The Louvre text artifact to the left was edited by the Berlin Uruk project colleagues Nissen, Damerow and Englund in 1990 (Frühe Schrift 106-110; English translation in Archaic Bookkeeping [Chicago 1993] pp, 65-69), and in 1996 by the Italian scholar Mario Liverani (JESHO 39, 9). Quoting from Archaic Bookkeeping p. 68:

[the text] gives the measures of the “field of the cattle herdsman of (the deity) Ninara.” The left side of the field, which was probably the side along the main irrigation canal, formed the base line of the surveying procedure. For each segment of the field, the length of the section on the base line, the distance to the outer border line and the calculated area were recorded. In addition, the total length of the base line is given, although this length (260 ninda, approx. 1.5 km) had no relevance for the area calculations. Furthermore, the name of the field as well as the total of its calculated areas rendered in rounded iku are registered in the plan.

The particular areas are only given with an exactness of half an iku. Peculiar is the incorrect calculation of the fifth section from the top, an error for which there are, however, numerous parallels in other field plans. Instead of recording the correct and round figure of 11 iku (= 1 eše₃ 5 iku) the scribe arrived at a value of ten and one half iku. Such irregularities are probably the result of the fact that before the invention of the sexagesimal place value system ... no simple method to perform multiplications was known. The reverse of the tablet bears a preliminary sketch of another field, in which, however, a series of entries was erased.

CDLI entry: P131774

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The topography of some of our Ur III period fields can be difficult to explain. This text from Umma province displays a series of inner-temen triangular surfaces that form jagged steps up one side; done to scale as in the sketch to the right of the tablet, however, we might more generously forgive the work of a surveyor confronted with a strong meandering canal, snaking along and around the irregular surface features of the larger field’s western border. Thirty ninda, after all, represent a stretch of some 180 meters. [Attentive cdli tableteers will notice that one of the surface measures in the sketch was furtively corrected to better fit the ninda measurements—and, we suspect, the intentions of the ancient bookkeeper.]

CDLI entry: P125397

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Still another field plan from Berlin’s Vorderasiatisches Museum displays an ever more detailed description of a central temen, and surrounding “outside” fields. This particular agricultural corridor, called in Sumerian Nin-nudu, is documented in seventy further Umma accounts, covering irrigation, harrowing, sowing, grain harvest, the cutting and bundling of reed, and a number of related activities; they document, moreover, fields associated with Nin-nudu, including three with Šulpae’s “stockyard” field from our previous entry.

CDLI entry: P125396

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Another example of a field plan from Berlin’s Vorderasiatisches Museum, also originating in Umma province, describes the agricultural foundation of the “stockyard” of (the god) Šulpae. A drawing of the fields registered here, drawn to scale, effectively stretches the tablet’s field plan horizontally by a factor of 2 (A. Hanson, a Manchester, UK, research student at the College of Technology, now the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, published a number of short editions of these texts in the series Manchester Cuneiform Studies, this text in volume 2 [1952] p. 1).

CDLI entry: P125395

credit: Englund, Robert K.

A scale drawing based on the actual numbers of the text displays the relative accuracy of the basic temen rectangle, less visual accuracy of its adjoining quadrilateral, and greater differences between the ancient surveyor’s rendition of the ‘outside’ surfaces and those based, here, on his actual length measures. The correct rendering of the smaller field surfaces, moreover, indicates that their outer border was in all likelihood a gently curving waterway!

CDLI entry: P111941

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The second line of this text’s reverse summation reads 1(eše₃) 4(iku) 1/4(iku) GAN₂ bar, “1 eše₃ 4 1/4 iku field ‘outside’.” While this notation bears a striking resemblance to the calculated area of the irregular quadriliteral that was part of the temen, the two are quite distinct, for the accountant has instead totaled the various small surfaces surrounding the rectangular temen field, consisting of a series of quadrilaterals and triangles. As an example of how the small surfaces were recorded, we can look at the first to the lower right: 20 × ((13 1/2 + 8 1/2) ÷ 2) = 220 (sar), written sexagesimally 3.40. Triangles are recorded unremarkably as rectangles cut in half. By one tally, the total is very close to the expected 1025 sar (disregarding the inner-temen triangle of the lower left corner):

