Clay Cylinder

This cylinder records the building operations of Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, at Sippar. The thirty-six lines of Cuneiform writing on the cylinder were created by pressing a stylus into soft clay. In the text, Nebuchadnezzar is celebrated as a great builder and monarch. The beginning of the inscription reads: "Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who maintains E-Saglia and E-Zida (the two great temple of Babylonia), the son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon am I. E-Barra, the Temple of Shamash at Sippar, I built anew for Shamash, the Lord, who lengthened my days. Oh Shamash, great Lord, on my deeds look graciously, give me a gift of life for distant days, fullness of prosperity, solidity to my throne, and length to my reign, accept favorably the lifting up of my hands."

This object is similar to three cylinders in the British Museum and a variant in the Royal Scottish my, Edinburgh, published by Langdon in the proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. It has been published in transliteration and translated by Langdon in "Die Neubabylonischen Konigsinschriften," No. 23.