Brick Nebuchadnezzar II.

Fired clay brick from the time of Nebuchadnezzar II. (604-562BC) with a cuneiform inscription counting for lines stamped on its face. Bricks like this are very common around the ruins of ancient Babylon, because King Nebuchadnezzar used them in all of his official building projects. Many thousands of the king’s bricks bore a message with his name and titles. The huge demand for them led to the revival of brick stamps, in which a cuneiform inscription cut in reverse would produce a readable text when applied to the damp clay of the brick.




(1) dAG-ku-dúr-ri-URÙ LUGAL KÁ.DINGIR.RA

(2) za-nin é-sag-íla u é-zi-da

(3) ap-lu a-ša-re-du





cf. Berger, P.-R., Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften, Königsinschriften des ausgehenden babylonischen Reiches (626-539 a. Chr.) (= Alter Orient und Altes Testament 4/1), Kevelaer, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973, Nr. 39.