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Lagash Rations Tablet
The striding lion of Babylon was made of molded brick with polychrome glaze and appeared along the side of the 'Processional Way' in ancient Babylon in 604-562 B.C.
This cuneiform tablet reveals how the ancient Babylonians wrote. It was discovered among the 30,000 or more cuneiform tablets at the site of ancient Lagash, one of the oldest cities in ancient Sumer and later became part of Babylonia. According to scholars some believe that Lagash was the largest city in the world during the third millennium BC. Cuneiform was the script of the Sumerians and all the other inhabitants of Mesopotamia all the way up to the first century BC. The name cuneiform comes from the Latin word "cuneus", meaning wedge. Cuneiform was originally written with a reed or stick stylus but this was quickly developed into a precision tool. We have derived virtually all our knowledge of the Babylonians from texts written in cuneiform on clay tablets. From these tablets we have been able to learn their law, business, administration, religion and all other aspects of Babylonian civilization. Without these texts we would know little about the Babylonians. The Lagash Rations Tablet is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology because it shows us a clear text written in ancient cuneiform script.
"For I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, And offspring and posterity," says the LORD. "I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, And marshes of muddy water; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says the LORD of hosts. Isaiah 14:22-23 "Is this not Babylon that I have built…" –Daniel 4:30 Material - Cuneiform tablet British Museum Excerpt Cuneiform tablet recording barley
rations Ancient Lagash. Lagash (Sumerian: Lagaški; cuneiform logogram: LAKI "storehouse;"[Akkadian: Nakamtu] modern Tell al-Hiba, (Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq) is located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres (14 mi) east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East. The ancient site of Surghul/Nina is around 6 miles (9.7 km) away. Nearby Girsu, about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Al-Hiba, was the religious center of the Lagash state. Lagash's temple was E-Ninnu, dedicated to the god Ningirsu. [Wikipedia] Archaeology of Ancient Lagash. Lagash is one of the largest archaeological mounds in the region, measuring roughly 2 by 1 miles (3.2 by 1.6 km). Estimates of its area range from 400 to 600 hectares (990 to 1,500 acres). The site is divided by the bed of a canal/river, which runs diagonally through the mound. The site was first excavated, for six weeks, by Robert Koldewey in 1887. It was inspected during a survey of the area by Thorkild Jacobsen and Fuad Safar in 1953, finding the first evidence of its identification as Lagash. The major polity in the region of al-Hiba and Tello had formerly been identified as ŠIR.BUR.LA (Shirpurla). Tell Al-Hiba was again explored in five seasons of excavation between 1968 and 1976 by a team from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. The team was led by Vaughn E. Crawford, and included Donald P. Hansen and Robert D. Biggs. The primary focus was the excavation of the temple Ibgal of Inanna and the temple Bagara of Ningirsu, as well as an associated administrative area.The team returned 12 years later in 1990 for a final season of excavation led by D. P. Hansen. The work primarily involved areas adjacent to an as yet unexcavated temple. The results of this season have apparently not yet been published. [Wikipedia] History of Ancient Lagash. From inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe (24th century BC) and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of "Kiengir" and Kish on the north. Some of the earlier works from before the Akkadian conquest are also extremely interesting, in particular Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures and Entemena's great silver vase ornamented with Ningirsu's sacred animal Anzu: a lion-headed eagle with wings outspread, grasping a lion in each talon. With the Akkadian conquest Lagash lost its independence, its ruler or ensi becoming a vassal of Sargon of Akkad and his successors; but Lagash continued to be a city of much importance and above all, a centre of artistic development. After the collapse of Sargon's state, Lagash again thrived under its independent kings (ensis), Ur-Bau and Gudea, and had extensive commercial communications with distant realms. According to his own records, Gudea brought cedars from the Amanus and Lebanon mountains in Syria, diorite from eastern Arabia, copper and gold from central and southern Arabia, while his armies were engaged