Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

DURING 19 CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 481
merit, inscribed with two columns of old-Babylonian writing
(twenty-five lines each), and in the Semitic dialect of the
country, conveys to us the information that Samsu-iluna,
son and successor of Hammurabi, restored the inner wall
of Nippur {duru). We thereby obtain new evidence that
the kings of the first dynasty did not entirely neglect Bel's
sanctuary, though their apparent reason for fortifying the
temple was less religious than political. Their interest in
the wall of Nippur seems to be closely connected with their
operations against the city of (N)isin, which was situated
not far from the latter, 1
and which subsequently became the
stronghold of Rim-Sin of Larsa.
As the greater part of the inscription is intelligible and
of importance for our question, I give it in an English
translation. " Samsu-iluna, the powerful king, king of
Babylon, king of the four quarters of the world. When
Bel had granted him to rule the four quarters of the
world and placed their reins into his hand, Samsu-iluna,
the shepherd who gladdens the heart of Marduk, in the
sublime power which the great gods had given him,
in the wisdom of Ea ... he raised the wall {duru) of
Bel, which structure his grandfather [Sinmuballit] had
made higher than before, like a great mountain, surrounded
it with marshy ground (apparaw), dug ' the Euphrates of
'
Nippur [/'.