   220 (20 × (13 1/2 + 8 1/2) ÷ 2))
   120 (20 × (8 1/2 + 3 1/2) ÷ 2))
   21 7/8 (12 1/2 × 3 1/2 ÷ 2)
      partial total 360 sar (?; expect 361 7/8)
   84 1/2 (13 × 13 ÷ 2)
   200 - 20/60 (?; (15 × (13 + 13 1/2) ÷ 2)) = 198 3/4)
   390 (30 × 13)
      partial total 672 1/2 sar (?; expect 674 1/2 - x)
   GRAND TOTAL: 360 + 672 1/2 = 1032.5

CDLI entry: P111941

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Our temen is not a perfect rectangle, but a composition of rectangle and an additional quadrilateral. Its surface area was computed in the following way: first multiply the rectangle measuring 65 × 70 ninda (that is, a surface of ca. 390 × 420 meters), you get 4550 sar, or 45.5 iku ≈ 2 bur₃ 1 eše₃ 3 1/2 iku (1 bur₃ = 3 eše₃, 1 eše₃ = 6 iku). Add to that the irregular surface to its right, measuring 65 × ((30 + 2) ÷ 2 =) 16, you get 1040 sar, or 10 4/10 iku ≈ 1 eše₃ 4 1/2 iku; then add the two to equal 3 bur₃ 2 iku of the first line of the reverse. We will in the next slide examine the second and third lines of the reverse summations, and will in a third slide offer a drawing of what this field might actually have looked like.

CDLI entry: P111941

credit: Englund, Robert K.

This Girsu record retains a relatively uncomplicated drawing of a modest field, but introduces the concept of the Babylonian temen. A temen is, in normal Sumerian architectural terminology, the regular platform on which a building is constructed; transferred to field management, it refers to an often artificially regular rectangle drawn to encompass the greater surface area of an irregularly shaped field. The first line of the reverse surface of this tablet from Girsu, now found in the cuneiform collection of Harvard's Semitic Museum, states that the field sketch of the obverse surface recorded a total of 3(bur₃) 2(iku) GAN₂ ša₃ temen, “3 bur₃ 2 iku field within the temen.” The term ša₃ temen is, in CDLI records, known almost exclusively in the context of such drawings.

CDLI entry: P111941

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The numbers qualifying side lengths in the field sketch are relatively clear, but the results of their use in surface calculations less so. The bottom side is, in sexagesimally oriented notation, 1.25, or 85 (ninda), its opposing top side is 1.40 + 20 (the width of the box to the upper left) = 120, while the opposing left and right sides are (25 + 1.40) and 3.00, or 125 and 180 ninda, respectively. Thus the favored calculation of irregular quadrilaterals gives ((85 + 120) ÷ 2) × ((180 + 125) ÷ 2) = 15,631.25 sar (remembering that 1 sar = 1 ninda²), or 156.3125 iku (1 iku = 10 × 10 ninda = 100 sar). Subtracting from this calculated surface measure the area of the rectangle to the upper left (20 × 25 = 500 sar = 5 iku) gives 151.3125 iku, or 8 bur₃ 7.3125 iku, a not entirely satisfactory approximation of the given 8 bur₃ 4 3/4 iku (note that the surveyor correctly calculated a rectangle of 1 bur₃ 2 iku = 20 iku in the left-hand surface described by the length of 100 ninda and a width of 20 [that of the upper-left rectangle]). We might suspect that this discrepancy is related to the highly irregular shape of the field, given here in a more credible depiction. The Australian mathematician Daniel F. Mansfield offers at the bottom of a file linked to CDLI’s page dedicated to this artifact an elegant reconstruction of such an irregular field (in an e-mail posted to R. Englund on 24 March 2018, Mansfield wrote the “key assumption is that the surveyor measured the length DG. Note this is 98 exactly.”).

CDLI entry entry: P125393

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 BC) surveyors were known as “rope-men.” In an earlier series of cdli tablet, we have seen the records of urban architects, using brick metrology and a measuring rod (Sumerian ‘gi’) to lay out plans for large estates and monumental buildings. Fields, on the other hand, were measured with ropes, and indeed the Sumerian word for rope, ‘eš₂’, is the same as that for a length measure of 10 ninda, or ca. 60 meters. The two together, early identified incorrectly as rod-and-ring, formed the classical Mesopotamain symbol of royalty: the king was a shepard of his people, but was, more than that, the guarantor of straight measurements in the management of fields, and the construction of important buildings. We might postulate that our surveyors worked with a rope knotted every ninda, and employed native geometrical principals in laying out 90° angles to achieve exact surface measure calculations (simply stake out four equal lengths of rope in a parallelogram, then pull and release to set equal diagonals, and you have a very close approximation of √2 for field use; where these failed, multiply the arithmetical means of opposite sides of quadrilaterals, resulting in relatively close approximations). The example of such a field record depicted here, part of the collection of Berlin’s Vorderasiatisches Museum, is from southern Umma province.