in battles with Elam on the east. His was especially the era of artistic development. We even have a fairly good idea of what Gudea looked like, since he placed in temples throughout his city numerous statues or idols depicting himself with lifelike realism, (Statues of Gudea). At the time of Gudea, the capital of Lagash was actually in Girsu. The kingdom covered an area of approximately 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi). It contained 17 larger cities, eight district capitals, and numerous villages (about 40 known by name). According to one estimate, Lagash was the largest city in the world from ca. 2075 to 2030 BC. Soon after the time of Gudea, Lagash was absorbed into the Ur III state as one of its prime provinces. There is some information about the area during the Old Babylonian period. [Wikipedia]
LAGASH, or Sirpurla, one of the oldest centres of Sumerian civilization in Babylonia. It is represented by a rather low, long line of ruin mounds, along the dry bed of an ancient canal, some 3 m. E. of the Shatt-el-Hai and a little less than 10 m. N. of the modern Turkish town of Shatra. These ruins were discovered in 1877 by Ernest de Sarzec, at that time French consul at Basra, who was allowed, by the Montefich chief, Nasir Pasha, the first Wali-Pasha, or governor-general, of Basra, to excavate at his pleasure in the territories subject to that official. At the outset on his own account, and later as a representative of the French government, under a Turkish firman, de Sarzec continued excavations at this site, with various intermissions, until his death in 1901, after which the work was continued under the supervision of the Commandant Cros. The principal excavations were made in two larger mounds, one of which proved to be the site of the temple, E-Ninnu, the shrine of the patron god of Lagash, Nin-girsu or Ninib. This temple had been razed and a fortress built upon its ruins, in the Greek or Seleucid period, some of the bricks found bearing the inscription in Aramaic and Greek of a certain Hadad-nadin-akhe, king of a small Babylonian kingdom. It was beneath this fortress that the numerous statues of Gudea were found, which constitute the gem of the Babylonian collections at the Louvre. These had been decapitated and otherwise mutilated, and thrown into the foundations of the new fortress. From this stratum came also various fragments of bas reliefs of high artistic excellence. The excavations in the other larger mound resulted in the discovery of the remains of buildings containing objects of all sorts in bronze and stone, dating from the earliest Sumerian period onward, and enabling us to trace the art history of Babylonia to a date some hundreds of years before the time of Gudea. Apparently this mound had been occupied largely by store houses, in which were stored not only grain, figs, &c., but also vessels, weapons, sculptures and every possible object connected with the use and administration of palace and temple. In a small outlying mound de Sarzec discovered the archives of the temple, about 30,000 inscribed clay tablets, containing the business records, and revealing with extraordinary minuteness the administration of an ancient Babylonian temple, the character of its property, the method of farming its lands, herding its flocks, and its commercial and industrial dealings and enterprises; for an ancient Babylonian temple was a great industrial, commercial, agricultural and stock-raising establishment. Unfortunately, before these archives could be removed, the galleries containing them were rifled by the Arabs, and large numbers of the tablets were sold to antiquity dealers, by whom they have been scattered all over Europe and America. From the inscriptions found at Tello, it appears that Lagash was a city of great importance in the Sumerian period, some time probably in the 4th millennium B.C. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nina and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of Kengi and Kish on the north. With the Semitic conquest it lost its independence, its rulers becoming patesis, dependent rulers, under Sargon and his successors; but it still remained Sumerian and continued to be a city of much importance, and, above all, a centre of artistic development. Indeed, it was in this period and under the immediately succeeding supremacy of the kings of Ur, Ur-Gur and Dungi, that it reached its highest artistic development. At this period, also, under its patesis, Ur-bau and Gudea, Lagash had extensive commercial communications with distant realms. According to his own records, Gudea brought cedars from the Amanus and Lebanon mountains in Syria, diorite or dolorite from eastern Arabia, copper and gold from central and southern Arabia and from Sinai, while