7 Sommerfeld 1979 – 1981 : 100. For the reference of the cylinder seals from the Kassite period,
see Sommerfeld 1982 : 156 – 157 , n. 1.
8 W.G. Lambert, in Matthews 1992 , passim.
9 Lambert 1984 : 3.
10 Kuhrt 1995 : 355 – 358. See also Brinkman 1968 : 86 – 87.
11 Kuhrt 1995 : 372 – 373. See also Brinkman 1968 : 86 – 90.
12 Lambert 1967 : 128 – 130 , 15 – 16.
13 The Marduk Prophecy, i 18 ′–ii 11. For an English translation and references of the Marduk
Prophecy, see Foster 2005 : 388 – 391. Cf. also Lambert 1967 : 128 – 130 , 19 – 21. Like another
text of Nebuchadrezzar quoted above, the Marduk Prophecy also demonstrates a notion or
opinion of the past event from the point of view of Nebuchadrezzar’s court.
14 See Foster 2005 : 383 – 384.
15 See Foster 2005 : 376 – 391.
16 Both texts are very often referred to by their ancient titles Enuma Elishand Ludlul Bel Nemeqi,
rather than modern titles. The ancient intellectuals generally used the incipits of different
texts as the titles of the works just like the Hebrew Bible.
17 For a recent English translation and reference, see Foster 2005 : 436 – 486.
18 Lambert 1984: 4–6.
19 Dalley 1991 : 228 – 230. See also Dalley 1997 : 163 – 171 , esp. 171.
20 Jacobsen 1976 : 165 – 191 , esp. 189–190; Sommerfeld 1982 : 175.
21 Thureau-Dangin 1921 : 136 , 282.
22 Çagirgan and Lambert 1991 – 1993 : 96 , 62 – 63. TheAkitu-festival was also carried out in
Tashritu (Month VII, September–October) in Babylon. See Cohen 1993 : 451. It seems that
the Akitu-festival was originally an agricultural fertility festival that took place for different
gods in ancient Mesopotamian cities throughout history. Each city had its own dates and
rituals for this festival. See Cohen 1993 : 401. For more recent studies of the Akitu Festival,
see Bidmead 2002 and Linssen 2004.
23 For the Tablet of Destinies, see Black and Green 1992 : 173.
24 Lambert 1964 : 9 ff.
25 Note that the Akkadian word tâmtualso indicates ‘lake’, in other words, water being salty or
not was not the criteria of the definition of ‘sea’ in the ancient Mesopotamian world. Note
also the Hebrew cognate yamthat also indicates ‘sea’ as well as ‘lake’.
26 Lambert and Millard 1969 : 118 – 121 x rev. ii 9 ′– 23 ′, and passim.
27 Note that under the name Neberu, following pleas are offered in Enuma Elish, VII 132 – 134 :
May he (= Marduk under the name Neberu) overcome Tiamat, he shall keep
the days of her life short,
in the future time of mankind, with the passing of times,
May she be away always, May she be distant forever.
These appear to allude to the destructive power of earthly water, i.e., flood, rather than the
sea or the goddess Tiamat. Marduk as the god of the watercourse, cf. Abusch 1995 , ‘Marduk’,
1015 – 1016 .)
28 For a recent translation see Foster 2005 : 392 – 409.
29 The Sumerian Man and His God, see Klein 2003 : 573 – 575 , and for a recent translation and
references of the Babylonian Man and his God, see Foster 2005 : 148 – 150. For further discussion
on the belief in the personal god and Ludlul Bel Nemeqi see Moran 2002 : 182 – 200.
30 Lambert 1960 : 21.
31 An ancient text known as ‘The Counsels of Wisdom’ instructs to offer sacrifice and prayers to
the (personal) gods in order to secure a prosperous and long life. See Lambert 1960 : 104 – 105 ,
lines 135 – 147.
32 W.G. Lambert titled this prayer ‘Prayer to Marduk, no. 1 ’, and published in Archiv für
Orientforschung 19 : 55 – 60. His edition serves as the most recent comprehensive edition of this
text, and so is used as the base of our discussion here. For a recent English translation and
references, see Foster 2005 : 611 – 616.
33 Mayer 1976 : 394 – 400.
— The Babylonian god Marduk —