CDLI entry: P125393

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Whoever has left Baghdad in an old Rover with concrete suspension, in search of a southern Iraqi excavation site, manned only with a sketched map done on an envelope the night before, will marvel at the comparable attention to geographic details found on many ancient Babylonian documents. The Louvre owns a number of such clay records from Telloh, ancient Girsu, that date to the Old Akkadian period (ca. 2340-2200 BC). Now combining both textual description of fields with waterways, these accounts lend a new dimension to the dry calculations of earlier periods. We will see that the Ur III period a century later witnessed the innovation of including drawings of fields in its surveying accounts.

CDLI entry: P128413, P216929

credit: Englund, Robert K.

In 2007, the Swedish historian of science Jöran Friberg published an edition of this text as an appendix to his masterful treatment of the mathematical cuneiform texts in the Norwegian Schøyen Collection (MSCT 1, App. 7, CUNES 50-08-001). The line art copy here derives from that publication. As Friberg explained, the tablet contains a fairly common table of progressively larger length and corresponding surface measures. In this case, the first four lines at the upper right of the tablet, reading lines top to bottom and columns from right to left, are to be understood as: 1 ^nindaninda_x(DU) sa₂ / 1 sar / 2 sa₂ / 4 sar, “1 ninda squared: 1 sar; 2 (ninda squared): 4 sar.” The text continues on through ever larger length measures (note that in absolute values, 1 ninda ≈ 6 meters, thus 1 sar ≈ 36 m² and so on) until, in the fifth column, the surface reaches a sexagesimally oriented notation of 3.20.00.00 (decimally 720,000) bur₃, or a field of ca. 4,432,320 Ha—the size of Denmark.

CDLI entry: P274845

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Though less subtle than exercises with unexpected calculations of artificially large fields, many Babylonian texts still make a strong impression on the reader with their almost manic attention to detail. This mathematical table of field measures from the Early Dynastic IIIb period (ca. 2400 BC) is among the many thousands of cuneiform tablets in the cuneiform collection of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, now being readied for repatriation to Iraq.

CDLI entry: P274845

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Peter Damerow and Bob Englund drove from Berlin to Heidelberg in the spring of 1985 to collate Uruk texts in preparation of the publication of their chapter on proto-cuneiform number sign systems that appeared in Nissen & Green, Archaische Texte aus Uruk 2. Surely the most memorable moment of that trip was Peter’s discovery of the text in the figure here. The room grew quiet when he was calculating, and in this case it was no different. As he explained after some time, the text from the earliest stage of writing contained several varied multiplicands representing field lengths and widths, leading in exercises on obverse and reverse to the same result of an irregularly large, but very rounded surface measure notation of 10 šar₂, or ca. 40 km². This earliest known school text in mathematics demonstrated the playful arrangement scribes of the 34^th century BC had indeed made with their medium of expression.

CDLI entry: P003118

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Of course the inherent mathematical beauty in field calculation was not lost on ancient Babylonians. Already in the first phase of writing development, the Uruk IV period dating to ca. 3350 BC—perhaps some two centuries before the first fields described in this series were mapped out in Jemdet Nasr—apparent masters of the scribal art began in their spare time to play with the numbers of their day jobs. It is not always easy to catch them out in this fine game: we must pay attention to even the most damaged of ancient clay documents, such as this examplar from Uruk (excavation number W 19408,76+) now on permanent loan from the German Arcaheological Institute (Berlin) to Heidelberg University.

CDLI entry: P003118

credit: Englund, Robert K.

A second account from the Fara collection of the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, deals similarly with allotment fields and their required seed grain. Of particular interest in this text is the fact that it records three seed grain deliveries from two different storage facilities, their sum corresponding exactly to the amount of seed grain registered in the text considered in our previous two days’ slides. At 37 1/2 bur₃, the size of the fields calculated for this seed grain very closely corresponds to that totaled in the previous text as well. We may therefore propose that this text records the seed grain for fields registered in detail in our previous Fara account.

