ABSTRACT
By the seventh century BCE there was an established literary tradition – a cultural formation – that preserved a historical memory of Nebuchadnezzar I that accentuated the king’s piety with regard to Marduk as well as Marduk’s supremacy within the Babylonian pantheon. This tradition found expression in a diverse range of literary genres that included hymns, letters, and prophecies. Its vibrancy and continued relevance to Babylonian scholars were probably responsible for keeping knowledge of Nebuchadnezzar I alive at least as late as the Seleucid period. A common feature of these various compositions was three themes that were integral to the Marduk theology of the first millennium BCE: Marduk had departed from Babylon, Marduk has now returned to Babylon, and, most importantly, Marduk has always and will always continue to rule heaven and earth from Babylon as the supreme deity. The last of these themes found its greatest expression in Enūma Eliš, the Babylonian myth of how creation came into being and how Marduk became king of the gods by defeating the goddess Tiamat, but all three themes emphasized Marduk’s absolute mastery; even defeat for Babylon occurred because Marduk willed it. Nebuchadnezzar I’s significance to these themes was accentuated or downplayed in the various compositions about the king and even simply alluded to in the Marduk Prophecy, but in all of the literary texts his importance was secondary to that of Marduk. Consequently, the figure of Nebuchadnezzar I preserved in the cultural memory of the literary texts had taken on a meaning that was just one cultural formation in a broader intellectual landscape that reinforced the elevation of Marduk and the Marduk theology.
