Nebuchadnezzar Brick
Bricks like this Nebuchadnezzar II Brick are very common around the ruins of ancient Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar used them in all of his official building projects and they were made in the millions and every one of them was stamped or inscribed in cuneiform. The discovery of this Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed brick is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology because it contains a declaration by king Nebuchadnezzar II, the monarch who is mentioned so often in the Bible and is the one who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC and carried the Jews away into exile.
"Modern research has shown that Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest monarch that Babylon, or perhaps the East generally, ever produced. He must have possessed an enormous command of human labor, nine-tenths of Babylon itself, and nineteen-twentieths of all the other ruins that in almost countless profusion cover the land, are composed of bricks stamped with his name. He appears to have built or restored almost every city and temple in the whole country. His inscriptions give an elaborate account of the immense works which he constructed in and about Babylon itself, abundantly illustrating the boast, 'Is not this great Babylon which I have built?'" - George Rawlinson, Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament
"And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire." 2 Kings 25:8
Material - Baked Brick
Neo-Babylonian dynasty
Date: 604-561 BC.
Length: 32.5 cm
Width: 32 cm
Length: 16 cm (stamp)
Width: 10.3 cm (stamp)
Babylon, southern Iraq
Excavated by: Robert Koldeway 1899-1914
Location: British Museum, London
Item: ANE 90081
Room: 55, Later Mesopotamia, case 14
British Museum Excerpt
Brick of Nebuchadnezzar II
Following the defeat of the Assyrian Empire by the Babylonians in 612 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt the city of Babylon on a grand scale. It has been estimated that 15 million baked bricks were used in the construction of official buildings. The bricks are usually square and often bear cuneiform inscriptions, generally made with a stamp (as here), but occasionally written by hand.
The inscription on this brick translates: 'Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who cares for Esagila and Ezida, eldest son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon'. Esagila was the temple of the supreme god Marduk in Babylon, while Ezida was the temple of Nabu, god of writing, in the neighbouring city of Borsippa. The king's most famous construction works were in Babylon where, along with Esagila, he built the famous Ishtar Gate and the 'northern' palace. He also rebuilt the ziggurat tower called Entemenanki.
Babylon is described by the Greek historian Herodotus (about 485-425 BC). The writer Berosus also credits Nebuchadnezzar with the construction of the 'Hanging Gardens' which, according to tradition, he built to remind his wife of her home, in the mountains of Iran. No evidence survives for the Gardens at Babylon, however, and the story may relate to the earlier extensive gardens built around the Assyrian capital Nineveh.
The British Museum