Rulers of Babylonia: From the Second Dynasty of Isin to the End of Assyrian Domination (1157-612BC)

Richard C. Smith is a professor in the Classics Department of the
University of Alberta.

This handsome volume of The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia is the
fifth in the series and the first devoted to the dynasties in Babylonia
after 1595 BC. The more famous Babylonian rulers (such as Hammurapi and
Nebuchadnezzar II), as well as the Assyrian and Sumerian rulers, will
likely be dealt with in other volumes. Nevertheless, this volume fills
in the available information for royal documentation in the relatively
lesser-known period from the end of the Kassite domination of Babylon to
the end of Assyrian domination of the region.

The inscriptions, if any, of each ruler are described, transliterated,
and translated, as well as provided with commentaries, individual
bibliographies, and catalogues for their museum numbers, dimensions, and
so forth. A historical note has been provided for each ruler of the
period, whether or not any inscriptions have been attested for his
reign. The notes also refer to various economic texts, chronicles, and
kudurru stones relating to the period, even though they are not included
in the documentation.

Besides the various Babylonian, Elamite, Chaldean, and Assyrian rulers
(the Assyrians being documented only in respect to Babylonia), the
editor has included inscriptions from the land of Suhu on the Middle
Euphrates, many of which have only recently been discovered during
salvage work in the 1980s. Since these—unlike most of the Babylonian
inscriptions that concentrate on building projects—give interesting
details of military activity, we are provided with a brief but lively
picture of the more normal activities of rulers in the 8th century BC. A
few inscriptions from unidentified officials are also included in the
volume.

Although the inscriptions, in general, provide little more than the
names of the kings and various gods, they at least preserve in a most
scholarly fashion what does remain from a very dark age.