

and when he had offered sacrifices at Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha before Bêl, Nabû, and Nergal.

Year after year, he made unbearable their burden of slaughter, robbery, murder, corvée, and forced labor.

 (Ninurta & others with nuclear missiles attack Marduk & sons)

In only one day, he burned alive sixteen Cutheans at Zababa’s (Ninurta) gate in the heart of Babylon.

He delivered inhabitants of Babylon to Hatti and Elam as a token of respect.

He made the inhabitants of Babylon with woman, children, and servants go out and settled them into the countryside.

He heaped up the houses of Babylon’s inhabitants BREAK BREAK into piles of rubble, and he turned them into royal property.

The main street, the avenue of Šarur, his lord’s beloved, who passes through the streets of his city in the month of Ululu,

its passage he blocked off and turned into royal property, making him pass into a cul-de-sac.

He seized Mudammiq-Adad, son of Adad-šuma-ereš, his court opponent, without having committed either a crime or a rebellion, and

his people, as many as there were, he carried off to the Chaldaeans and the Aramaeans, as a sign of respect.

His towns, his fields, his houses, his gardens, and everything that belonged to him, as many as there were, he appropriated for himself.

The man Iltagal-il of the town Dur-ša-Karbi, which is on the bank of the Euphrates, came to his presence and swore agreements and oaths, but

he committed insult and unspeakable slander, that are forbidden of princes, against him and counted his town as booty.

  (Marduk’s E-sagila, ziggurat / temple / residence in Babylon, & many temples / houses for other gods)

In the sixth year, he turned his attention toward the Esagila, the palace of the Enlil (Earth Colony Commander) of the gods (i.e., Marduk), with a view to restoring it, but

the possessions of the Esagila, as much as was there, what earlier kings had brought there,

he took out, gathered them into his own palace, and made them his own:

silver, gold, choice and priceless stones, and everything that befits a deity, as much as was there.

According to his good pleasure, he made offerings of them to the gods of the Sealand, of the Chaldeans, and of the Aramaeans.

He would adorn the women of his palace with them, and would give them to Hatti and Elam as signs of respect.

At the beginning of the seventh year, he marched on the Bit-Dakkuri for evil.

Afterward, Nabû-šuma-iškun, the Dakkurean, in violation of the sworn agreements and the oath taken by the great gods,

ordered out horses, troops, and chariots and sent them to go on campaign with him.

He distributed bread, beer of the first quality, and flour to all his camp.

  (Babylonian king before Utu; Marduk)

In the month of Addaru, the twentieth day, the days of games in honor of Šamaš (Shamash / Utu) and Marduk, he felt no fear with regard to the sworn agreements and oaths.

The people, as many as were lying like cattle in a meadow, made merry and celebrated.

Column iv

(…)
[…]

[…] Bêl (Enlil in some texts, Marduk in some texts) […]

(Utu, twin Inanna, father Nannar, & Utu’s damaged brother Papsukal, Nannar’s children)

[…] Sin (Nannar / Suen) […] he made get up.

[…] in the room […].

[…]

[…] Babylon […] he […] them.

[…] Babylon.

[…] he […] and […] they knelt.

[…] they made go up […]. “I want to send […]”.

[…] the great lord Marduk […] looked angrily at […] Ezida and

[…] they made […] attack him and he plundered its […].

[…] his survivors […] confined and

[…] the fugitives […] he returned and

[…] Akkad […] he burned.

[…] Borsippa, […], Dilbat, and Cutha.

[…] toward those who are in the vanguard, […] he stole their goods.

[…] he marched to Larak and […] the governor of Larak.

[…] sworn agreements and oaths before the great gods, seven times, […] entered into with him.

[…] those people, without having committed any crime […] he seized and

[…] he took them away and […] made them live on the steppe.

[…] toward the Bitter Waters […] them.

[…] he reached […] and Nabû who, before […] kept hold of Babylon.

(E-kur, Enlil’s residence in Nippur)

[…] he caused to be done […] Ekur not […] he made him do but

Marduk, the great lord, and Nabû, the exalted crown-prince (Marduk’s 3rd son), commanded his scattering […].

[…]

[…]

[…] BREAK […]

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Upper edge

[Remains of a colophon]