Bronze door-slab

Bronze door-slab
Neo-Babylonian dynasty
about 604-562 BC
From Borsippa, southern Iraq
Metal protection and decoration for steps leading into a temple
This door-slab comes from the lower part of a flight of steps in the Temple of Ezida in Borsippa, part of the building works of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC).
The recess is for a door-post.
The pattern represents a carpet ornamented with rosettes.
The inscription reads:
‘Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, patron of Esagila and Ezida, eldest son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylons am I. For Nabu, the exalted lord who had lengthened the days of my life Ezida, his temple in Borsippa I have built anew.’ The text is written in an archaic form of cuneiform to lend it greater authority. Part of the inscription is found on many of the bricks of Nebuchadnezzar’s buildings. In the capital Babylon, the king restored Esagila
the Temple of Marduk, the supreme god.

The door slab has been cut in two and it may have have been relaid about 268 BC
under the Seleucid Greek emperor Antiochus I
the last ruler to have restored this temple.