his armies, presumably under his over-lord, Ur-Gur, were engaged in battles in Elam on the east. His was especially the era of artistic development. Some of the earlier works of Ur-Nina, En-anna-turn, Entemena and others, before the Semitic conquest, are also extremely interesting, especially the famous stele of the vultures and a great silver vase ornamented with what may be called the coat of arms of Lagash, a lion-headed eagle with wings outspread, grasping a lion in each talon. After the time of Gudea, Lagash seems to have lost its importance; at least we know nothing more about it until the construction of the Seleucid fortress mentioned, when it seems to have become part of the Greek kingdom of Characene. The objects found at Tello are the most valuable art treasures up to this time discovered in Babylonia. [Encyclopaedia Britannica Ed. 11] Kings of the Bible
David
The Kings of Israel (all wicked) Jeroboam I (933-911 BC) twenty-two years Nadab (911-910) two years Baasha (910-887) twenty-four years Elah (887-886) two years Zimri (886) seven days Omri (886-875) twelve years Ahab (875-854) twenty-two years Ahaziah (855-854) two years Jehoram (Joram) (854-843) twelve years Jehu (843-816) twenty-eight years Jehoahaz (820-804) seventeen years Jehoash (Joash) (806-790) sixteen years Jeroboam II (790-749) forty-one years Zechariah' (748) six months Shallum (748) one month Menahem (748-738) ten years Pekahiah (738-736) two years Pekah (748-730) twenty years Hoshea (730-721) nine years
The Kings of Judah (8 were good) Rehoboam (933-916 BC) seventeen years Abijam (915-913) three years Asa (Good) (912-872) forty-one years Jehoshaphat (Good) (874-850) twenty-five years Jehoram (850-843) eight years Ahaziah (843) one year Athaliah (843-837) six years Joash (Good) (843-803) forty years Amaziah (Good) (803-775) 29 years Azariah (Uzziah) (Good) (787-735) fifty-two years Jotham (Good) (749-734) sixteen years Ahaz (741-726) sixteen years Hezekiah (Good) (726-697) 29 years Manasseh (697-642) fifty-five years Amon (641-640) two years Josiah (Good) (639-608) thirty-one years Jehoahaz (608) three months Jehoiachim (608-597) eleven years Jehoiachin (597) three months Zedekiah (597-586) eleven years
Some Scriptures mentioning the name "Babylon"
2 Kings
24:7 - And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of
his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the
river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the
king of Egypt.
Babylonia in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
Babylonia is a plain which is made up of the alluvial deposits of
the mountainous regions in the North, where the Tigris and Euphrates
have their source. The land is bounded on the North by Assyria and
Mesopotamia; on the East by Elam, separated by the mountains of
Elam; on the South by the sea marshes, and the country Kaldu (Chaldaea);
and on the West by the Syrian desert. Some of the cities of the
lower country were seaport towns in the early period, but now are
far inland. This land-making process continues even at the present
time at the rate of about 70 ft. a year. This plain, in the days
when Babylonia flourished, sustained a dense population. It was
covered with a network of canals, skillfully planned and regulated,
which brought prosperity to the land, because of the wonderful
fertility of the soil. The neglect of these canals and doubtless,
also, the change of climate, have resulted in altered conditions in
the country. It has become a cheerless waste. During some months of
the year, when the inundations take place, large portions of the
land are partially covered with swamps and marshes. At other times
it looks like a desolate plain. 1. Mounds: Throughout the land there
are seen, at the present time, ruin-hills or mounds of accumulation
of debris, which mark the site of ancient cities. Some of these
cities were destroyed in a very early era, and were never rebuilt.
Others were occupied for millenniums, and their history extends far
into the Christian era. The antiquities generally found in the upper
stratum of the mounds which were occupied up to so late a period,
show that they were generally inhabited by the Jews, who lived there
after the Babylonians had disappeared. 2. Explorations: The
excavations conducted at various sites have resulted in the
discovery, besides antiquities of almost every character, of
hundreds of thousands of inscriptions on clay and stone, but
principally on the former material. At Tello more than 60,000
tablets were found, belonging largely to the administrative archives
of the temple of the third millennium BC. At Nippur about 50,000
inscriptions were found, many of these also belonging to temple
archives. But about 20,000 tablets and fragments found in that city
came from the library...
