“Witnesses: Dâanu-šum-iddina, son of Zēru-Bâbîli, descendant of the dagger-bearer; Nabû-nadin-šumi, [pg 442] son of Ablâ, descendant of Sin-nadin-šumi; Bêl-šunu, son of Uššâa, descendant of Âḫi-banî;
“and the scribe, Nabû-balaṭ-su-iqbî, son of Ikîšâ, descendant of Sin-šadûnu. Babylon, month of the later Adar, day 9th, year of the beginning of dominion of Nergal-šarra-uṣur, king of Babylon.”
But Neriglissar was now king, and had no need and but little desire to appear before his subjects as a purchaser of houses, or as a trader in any way (it is probably on this account that his name does not occur in the above document). When he engaged in anything of the kind, it was henceforth through agents. The only exception known is the marriage-contract of his daughter Gigîtum, who espoused the high priest of Nebo at Borsippa. The following is a translation of this document, as far as it is preserved—
“Nabû-šum-ukîn, priest of Nebo, director of Ê-zida, son of Širiktum-Marduk, descendant of Išdē-îlāni-dannu, said to Nergal-šarra-uṣur, king of Babylon: ‘Give Gigîtum, thy virgin daughter, to wifehood, and let her be my wife.’ Nergal-šarra-uṣur (said) to Nabû-šum-ukîn, priest of Nebo, director of Ê-zida....”
(About twenty-eight lines are wanting here, the text becoming again legible at the end of the list of witnesses on the reverse.)
“..., son of Nabû-šum-lišir, ...; ...-ri, son of Nabû-šarra-uṣur, the judge (??);
“Nabû-šum-uṣur, the scribe, son of Aššur ... Babylon, month Nisan, day 1st, year 1st, (Nergal-šarra)-uṣur, king of Babylon. Copy of Ê-zida.”
The mutilation of the record is unfortunate, as the conclusion of the matter cannot be ascertained, but it may be regarded as fairly certain that Neriglissar really did give his daughter Gigîtum in marriage to Nabû-šum-ukîn, for had it been otherwise, there would have been but little need to draw up the document of which the fragment here translated [pg 443] has been preserved to us. The remainder of the tablet was probably taken up with the usual conditions—the penalty Nabû-šum-ukîn would have to pay should he divorce or abandon his wife; the penalty Gigîtum would have to suffer if she disowned or forsook her husband; directions with regard to the amount and disposal of her dowry, etc. This and similar inscriptions seem to suggest that Herodotus was probably wrongly informed with regard to the compulsory nature of the public prostitution of unmarried women which, he says, was practised in Babylonia, the expressions found in these inscriptions often pointing, as in the present case, to a belief, on the part of the bridegroom, in the chastity of the woman chosen by him to be his wife.
The date corresponds with the Babylonian New Year's Day, 559 b.c.
With this inscription we take leave of Neriglissar except as the ruler whose name the scribes used to date by.