126 



THEOPHILrS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.E.A.S., OX 



Witnesses : Nabu-na'id, who is over the city* : Akai'u ; 

 Musezib-Bel, son of Marduk'af ; Zeria, son of Babilaya ; Ken- 

 zeri, son of (Y)adi'i-ilu : Eemut, son of Marduk'at : and the 

 scribe, Xabu-zer-ikisa, son of Marduk-usabsi (?). Hussiti-sa- 

 Musallim-Marnduk, month Sebat, day 16th, year 8th, Xebiicha- 

 drezzar, king of Babylon. 



For such a short text, the variants are numerous, and suggest 

 a defective original. Xevertheless, recent discoveries in the 

 matter of transcription indicate that the whole may not be so 

 suspicious as it looks. Assyrian variants show, that Tr, a, may 

 be read as (/a^ and it is therefore possible, that Yadi'i-ilu is the 

 true reading in every case. The reason of the transposition of 

 Marduka into Dukmara in lines 11 and 13 is unknown— the 

 original Simierian form of the name is Amar-uduk. the steer 

 of day/' and as udid; "day," contains the same ideograph as 

 the name of the Sun -god Samas, this transposition may be 

 due to Egyptian influence, scribes of that nationality having 

 been accustomed to place divine name-elements first. 



2. The Coxtract dated at Zobah, 56^ b.c. 

 (British Museum, 84-2-11, 26.1) 

 Obveese. 



"gf £<£ y T ^-^^ ^ S:? "ST 

 TM n -in .4 :e! < 



Edge. 



tt] sfc I, 



Var. the son of the king . . . 

 t Yar. Duk-mar-a. 



X No, 360 of Inschriften von Xebuchodonosoi'^ by the Eev. J. N. Strass- 

 maier, S.J., Leipzig, 1889. 



