Reader, p. 189
The Borsippa cylinder is a barrel-shaped clay cylinder on which is written a text in cuneiform script in the Akkadian language. The cylinder was found at Borsippa, 12 miles SW of Babylon, in the main temple complex, known as Ezida, in foundations of the temple of the god Nabû, son of the chief Babylonian god, Marduk. Such clay cylinders were used from the second millennium BC on. The cylinder was deposited beneath the foundation of the temple of Nabû at the time of its construction as part of the ritual consecrating the new holy place.
1. Find Borsippa on the map; explore the images of the ancient site.
1. The text claims that it was inscribed in the 43 year of the Seleucid era. What year does this refer to?
2. Think about what is going on during the years immediately preceding the inscribing of the Borsippa cylinder and the construction of the temple of Nabû. How does the historical context help you to understand Antiochus' motives in inscribing the prayer on the cylinder and in building the temple?
3. Compare the royal titulature Antiochus uses here with that of Darius (discussion section for week 7) and with Seleucid letters to Greek cities (e.g. Burstein no. 23 in Reader). Be prepared to discuss the significance of the different forms.
4. What does the king's prayer to Nabû suggest about the king's ideal socio-political functions?
5. What is the significance of Antiochus' claim to have molded the bricks for the temple himself? Cf. the stele of Assurpanipal of Assyria (668-627 BC) shown in Reader, p. 189.
6. What was Alexander the Great's policy about the religions of the peoples he conquered? What in particular did he do in Babylon? Why is this significant in assessing Antiochus' motives in building a new temple for Nabû?
7. What is the significance of referring to Stratonike as hirtu and sarratu? For the terms, see below.
Akkadian. Sargon the Great founded the city Agade ca. 2300 BCE in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers approach closest to one-another. Sargon was the first of the kings of Akkad, a powerful Mesopotamian city-state named after the city Agade. Babylon and Borsippa were located in Akkad. Under Sargon, the Semitic language Akkadian, named after Akkad, spread throughout Mesopotamia and supplanted Sumerian which had been the language of southern Mesopotamia. Sumerian survived as a language of sacred literature. Akkadian later develops into two languages, Assyrian used in northern Mesopotamia, and Babylonian used in southern Mesopotamia. It is the language of the Borsippa cylinder.
Borsippa. Sister city of Babylon which became an important religious center when Hammurabi made Babylon his capital (ca. 1790 BC). The temple precinct of Ezida was originally dedicated to Marduk, the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon. Later, the sanctuary was recognized as the home of the god Nabu, the son of Marduk. Borsippa was famous for its temple school of astrology and astronomy.
cuneiform. The Akkadian language was written in a script called cuneiform and consists of approximately 600 signs including both ideograms (one sign = one word/idea) and syllabograms (one sign = one syllable). The signs use a combination of wedge shapes and lines. Texts were written on wet clay with a stylus (see the Borsippa cylinder).
hirtu (Akkadian word for principal wife and divine consort) and sarratu (Akkadian for queen; heavenly queen). These two titles are used of Stratonike, Antiochus' wife. In native, non-Greek, contexts these titles were used only of goddesses. Stratonike was the daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila, daughter of Antipater and widow of Craterus). She was married off to Seleucus I as part of a political deal and then was passed on to the crown prince (Antiochus) to smooth the path to succession. Her children by Seleucus and by Antiochus marry into many of the royal families of the era and she has been compared to Queen Victoria. Her story is an excellent example of the political use of women by the Hellenistic kings.