Babylon in Naves Topical Bible
1. CITY OF Built by Nimrod Ge 10:10 In the land of Shinar Ge 10:10;
11:2 Tower of Ge 11:1-9 Capital of the kingdom of Babylon Da 4:30;
2Ki 25:13; 2Ch 36:6,7,10,18,20 Gates of Isa 45:1,2; Jer 51:58 Walled
Jer 51:44,58 Splendor of Isa 14:4 Peter writes from 1Pe 5:13
Prophecies concerning Ps 87:4; 137:8,9; Isa 13; 14:4-26; 21:1-10;
46:1,2; 47; 48:14,20; Jer 21:4-10; 25:12-14; 27:1-11; 28:14; 32:28;
34:2,3; 42:11,12; 43; 46:13-26; 49:28-30; 50; 51; Eze 21:19; 26;
29:17-20; 30:10; 32:11; Da 2:21-38; 4:10- 26; 5:25-29; 7; Hab
1:5-11; Zec 2:7-9 -FIGURATIVE Re 14:8; 16:19; 17; 18 -2. EMPIRE OF
Founded by Nimrod Ge 10:10 Called LAND OF SHINAR Ge 10:10; 11:2;
14:1,9; Isa 11:11; Da 1:2; Zec 5:11 SHESHACH Jer 25:26; 51:41
MERATHAIM Jer 50:21 Called also CHALDEA, which see Divisions of 2Ki
17:24; 24:7; Isa 23:12,13; Da 3:1; Ac 7:4 Extent of, at the time of
Nebuchadnezzar Da 2:37,38; 4:1; 6:1 At the time of Ahasuerus Es 1:1;
8:9; 9:30 Armies of, invade ancient Canaan Ge 14 Samaria 2Ki 17:5-24
Judah 2Ki 24:1-16 Jews carried to 2Ki 25; 1Ch 9:1; 2Ch 33:11;
36:17-21; Jer 32:2; 39; 52 Colonists from, sent to Samaria Ezr
4:9,10; with 2Ki 17:29-32 Conquest of Egypt by 2Ki 24:7 Prophecies
of conquests by 2Ki 20:16-19; Jer 20:4-7; 21; 22; 25:1-11; 27; 28;
29; 32:28,29; 34; 36:29; 38:17,18; 43:8-13; 46:13-26; Eze 12; 17;
19; 21; 24; 26; 29:18-20; 30; 32 Prophetic denunciations against Ps
137:8,9; Isa 13; 14:21; 43:14-17; 47; Jer 50; 51 GOVERNMENT OF A
limited monarchy Es 1:13-19; 8:8; Da 6:8,14,17 Tyrannical Es 3:7-15;
Da 3
Babel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Babel (Hebrew) means Babylon; so that "the tower" should be
designated "the tower of Babel." Capital of the country Shinar
(Genesis), Chaldea (later Scriptures). The name as given by Nimrod
(Genesis 10:10), the founder, means (Bab- il), "the gate of the god
Il," or simply "of God." Afterward the name was attached to it in
another sense (Providence having ordered it so that a name should be
given originally, susceptible of another sense, signifying the
subsequent divine judgment), Genesis 11:9; Babel from baalal, "to
confound; .... because the Lord did there confound the language of
all the earth," in order to counteract their attempt by a central
city and tower to defeat God's purpose of the several tribes of
mankind being "scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,"
and to constrain them, as no longer "understand one another's
speech," to dispel The Talmud says, the site of tower of Babel is
Borsippa, the Bits Nimrud, 7 1/2 miles from Hillah, and 11 from the
northern ruins of Babylon. The French expedition found at Borsippa a
clay cake, dated the 30th day of the 6th month of the 16th year of
Nabonid. Borsippa (the Tongue Tower) was a suburb of Babylon, when
the old Babel was restricted to the northern ruins. Nebuchadnezzar
included it in the great circumvallation of 480 stadia. When the
outer wall was destroyed by Darius Borsippa became independent of
Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar's temple or tower of Nebo stood on the
basement of the old tower of Babel. He says in the inscription, "the
house of the earth's base (the basement substructure), the most
ancient monument of Babylon I built and finished; I exalted its head
with bricks covered with copper ... the house of the seven lights
(the seven planets); a former king 42 ages ago built, but did not
complete its head. Since a remote time people had abandoned it,
without order expressing their words; the earthquake and thunder had
split and dispersed its sun-dried clay." The substructure had a
temple sacred to Sin, god of the mouth (Oppert). The substructure is
600 Babylonian ft. broad, 75 high; on it Nebuchadnezzar built seven