CDLI entry: P011012

credit: Englund, Robert K.

VAT 12656 registers altogether 104 allotment fields distributed among active members of the Fara elite community, including merchants, boatmen, smiths, carpenters, brewers, fisheries managers and other professions. The individual fields ranged in size from 2.5 to 10 iku, and, as we have seen in earlier examples, the fields were totaled on the tablet reverse, recording: 3 bur’u 7 bur₃ 1 eše₃ GAN₂, that is, 672 iku or about 220 hectare; and 21 “gur-maḫ” of seed grain, where each ED IIIa gur-maḫ contained 480 sila₃, or perhaps 500 liters of grain. The seeding rate of 15 sila₃ per iku corresponds to 270 sila₃ per bur₃, fully consistent with rates known from later periods, and with rates suspected in a previous entry to this series for the Late Uruk era.

CDLI entry: P011010

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The Early Dynastic IIIa period (ca. 2600 BC) is best known through the clear graphic style of the scribes from Fara, ancient Šuruppak—and as a paleographic transition stage between the pictography of the archaic eras, and the increasing sign abstraction of the latter half of the 3^rd millennium. German and the bedeviling contemporaneous irregular excavations at the site in the early years of the 19-naughts resulted in some 800 cuneiform artifacts moving into a variety of collections, most significant among them those of the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, and the Arkeoloji Müzeleri, Istanbul. The image here is a cut-away from the beautifully preserved Berlin piece VAT 12656 published in 1924 by Anton Deimel (Wirtschaftstexte aus Fara no. 53), with short comment in Nissen, Damerow and Englund, Archaic Bookkeeping pp. 58-64. This account dealt with seed grain reserved for fields surrounding Šuruppak.

CDLI entry: P011010

credit: Englund, Robert K.

2N₄₅ 5N₁₄ in seed grain recorded on the one surface of this tablet, a notation also qualified with the ideogram for barley, corresponds to 150 basic units of grain, or 15 such units per bur₃ of field. Damerow and Englund have made a credible case for the absolute size of ca. 25 liters per basic unit (N₁, equal to 30 day rations of ca. 0.8 liters each) of grain in the Late Uruk capacity system. The resulting 15x25 = 325 liters per bur₃ compares well with standard sowing rates from 3rd millennium accounts of between 240 and 360 liters of seed grain per bur₃.

CDLI entry: P005077

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The issue of ancient bookkeepers making seeding and harvest predictions was not idle speculation. The present text, part of the collection of the Oriental Insitute of the University of Chicago, appears to register on the one surface a rounded field measurement of 10 bur₃, while the opposite surface records a grain measure of a size that suggests it is in fact a model seeding account.

CDLI entry: P005077

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Given the number and measures treated in the previous four entries, we can speculate about the form of these various fields, viewed from above. The fields of the five named Jemdet Nasr officials are sketched below an idealized main canal in our map, each receiving irrigation water from feeder canals diverting flow from the main canal, and each of these certainly further characterized by a network of smaller canals and ditches that watered the crops. We expect that the larger feeder canals led to a second main canal that carried excess water on to the next set of irrigated fields. The relative size of the area controlled by the “priest-king” of Jemdet Nasr is indicated above the central canal. That high priest of Jemdet Nasr had the use of fields corresponding to 155 bur₃, or, as we think, sufficient crop land to support some 4,000 individuals, disregarding for now the income the ruler would have enjoyed from household herds of cattle, and sheep and goats, from his pig and carp farms, and his various imposts, customs and tithes.

CDLI entry: P005069

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The rule of archaic accountants was, eventual summations were reserved for the opposite surface of the clay tablets whose obverse surface carried individual transaction numbers. So also here, as we might already deduct from the structure of the numerical notations themselves. While the largest area notation on the obverse of this text was 1x10 plus some number of bur₃, the three larger notations found at the top and right of this reverse surface all contain larger measures, including multiples of the 10-bur₃ sign as well as, with notations always structured to indicate the largest units at the top of an associated group of signs, large circular impressions without centered smaller impressions. These latter signs are known to represent six of the 10-bur₃ signs, or 60 bur₃.

