The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I in History and Historical Memory
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The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I in History and Historical Memory “This is the first book-length study devoted to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I, a Babylonian king of the late 12th century BC who is best known to students of ancient Mesopotamia for his recovery of the statue of the national god Marduk from its captivity in Elam. Nielsen achieves two feats of scholarship: he presents a lucid account of Nebuchadnezzar I and his times, and then traces his legacy right down to the Seleukid era, based on careful analysis of a wide range of cuneiform sources including literary texts. His investigation of historical and collective memory within the Mesopotamian cultural tradition represents a major contribution to ancient Near Eastern historiography.” Heather Baker, University of Toronto, Canada Nebuchadnezzar I (r. 1125–1104 BCE) was one of the more significant and successful kings to rule Babylonia in the intervening period between the demise of the Kassite Dynasty in the twelfth century at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the emergence of a new, independent Babylonian monarchy in the last quarter of the seventh century. His dynamic reign saw Nebuchadnezzar active on both domestic and foreign fronts. He tended to the needs of the traditional cult sanctuaries and their associated priesthoods in the major cities throughout Babylonia and embarked on military campaigns against both Assyria in the north and Elam to the east. Yet later Babylonian tradition celebrated him for one achievement that was little noted in his own royal inscriptions: the return of the statue of Marduk, Babylon’s patron deity, from captivity in Elam. The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I in History and Historical Memory reconstructs the history of Nebuchadnezzar I’s rule and, drawing upon theoretical treatments of historical and collective memory, examines how stories of his reign were intentionally utilized by later generations of Babylonian scholars and priests to create a historical memory that projected their collective identity and reflected Marduk’s rise to the place of primacy within the Babylonian pantheon in the first millennium BCE. It also explores how this historical memory was employed by the urban elite in discourses of power. Nebuchadnezzar I remained a viable symbol, though with diminishing effect, until at least the third century BCE, by which time his memory had almost entirely faded. This study is a valuable resource to students of the Ancient Near East and Nebuchadnezzar, but is also a fascinating exploration of memory creation and exploitation in the ancient world. John P. Nielsen is Assistant Professor of History at Bradley University, Peoria, IL, USA. Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East Series editor: Greg Fisher Carleton University, Canada Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East provides a global forum for works addressing the history and culture of the Ancient Near East, spanning a broad period from the foundation of civilisation in the region until the end of the Abbasid period. The series includes research monographs, edited works, collections developed from conferences and workshops, and volumes suitable for the university classroom. Available titles : Being a Man Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity Edited by Ilona Zsolnay “Losing One’s Head” in the Ancient Near East Interpretation and Meaning of Decapitation Rita Dolce The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I in History and Historical Memory John P. Nielsen Discovering Babylon Rannfrid Thelle For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge. com/classicalstudies/series/HISTANE The Reign of Nebuchadnezzar I in History and Historical Memory John P. Nielsen First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 John P. Nielsen The right of John P. Nielsen to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-12040-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-64826-2 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC For Mom and Dad Dawn and John Mark – Milli and Steve Contents List of figures x List of map xi List of tables xii Foreword – history, memory, and the past xiii Acknowledgments xx List of abbreviations xxii PART I Writing history and recovering memory, sources and methodologies 1 1 Toward an understanding of the Babylonian memory of Nebuchadnezzar I 3 1.1 Nebuchadnezzar I 3 1.2 Nebuchadnezzar I and historical memory 6 1.3 Babylonian historical consciousness 11 1.4 Nebuchadnezzar I and historical memory: a prospectus 14 2 Nebuchadnezzar I: prior scholarship, historical sources, and chronology 22 2.1 Prior scholarship 22 2.2 Historical sources 25 2.3 Writing of the royal name 34 2.4 Chronology 37 PART II Nebuchadnezzar I and his times 47 3 The reign of Nebuchadnezzar I 49 3.1 The origins of the Second Dynasty of Isin 49 viii Contents 3.2 The reign of Nebuchadnezzar I 51 3.3 Conclusions 68 4 Nebuchadnezzar I’s successors 78 4.1 Enlil-nādin-apli 78 4.2 Marduk-nādin-aḫḫē 79 4.3 Marduk-šāpik-zēri 82 4.4 Conclusions 83 PART III Remembering Nebuchadnezzar I in the first millennium BCE 89 5 Esarhaddon and the return of Marduk in 668 BCE 91 5.1 Introduction 91 5.2 Ashurbanipal’s library and the Nebuchadnezzar I literary tablets 92 5.3 The past repeated: the departure and return of Marduk in the seventh century 94 5.4 Nebuchadnezzar I and the discourse at Esarhaddon’s court 104 5.5 Conclusions 114 6 Remembering Nebuchadnezzar I from the zenith of Babylonian power through the Seleucid era 126 6.1 Introduction 126 6.2 Nebuchadnezzar I in the Neo-Babylonian Empire 127 6.3 Nebuchadnezzar I in Achaemenid Babylonia 129 6.4 Nebuchadnezzar I in Hellenistic Babylonia 134 6.5 Conclusions 137 PART IV The making of memory and the making of meaning 147 7 Nebuchadnezzar I in the collective memory 149 7.1 The early first millennium BCE: crisis and continuity 149 7.2 The making of memory 151 7.3 Nebuchadnezzar I in collective memory 153 7.4 Conclusions 158 Contents ix 8 The elevation of Marduk: Nebuchadnezzar I as cultural formation 163 8.1 The creation of meaning 163 8.2 Syncretic thought 177 8.3 Conclusions 180 9 Intentional history in the early first millennium BCE 189 9.1 Introduction 189 9.2 Scholarly culture during the Second Dynasty of Isin 191 9.3 Babylonia from the tenth through the eighth centuries BCE 193 9.4 Intentional history 199 9.5 Conclusions 204 Index 213 Figures 3.1 The Šitti-Marduk kudurru 54 3.2 The Eriya stone tablet 63 4.1 Family tree of Ninurta-nādin-šumi’s descendants 79 7.1 The Sun-god Tablet of Nabû-apla-iddina 150 Map 0.1 The Ancient Near East during the reign Nebuchadnezzar I xxiv Tables 2.1 Writings of “Nebuchadnezzar I” 35 3.1 Kings of Babylon in the late second millennium BCE 50 Foreword – history, memory, and the past As a history professor, it is inevitable that one will encounter certain popular quotations pertaining to the field. These usually appear taped to an office door on yellowed, typewritten paper or as a seemingly fresh and profound insight in the introduction to a student’s paper and have attained the status of maxims or even platitudes about the relevance of the field. Two such quotations come to mind: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana The second quotation I have seen is from a play by William Faulkner. Though the quotation is not cited here, 1 the reader may be familiar with it. The two short sentences succinctly express the enduring presence of the past in our present and question if the past really exists at a different temporal point from our own. In our present digital age we might even call these aphorisms memes. It is notable, however, that neither one of these quotations comes from a histo- rian nor do they even include the word history . Rather, they reflect the com- monly held understanding of the word past as a synonym for history, that is, the sum of all time that has preceded the present. When a TV broadcaster commenting on some live event informs the audience that they are watching history in the making, nothing could be further from the truth (the process of making history is far less glamorous). What viewers are watching is the present, a present that will in an instant become the past. The popular usages of the word past as it appeared earlier, the ones conflated with the word his- tory , only value select pasts because they are relevant to the present. These pasts might be forgotten and as a result repeated, or, more troubling, they may never actually go away.