SSi Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



in the trilingual inscriptions renders the ancient Persian icsh&yathiya, 

 derived from a root corresponding to the Sanscrit, "f^T (Jcshi), to 

 " rule." Babilu is spelt syllahically, and followed by a non-phonetic 

 determinative for a country or town, which, if syllabic, might be hi. 

 Zanin is the present participle from a Babylonian or Assyrian root, 

 p?> shown by the verbs which it sometimes replaces to have the 

 meaning of "constructing," or "restoring." Bit. SAG. GA. TV. is 

 evidently some edifice or palace, and has been considered by M. Jules 

 Oppert to be the pyramid covering the tomb of Belus, the ruins of 

 which are now called Babil or MaMoubeh, and to have had, probably, 

 the pronunciation of tDlil (Haram), the Semitic word used in the 

 sense of "Pyramid." Au answers to the Hebrew ^, and signifies 

 "and." Bit. ZI. BA., in the opinion of M.. Oppert, is the ruin now 

 called Birs Nimrucl, the temple of the seven planets, or spheres, on the 

 presumed site of the tower of Babel, and to have probably been named 

 l^nn^ (Zarha) by the Babylonians. It must, however, be admitted 

 that we have as yet no certainty as to the pronunciation of this name, 

 or of that of Bit. Saggatu. Pallu is a monogram for "son," and contains 

 the syllabic elements of tur and tis. Ristan is a formation in ]", signi- 

 fying "first-born," or "eldest," from TWb equivalent to the He- 

 brew rV2£^"!> " beginning," or from J£H& " to take a wife." It is 

 followed by the non-phonetic determinative for an ordinal number, 

 which, if syllabic, might be Jcam. JVabupalluuzur has the same initial 

 and final elements as Nalukudwrriumr, with Pallu as the medial one, 

 and signifies " Nebo protect the son." Sarru and Babilu have been 

 already discussed, the latter being here, as in the former instance, 

 spelt syllahically, and not represented, as it often is, by an ideogram. 

 Anaku is the pronoun of the first person represented by Y, a mono- 

 gram for a " man," with the phonetic complement (or syllable in 

 which the word should terminate if written syllahically) Yjd[ leu 

 suffixed. 



The translation of the whole inscription is, therefore (following 

 the ordinary methods of spelling the kings' names) : — 



" I (am) Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, restorer of the pyra- 

 mid, and tower, eldest son of ISabopallassar, King of Babylon." 