The case to the lower left contains the apparent total of all small field units qualified on the tablet’s obverse as “BAR”, here further qualified with the KI and a third sign that means wood. Later field accounts demonstrate that these were the smaller border areas of grain fields that were either unusable, or were apparently planted in trees, for instance the widely forested poplar, that would at once act as sources for construction wood, as well as a wind-break for the fields themselves. bar in Sumerian texts means outside. The middle of the three lower cases, on the other hand, contains the apparent total of all five calculated areas of the obverse text, less their outside surfaces. These KI surfaces are qualified with the snake pictogram that, again in later tradition and apparently already here, meant “to measure.” But now something unexpected happens. The lower right case contains exactly 2x the “measured” fields of the five Jemdet Nasr officials, itself qualifed with GAN₂, and the famous “priest-king” sign EN known, among other media, from the offerings brought into a temple household on the Uruk Vase. Thus the priest-king of Jemdet Nasr maintained fields equaling an area, and therefore an income, twice that of his five leading officials combined.

CDLI entry: P005069

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Let’s have a look at the first two of these calculated fields. In the first column (we are reading the text as its ancient scribe would have written it, namely, in lines or columns from top to bottom, and columns right to left), we note, first, four impressions of the butt end of a large round stylus held obliquely to the surface of the clay tablet, followed by five small circular impressions made by a smaller round stylus held upright. These are known to be members of the ancient sexagesimally structured numerical sign system, standing for 60 and 10, respectively. Similarly, the second case contains one obliquely impressed large sign, and four smaller circular impressions. Assuming these represent the length and width of the measured field, we may treat the two as multiplicands: 290 x 100 = 29,000 “square ninda”, later Sumerian “sar” = “garden”, or, converted to the surface area notational system that would remain largely unchanged for 3000 years, 290 iku, = 16 bur₃ 2 iku. We can see a large circular impression, its center further impressed with a smaller circle, followed by 6 such smaller circular impressions—thus representing our 16 bur₃—and the whole is qualified with our field sign GAN₂. The smaller notation at the end, however, would appear to represent not 2 iku, but rather 2 x 6 = 12.

The second column, in like fashion, contains notations—and the first cases always referenced the apparent lords of these fields, officials otherwise well-attested in the Jemdet Nasr accounts—representing the presumed mulitplicands 312 and 90, resulting in 28,080 sar, or 15 bur₃ 10.8 iku. We believe the last units at the very bottom of this column, actually the basic “one iku” units rotated 90° to the right, represented 1/10^th of one iku, but then why not here eight rather that seven of them? This, and the previous seeming error, are but two of several small infidelities in such calculations that keep the proto-cuneiformist from being all too self-satisfied—and, we may note, the ultimate techniques used by archaic bookkeepers to calculate surface from linear measures are not clear to us.

Now—try your hand at solving the calculations of the remaining three fields.

CDLI entry: P005069

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Indeed, after Langdon’s 1928 publication of the tablet in volume 7 of the series Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts—the clumsiest edition of cuneiform documents on record, made worse by the horrendous excavation records kept by the Oxford professor—, the Frenchman Allotte de la Fuÿe offered an improved edition in 1930 (RA 27, pp. 65-71); the Russian Vaiman made further improvements in 1966 (Peredn. sbornik, pp. 13-15); and more recently the text has been re-edited by a group of Berlin specialists (Nissen, Englund & Damerow, Frühe Schrift [1990] pp. 96-99, with English translation in their Archaic Bookkeeping [Chicago 1993] pp. 55-57), by the Swedish mathematician Friberg in 1997/98 (AfO 44/45, 19ff.) and most recently again by Englund in 1998 (OBO 160/1, 206-207 + fig. 83).

All of these specialists were struck by the evidence this and several more related texts from Jemdet Nasr offered for mathematical techniques employed by our most ancient bookkeepers to calculate surfaces based on linear measurements of their respective sides. In this record, the lengths of agricultural fields surrounding Jemdet Nasr are qualified with an upright wedge, while the field widths are indicated with horizontal wedges. To these ideographic signs are added sexagesimal notations representing counted length units, known to correspond to a (Sumerian) “ninda(n)” of ca. 6 meters. Thus purely on visual grounds, the upper surface of this tablet could be divided into five columns, each representing apparent fields, and within each column in successive cases the length, width, and corresponding field surface measures—such measures were, after all, critical to archaic farmers since they formed the basis for subsequent calculations of the seed grain needed to sow the fields, as well as of the expected harvest. This third case, counting from the top of each column, contained circular impressions known from later Babylonian records to represent surface measures.

