Babylon Journal; Ancient King's Instructions to Iraq: Fix My Palace

When King Nebuchadnezzar ran things around here some 2,500 years ago, he left clear instructions for the future Kings of Babylon that are finally being carried out.

Writing in cuneiform script on tablets of clay, the royal scribes urged their master's successors to repair and rebuild his temples and palaces.

To identify his works, the King put inscribed bricks in the walls, saying they had been built by ''Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon from far sea to far sea.''

Today, in a gesture rich in political significance but controversial in archeological circles, President Saddam Hussein, Iraq's strong-armed ruler, is sparing no effort to obey that distant command. Laborers From the Sudan

For the last three years, over a thousand laborers imported from the Sudan (Iraqi men were away fighting Iran) have worked seven days a week through wet winters and scorching summers to rebuild what archeologists call King Nebuchadnezzar's Southern Palace - a vast complex of some 500 rooms and the reputed site of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Walls of yellow brick, 40 feet high and topped with pointed crenelations, have replaced the mounds that once marked the Palace foundations. And as Babylon's walls rise again, the builders insert inscribed bricks recording how Nebuchadnezzar's palace was ''rebuilt in the era of the leader Saddam Hussein.''

''We must finish by September,'' said Rabia Mahmmood al-Qaysi, Director of Restoration, in his office here. ''It's the President's order.'' Ouside, an immense painting depicts President Hussein standing before the rebuilt towers of Babylon.

President Hussein's decision to rebuild Nebuchadnezzar's Palace at the height of a war he almost lost was the centerpiece of a campaign to strengthen Iraqi nationalism by appealing to history. Justification for War With Iran

He encouraged Iraqis to see their country as the cradle of civilization and themselves as heirs to the great cultures of Babylon, Nineveh and Ur, which flourished thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates.

Mr. Hussein's campaign also served subtler ends; it justified Iraq's costly war with Iran as the continuation of Mesopotamia's ancient feud with Persia. And it portrayed Saddam Hussein as successor to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon's mightiest ruler.

Fortifications and temples are also being rebuilt at Nineveh and other ancient sites, though on a lesser scale. At Ctesiphon, a painting 110 yards long and 15 yards high celebrates the battle of Qadissiya, in which in A.D. 636 the Arabs drove the Persians from present day Iraq. And sometimes the President compared the war to Nebuchadnezzar's struggle against the Elamites, the Biblical inhabitants of the land across the Tigris from Babylonia, at the head of the Persian Gulf.

''Someone should write a doctoral thesis on archeology in the Gulf war,'' said Richard Zettler, a University of Pennsylvania expert on Mesopotamia. History and Building a Nation

With the war behind him, President Hussein has even greater need to strengthen national loyalty, experts say, as the country's ruling Sunni Muslim minority strives to preserve its dominance over the Shiite majority and the nation's rebellious Kurds.

But President Hussein's glorification of ancient Babylon is disturbing to his neighbors, diplomats say. For the King whose palace he is rebuilding ruled an empire from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, embracing what now are Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, and Israel.

''There's nervousness about Saddam Hussein's aims now the war is over, which extolling ancient Babylon does nothing to calm,'' said Gary Sick, a Middle East expert and former National Security Council staff member.

Western archeologists are reluctant to discuss the palace restoration. Usually they say that is because they are excavating in Iraq and want to keep good relations with the authorities. Rebuilding and Guessing

The palace designs were prepared by two German archeologists, Robert Koldewey and Walter Andrae, who excavated the Southern Palace early in the century. ''Reconstruction always involves guesswork, but it's a fair effort,'' said Andrew George, a British expert.

Cuyler Young of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada said: ''The designs are 80 years old. I'd like more excavation first.''

No one is hurrying to rebuild Nebuchadnezzar's most famous construction, because archeologists cannot agree where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were, what they looked like, or whether they existed.

Babylonian literature never mentions the Hanging Gardens, which were first described by the Greek historian Herodotus, who called them one of the Seven Wonders of the World - although it is not clear if he saw them.

Iraqis enjoy Nebuchadnezzar's emerging palace, flocking to Babylon on their Friday holiday by rickety bus and car. ''It's prettier than where we live,'' said Sadia, a teen-age technical-college student who was visiting with classmates.