56 IHEO. G, PINCHES : ON CERTAIN INSCRIPTIONS AND RECORDS 



SP. II. 987. 



{A free rendering.) 



the gods 



the rule of the heavens which he set for them in the four 



regions the renown that in Babylon, the 



city of his glo[ry], he had set for them the goods 



of Babylon, small and gre[at], in tlieir faithful 



counsel to Chedorlaomer, king of the land of Elam, they 

 said (?) " descend " (and) the thing that unto them Avas 

 good [they performed and], he exercised sovereignty in 

 Babylon, the city of Kar-Dunias, [and] he placed [his throne ?] 

 in Babylon, the city of the king of the gods, Merodach. 



the herd (?) and the dogs (?) of bit hahhcUu he 



favoureth (??) he captured constantly. He loveth 



the winged raven he changeth. The loud-crying 



raven, pouring out the bitterness the dog who 



cruncheth the bone, he favoureth. Nin- changeth. 



The great snake of the man of hahhatu who poureth forth 



What (?) king of Elam (is there) who has [erected] 



a chapel (?) on E-saggil? [That?] the Babylonians made, 

 and their work [they have perfected?]. [The let]ter(?) that 

 thou hast written thus : " I am a king, the son of a king, 

 a pr[iest ?].... the son of the daughter of a king, who on 

 the throne of a dominion have sat." Dur-mah-ilani the 

 son of Eri-ekua, who [had carried off?] the spoil, sat [on] 



the throne of dominion and in the presence of Now 



let the king go, who from remote days has been ordained (?), 

 [whose name?] has been proclaimed. The lord of Babylon 



prepares not [in the month] Sivan and the month 



Tammuz (there) was made in Babylon my a 



high-priest (?) who destroyeth the land, all [of it ?] 



in their faithful counsel my the high- 

 priest (?) instead (?) of destruction 



he has caused the great ones to be taken (?) with the 



spoil ravaging the . . . 



What I have just read is only a free rendering of the 

 text, the connection of which is, in many cases, very doubtful. 

 Nevertheless there are points that are certain enough — that 

 Kudur-(la^)gamal ruled over Babylon, and was a great 

 lover of animals. He seems to have claimed to have built a 



