CHIKFLY FROM NIPPUR. 27 



THE DYNASTY OF ISIN. 1 



Three kings of this dynasty were among the builders of the temple at Nippur, 

 Ur-Ninib, Bur-Sin I, and Ishme-Dagan? Specimens of brick legends of the latter 

 will be given in the second half of this volume. The fragment of a stone pub- 

 lished on PI. 9, No. 17, is unfortunately so small that we learn nothing new 

 from it. 



More important are the inscriptions of both the other rulers, PI. 10 and 11. 

 They are taken from bricks which, at the time of their excavation, were out of 

 their original place. These formed rather part of a platform of the Ziqqurratu con- 

 structed or restored by Mili-Shikhu, who took them from the ruined walls of his 

 predecessors, as old but still serviceable material for his own work. Various bricks 

 of Ur-Ninib have thus been preserved, all with the same inscribed (not stamped) 

 legend. Of Bur-Sin, on the other hand, only a single brick, broken in two pieces, 

 has as yet been found. 



Ur-Ninib, " Man (servant) of God Ninib," is the king hitherto wrongly tran- 

 scribed as Gramil-Ninib. 3 His inscription, here published, is identical with IV 

 R. 2 35, No. 5. The fragment of a brick from Nippur, I R. 5, No. XNIV, erroneously 

 ascribed to Ishme-Dagan, is obviously the lower half of the same legend. In 

 addition to the complete name of the ruler, the new text offers the correct reading of 

 1. 4, na-gid,* i. e., nahidu, Hebr. ipj, " shepherd " (of Ur), and of 1. G, mi-sliu-il, " he 

 who delivers the commands " (of Eridn). 



Bur-Sin I, so designated by me to distinguish him from another king of the 

 same name, 5 Bur-Sin II of the second dynasty of Ur, 6 is a new king of the dynasty 

 of Isin. The phraseology of his inscription is very similar to that of Ur-Ninib and 

 Libit- Anunit 7 (I R. 5, No. XVIII), and thereby assures the correct reading of several 

 characters of the latter inscription. The first sign of 1. 4 is not da (Winckler) but 

 ingar s (identical with Briinnow, I. c. 1024), and the second sign in 1. 8 is probably 



1 Not Nisin, as has been generally read— last by Delitzsch, Oesekichte Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 79. Cf. the 

 hymn 80, 7-19, 126, 1. 3, 4, published by Bezold in Z. A. IV, p. 430. 



2 PI. 9, No. 17, has been placed before Plates 10 and 11 only to save space. Ishme-Dagan was the last king of the 

 dynasty of Isin. 



3 Cf. Hilprecht in Z. A. VII, p. 315, note 1. 



4 For this Semitic loan word of the Sumerian language, found also in the inscriptions of Gudea (F. col. IV, 12), 

 cf. JensenZimmern in Z. A. Ill, 200, 208 seg. Cf. also Jensen in K. B. Ill, Part 1, p. 4. 



6 Although always written with the other sign Bur (Briinnow, I. c, 9068). 



6 Cf. Plates 12, 13, and Vol. I, Part 2. 



7 According to Winckler in Schrader's K. B. Ill, Part 1, p. 86, Libit-Ishtar. 



8 Cf. Jensen-Zimmern, Z. A. Ill, p. 199 seq. 



