Nebuchadnezzar Court Prism

Overview

The Nebuchadnezzar Court Prism, often called the Hofkalender, is an eight-sided inscribed clay prism from Babylon. It commemorates Nebuchadnezzar II's rebuilding of the South Palace and then lists the officials of his court, which makes it the fullest surviving account of how the Babylonian state was organised at its highest level. Its text is dated to the king's seventh year, 598 or 597 BC.

Archaeological Evidence

The prism was recovered from the ruins of Babylon and is held in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. Among the titled officials it names are a chief eunuch and other court officers whose names and offices have been compared with those of the Babylonian officers listed in Jeremiah.

Biblical Significance

Jeremiah 39:3 names the Babylonian officers who took their seats in the Middle Gate when Jerusalem fell, among them Nergal-sharezer and Nebo-sarsekim the Rab-saris. Officials bearing the same names and offices appear in the Babylonian records of this reign, including this prism's court list and the tablet naming Nebo-Sarsekim. The correspondences are of names and titles rather than of explicit identifications, and the readings are debated in detail, but they place officers of exactly that description in the administration of Nebuchadnezzar II.