[Here several lines are broken away.]
| ........................... | ............................. |
| ša A-................... | which A-....................... |
| qat ....................... | the hand of.................... |
| ulla ...................... | then (?) ...................... |
| anaku ..................... | I ............................. |
| likîpanni. | may he trust me. |
As this is a late reference to Ḫammurabi, it is noteworthy not only on account of the form the name (which agrees excellently with the Biblical Amraphel) had assumed at the time (the hard breathing or aspirate having to all appearance completely disappeared), but also as a testimony to the esteem in which he was held a millennium and a half after his death. How it is that the Hebrew form has l at the [pg 211] end is not known, but the presence of this letter has given rise to numerous theories. One of these is, that Amraphel is for Ḫammurabi îlu, “Ḫammurabi the god,” many of the old Babylonian kings having been deified after their death. Another (and perhaps more likely) explanation is, that this additional letter is due to the faulty reading of a variant writing of the name, with a polyphonous character having the value of pil as well as bi,—which form may, in fact, still be found. However the presence of the final (and apparently unauthorized) addition to the name be explained, the identification of Amraphel and Ḫammurabi is held to be beyond dispute.
Thanks to important chronological lists of colophon-dates and to a number of trade-documents from Tel-Sifr, Sippara, and elsewhere, which are inscribed with the same dates in a fuller form, the outline of the history of the reign of Ḫammurabi is fairly well known, though it can hardly be said that we have what would be at the present time regarded as an important event for each year, notwithstanding that they may have been to the ancient Babylonians of all-absorbing interest. The following is a list of the principal dates of his reign, as far as they can at present be made out—
1 Year of Ḫammurabi the king.
2 Year he performed justice in the land.
3 Year he constructed the throne of the exalted shrine of Nannar of Babylon.
4 Year he built the fortification of Malgia.
5 Year he constructed the ... of the god.
6 Year of the fortification of (the goddess) Laz.