Commemorative Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar II

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Commemorative Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar II

Period Neo-Babylonian Empire (Babylonian, 612-539 BCE)

Place of OriginIraq, Tell Wannat es-Sadum (ancient Marad)

Date605-562 BCE

Dimensions8 7/8 × 5 3/4 × 5 3/4 in. (22.5 × 14.6 × 14.6 cm)
Rim: 5 in. (12.7 cm)

MediumClay

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Lewis R. Schenck

Object number

1915.51

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA perforated, barrel-shaped cylinder inscribed with cuneiform script detailing King Nebuchadnezzar II's restoration of the temple in Marad.

Label TextThis clay cylinder records a royal decree by Nebuchadnezzar II, one of Babylon’s most famous kings (ruled 605–562 BCE), known for his grand building projects like the Ishtar Gate. It commemorates his restoration of a temple in the ancient city of Marad, in present-day Iraq. During reconstruction, he discovered an inscription left over 1,500 years earlier by Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BCE), a powerful Akkadian ruler. Rather than erasing the past, Nebuchadnezzar incorporated the older inscription into the new temple’s foundation. In Mesopotamian culture, preserving and honoring traces of the past was a mark of wisdom and legitimacy, reinforcing a ruler’s connection to history and divine favor. To put that in perspective, the time separating Nebuchadnezzar from Naram-Sin is nearly the same as the time between today and the fall of the Roman Empire.Published ReferencesLangdon, Stephen, Building Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Part 1: Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar, Paris, E. Leroux, 1905, p. 25, no. 2.

(Also appears in the German edition of this book, Vorderasiatische Bibliothek, vol. IV, no. 2).

Langdon, Stephen, Neo-Babylonische Königsinschriften, no. 1, col. I-III, 19, no. 2.

"Clay Products Defy Time," American Clay Magazine, v. 11, no. 1, Sept. 1915, repr. p. 5.

American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. XXXIV, no. 2, January 1918.

Godwin, Blake-More, "The George W. Stevens Gallery," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 49, April 1927, repr.

Pautler, Margo L., "Books and Manuscripts," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 9, no. 2, Summer 1966, pp. 27-46, repr. p. 28.

Katz, Herbert, Museum Adventures, New York, 1969, p. 93, repr.

Spaeth, Eloise, American Art Museums, New York, 1969, rev. ed., p. 204.

Van der Meiroop, Marc, "Cuneiform Tablets from The Toledo Museum of Art," Revue d'Assyriologie, no. 1, 1985, pp. 19, 39. Sack, Ronald Herbert, Cuneiform Documents from the Chaldean and Persian Periods, Selinsgrove, Susquehanna University Press; London & Cranbury, NJ, Associated University Presses, 1994, p. 14.