other stages. God had infatuated His will that "the earth should be
divided," the several tribes taking different routes, in the days of
Peleg ("division"), born 100 years after the flood (Genesis 10:25;
Genesis 10:32; Deuteronomy 32:8). Another object the Babel builders
sought was to "make themselves a name"; self-relying pride setting
up its own will against the will of God, and dreaming of ability to
defeat God's purpose, was their snare. Also their "tower, whose top
(pointed toward, or else reached) unto heaven," was designed as a
self-deifying, God-defying boast. Compare Isaiah 14:13; God alone
has the right to "make Himself a name" (Isaiah 63:12; Isaiah 63:14;
Jeremiah 32:20). They desired to establish a grand central point of
unity. They tacitly acknowledge they have lost the inward spiritual
bond of unity, love to God uniting them in love to one another. They
will make up for it by an outward forced unity; the true unity by
loving obedience to God they might have had, though dispersed. Their
tower toward heaven may have marked its religious dedication to the
heavens (sabeanism, worship of the tsaba, the hosts of heaven), the
first era in idolatry; as also the first effort after that universal
united empire on earth which is to be realized not by man's
ambition, but by the manifestation of Messiah, whose right the
kingdom is (Ezekiel 21:27). "The Lord came down to see the city and
the tower, which the children of men builded," i.e. (in
condescension to human language), Jehovah took judicial cognizance
of their act: their "go to, let us," etc. (Genesis 11:3-4), Jehovah
with stern irony meets with His "Go to, let us," etc....
Related Pages: The Babylonian Captivity - Archaeology Ancient Babylonia - History of Babylonia Ancient Babylonia (Babylon the Great) Ancient Babylonia - The Ishtar Gate Ancient Babylonia - Nebuchadnezzars Babylon Ancient Babylonia - The Fall of Babylon Ancient Babylonia - The Babylonian Chronicles Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Bible History Online) Ancient Babylonia - The Ziggurat Map of the Babylonian Empire - 550 B.C. (Bible History Online) Ancient Babylonia - Neo Babylonian Period The Babylonian Captivity - Jewish Encyclopedia The Babylonian Captivity - Treatment of the Jews in Babylon The Fall of Babylon (Every Empire has an Achilles Heel) Ancient Babylonia - Archaeology The Story of the Bible: The Babylonians - The Old Testament Ancient Babylonia - Questions about Babylon Answered in the Bible Ancient Babylonia - The First Dynasty of Babylon List of Kings Cyrus Captures Babylon Account Ancient Babylonia - Babylonian Myth of the Flood Ancient Babylonia - Babylonian Gods Ancient Babylonia - Biblical Timeline Ancient Babylonia - Predictions Concerning Babylon The Story of The Return From Babylon - The Old Testament The Babylonian Captivity - The Deportation of Judah The Babylonian Captivity - Seventy Years in Babylon Map of The Babylonian Captivity Bible History Online - Ancient Lion of Babylon on Ishtar Gate Ancient Babylonia - Religion of the Ancient Near East Bible History Online - Nebo, God of Babylon Ancient Babylonia - Nebuchadnezzar II Bible History Online - Nebuchadnezzar Brick (Biblical Archaeology) Map of the Nations Defeated by King David Map of the Kingdom of David and Solomon Solomon in Smith's Bible Dictionary Solomon's Temple in Easton's Bible Dictionary Israel - The Center of the Ancient World Israel - Archaeology Links and Resources The Destruction of Israel in the Old Testament Archaeological Resources - Israel
Bible History Online - Fallen Empires (Biblical Archaeology) The Destruction of Israel - Kings of Israel, Judah and Assyria
Timeline 800 - 700 BC |
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