Though, according to Berosus, Laborosoarchod (Labāši-Marduk) was a mere child when he came to the throne, there is no doubt, from the inscription which follows, that he was old enough to have an establishment of his own, and also to carry on the business of money-lender, Nabû-ṣabit-qâtâ (see p. [439]) being his representative in the transactions in which he engaged. As it is an inscription typical of its class, it is given here in full—
“12 mana of silver of the son of the king, which (has been advanced through) the hand of Nabû-ṣabit-qâtâ, chief of the house of the son of the king, is upon (i.e. due from) Šum-ukîn, son of Mušallim-îlu. In the month Nisan the silver, 12 mana, in its full amount, he will repay. Everything of his, in town and country, all there is, is the security of the king's son—another creditor shall not have power over it until Nabû-sabit-qâtâ receives the money. Nabû-âḫê-iddina, [pg 444] son of Šulâ, descendant of Êgibi, takes responsibility for the receipt of the money.
“Witnesses: Šamaš-uballiṭ, son of Ikîšâ; Kalbâ, son of Bêl-êreš; the scribe Bêl-âḫê-ikîšâ, son of Bêl-êṭeru. Babylon, month Elul, day 10th, year 2nd, Nergal-šarra-uṣur, king of Babylon.”
What the crown prince did, it goes without saying that all the court officials sought to do. An instance of this is Bêl-âḫê-iddina, the king's captain, who is recorded as having lent 2/3 of a mana of silver to Ardîa and Šulâ, at an interest of one shekel upon every mana monthly—twenty per cent. yearly—a sufficiently high interest, though it was the usual rate in Babylonia. This inscription is dated at Babylon, 7th day of Kisleu, 2nd year of Neriglissar. It is noteworthy, however, that there is no mention of interest in the document drawn up for Labāši-Marduk's major-domo.
Interesting is the inscription in which two partners engage to meet two other men, also partners, at the gate of the house of the king's son to come to an arrangement concerning profits which they had made ša zallānu u dusê, i.e. with regard to two “lines” of leather goods (9th day of Tammuz, 3rd year of Neriglissar). It also furnishes further testimony to the fact that this prince had a separate establishment.
After Laborosoarchod's nine months came the reign of Nabonidus, whom, as will be remembered, the Babylonians and Cyrus, his conqueror, accused of neglecting the gods, and sending them forth from their shrines to the cities around. Perhaps his crime consisted in his preference for the gods of other cities than Babylon, the city which Nebuchadnezzar's lavish favours had somewhat spoilt, and who resented her neglect at the hands of the antiquarian king. However that may be, contemporary records show that he gave to the benefit of Sippar, the city of the Sun-god, not unfrequently. A mutilated inscription refers to full-grown oxen and sheep from the son of the king, [pg 445] for the king's sacrifices, divided between two temples at Sippar, one of them being that of Anunitu[m] (7th of Adar, 9th year of Nabonidus); and things from the bît makkur nidinit šarri (“warehouse of the king's gifts”) are often mentioned. Naturally he had to make gifts to many shrines in Babylonia.
Whether the following refers to oxen for sacrifice or not is doubtful—
“20 shekels of silver have been given to Nabû-šarra-uṣur, the sec(retary) of the king, for oxen for the husbandmen who are in the city Ḫa(buru). He has not given the oxen. Month Nisan, day 16th, year 7th, Nabû-na'id, king of Babylon.”
The above inscription comes from Sippar, near which the city referred to must have stood.
Several inscriptions refer to the storehouse into which the king's gift was delivered. The following is a specimen of these texts—