Kudurru
A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a
Background
The objects are traditionally called kudurru which is
Content
While most kudurru record land grants some serve other purposes. Two kudurrus of Nebuchadnezzar I (1121–1100 BC) records his victory over the Elamites and his recovery of the cult statue of Marduk, the city god of Babylon, captured years earlier. Another example, from the reign of Nabu-apla-iddina (886–853 BC) commemorates the recovery of the Sippar city-god Shamash, lost circa 1100 BC when the Suteans overran several cult centers in Babylonia. This replaced a sun disk erected by the ruler Simbar-shipak (1021–1004 BC) as a stand in. Other kudurru record legal cases, usually when loss of life is involved, making it the domain of the ruler. Finally, some kudurru record gifts of prebends (income from land for temples or priests) or royal relief from taxes or labor for individuals.[6]
Kudurru have a standard format with some features being optional. They contain:
- A description of the kudurru's intent, granting land, etc. There may be a relief illustrating this, showing the king, the grantee, or the defendant as appropriate.[6]
- A call upon the gods to recognize and endorse the kudurru and to curse anyone who violates the intent or damages the stone. There may be symbols of the relevant gods on the stele to strengthen this call. These symbols have been the cause of much speculation over the years, some of it chronological.[11][12][13]
Examples of kudurrus
- Enlil-bānī land grant kudurru
- Nazimaruttaš kudurru stone
- Kudurru of Kaštiliašu
- Land grant to Ḫunnubat-Nanaya kudurru
- Land grant to Marduk-apla-iddina I by Meli-Shipak II
- Estate of Takil-ana-ilīšu kudurru
- Land grant to Ḫasardu kudurru
- Land grant to Marduk-zākir-šumi kudurru
- Land grant to Munnabittu kudurru
- Kudurru of Gula
- Kudurru for Šitti-Marduk
- Eanna-shum-iddina kudurru
- Marduk-nadin-ahhe kudurru
- Marduk-zakir-šumi I kudurru
- Marduk-apal-iddina II kudurru
See also
- Sun God Tablet
- Tablet of Shamash
- Stele of Meli-Šipak
- Kurgan stelae
- Runestone
References
- ^ Paulus, Susanne. "10. The Babylonian Kudurru Inscriptions and their Legal and Sociohistorical Implications". Volume 1 Karduniaš. Babylonia under the Kassites 1, edited by Alexa Bartelmus and Katja Sternitzke, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2017, pp. 229-244
- ^ Kathryn E. Slanski, "The Babylonian entitlement narûs (kudurrus) : a study in their form and function", Boston : American Schools of Oriental Research, 2003 ISBN 089757060X
- ^ Brinkman, J. A. “Babylonian Royal Land Grants, Memorials of Financial Interest, and Invocation of the Divine.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 49, no. 1, 2006, pp. 1–47
- ^ J A Brinkman, “Remarks on Two Kudurrus from the Second Dynasty of Isin.” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 61, no. 1, 1967, pp. 70–74
- ^ I. J. Gelb, P. Steinkeller, and R. M. Whiting Jr, "OIP 104. Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus", Oriental Institute Publications 104 Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1989, 1991 ISBN 978-0-91-898656-6 Text Plates
- ^ a b c [1] Slanski, Kathryn E. “Classification, Historiography and Monumental Authority: The Babylonian Entitlement ‘Narûs (Kudurrus).’” Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 52, 2000, pp. 95–114
- ^ Livingstone, Alasdair. “A NEGLECTED KUDURRU OR BOUNDARY STONE OF MARDUK-NĀDIN-AḪḪĒ.” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 100, 2006, pp. 75–81
- ^ Lambert, W. G. “The Warwick Kudurru.” Syria, vol. 58, no. 1/2, 1981, pp. 173–85
- ^ Sandowicz, Małgorzata. "Companions of Nabonidus" Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 110, no. 2, 2020, pp. 161-175
- ^ Brinkman, J. A./S. Dalley (1988): A royal kudurru from the reign of Aššur-nādin-šumi, ZA 78, 76–9
- ^ Slanski, Kathryn E. “Representation of the Divine on the Babylonian Entitlement Monuments (Kudurrus): Part I: Divine Symbols.” Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 50, 2003, pp. 308–23
- ^ Tuman, V.S., "Astronomical Dating of the Kudurru IM 80908", Sumer, vol. 46, pp. 98-106, 1989-1990
- ^ Pizzimenti, "The Kudurrus And The Sky. Analysis And Interpretation Of The Dog-Scorpion-Lamp Astral Pattern As Represented In Kassite Kudurrus Reliefs", February 2016 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.220910
Further reading
- Al-Adhami, K. "A New Kudurru of Maroduk-nadin-ahhe." Sumer 38 (1982): 121-33
- J. A. Brinkman, "A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia", AnOr 43 (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1968), 348
- Brinkman, J. A. and Dalley, Stephanie. "A Royal Kudurru from the Reign of Aššur-nādin-šumi", ZAVA, vol. 78, no. 1, 1988, pp. 76-98
- Brinkman, M.E. and Brinkman, J.A.. "A Tenth-Century Kudurru Fragment" , vol. 62, no. 1, 1972, pp. 91-98
- Charpin, D., "Chroniques bibliographiques, 2: La Commemoration d'actes juridiques: Apropos des kudurrus babyloniens.", Revue d'assyriologie 96: 169-91. 2002 (published November 2004) (in french)
- Frame, Grant. "A Kudurru Fragment from the Reign of Adad-apla-iddina." Altorientalische Forschungen 13.1-2 (1986): 206-211
- [2] W. J. Hinke, "Selected Babylonian Kudurru Inscriptions", (Semitic Study Series, edited by R. J. H. Gottheil and Morris Jastrow, jun., No. XIV.) Leiden: late E. J. Brill, 1911
- Hurowitz, Victor (Avigdor). "Some Literary Observations on the Šitti-Marduk Kudurru (BBSt. 6)" , vol. 82, no. 1, 1992, pp. 39-59
- [3] L.W. King, "Babylonian Boundary Stones and Memorial Tablets in the British Museum (BBSt)" (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1912)
- Reade, J. E. 1987. "Babylonian Boundary-Stones and Comparable Monuments in the British Museum." Annual Review of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project 5: 47-51
- [4] Ursula Seidl, "Die babylonischen Kudurru-Reliefs: Symbole mesopotamischer Gottheiten", Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (December 31, 1988) (in german)
- Steinkeller, Piotr. "“Ancient Kudurru” Inscriptions." Ed. AR George, Cuneiform Royal Inscriptions and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection, The publication of Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 17 (2011): 211-220
- Zimmermann, Lynn-Salammbô. "Wooden Wax-Covered Writing Boards as Vorlage for kudurru Inscriptions in the Middle Babylonian Period" Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, 2022