CDLI entry: P005069

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Ernest Mackay, a student of Sir Flinders Petrie, is best known for his excavations of the great Indus civilization at Mohenjo-Daro, but he is most dear to cuneiformists for his 1920s work at the massive mound of Kish in the “waist” of ancient Mesopotamia. The Kish excavators were, in 1925, made aware of random finds of decidedly archaic cuneiform tablets at the nearby mound know as Jemdet Nasr (‘hillock of [Sheikh] Nāṣr’; its ancient name is unknown), so that Mackay helped to organize a 1926 campaign to Jemdet Nasr, led by the Oxford Assyriologist Stephen Langdon. Among the most significant of the discoveries from the work at the small settlement is the text pictured here. With its striking and uniformly deep, round and conical impressions, the text was early on recognized as an account containing calculations of fields. To the upper left of the tablet’s reverse surface (pictured at the bottom), you will find the same GAN₂ sign of our previous text, and below that register, to the lower left, two cases with the same KI. But the number signs are the text’s most captivating elements ...

CDLI entry: P005069

credit: Englund, Robert K.

We warn our students to avoid speculative identifications of the most ancient forms of cuneiform signs based solely on pictographic similarities. However, the two signs highlighted here enjoyed an unbroken history of use in Babylonian documents, remaining essentially unchanged both in their graphic form, as well as in their context within cuneiform texts. Both also, though seemingly abstract, have concrete pictographic referents. The sign to the left, read in Sumerian “ki” and meaning “place or “settlement,” will have been a representation of meandering waterways that fed southern Mesopotamia’s life-sustaining canals. We may imagine that this in turn represented the first, unstructured stage of settlement in the riverine south. The second sign, read in Sumerian “GAN₂” or perhaps “aša₅,” represented straight feeder, and secondary canals prepared and maintained to support the irrigation agriculture that formed the basis for Babylonian economic, political and military strength in the millennia of the pre-Christian age in the Middle East. This sign GAN₂ is qualified in the case indicated with a numerical notation that represented some 162 hectares of arable land.

CDLI entry: P427655

credit: Englund, Robert K.

We have in an earlier series described some of the textual evidence documenting building construction in Mesopotamia. The current slide initiates a number of entries dedicated to the bookkeeping involved in the management of the agricultural fields whose harvests fed the city craftsmen and laborers and therefore ultimately made the construction and maintenance of such buildings possible. This first text is found on a cylindrical stone in the Swiss Bodmer Museum, representing the type of document called kudurrus in later Babylonian tradition. Most of these texts were edited in a two-volume work by the University of Chicago Orientalists Ignace Gelb, Piotr Steinkeller and Robert Whiting (=Oriental Institute Publications vol. 104). Steinkeller particularly has identified a sign combination |SILA_3axDUG_a| found on this text as characteristic of early field sale contracts.

CDLI entry: P427655

credit: Englund, Robert K.

Collections of the size as that of the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat often include a good number of fragmentary text artifacts. During CDLI’s imaging mission in Montserrat, several of the approximately 90 fragments could be joined. It is likely that further fragments (those are shown with reduced opacity) will result in joins in the future. Since the texts in the collection have been imaged and made accessible online, a preliminary (digital) joining can be achieved from any workstation worldwide.

CDLI entry: Fragments

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The collection of Montserrat Museum contains several cuneiform forgeries. These include seven clay tablets, five clay barrels, two stone bowls, and a figurine (I. M. Rowe & M. Molina, “Cuneiform forgeries in the Museu Bíblic of Montserrat (Barcelona),” Fs. Sanmartín [2006] pp. 289ff.). Some of these forgeries seem to imitate cuneiform characters quite accurately. MM 441, clearly a forgery, appears not just to draw from neo-Babylonian sign forms, but also from contemporary royal inscriptions.

An intriguing object is a figurine in the collection. This possible fake resembling an amulet is quite unique. At the feet of the figure, a slab is depicted with nine lines of inscription. The sign forms resemble the monumental script of the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC). Nevertheless, the text itself makes no sense. It is difficult to date such an object. The female figurine wears clothes that seem to date to Late Antiquity. This “fake” could therefore in fact be a work done in Late Antiquity. There are cases when inscriptions, already ancient back then, have been found and re-used. A very good example is MS 2400, a building inscription dating to the Lagash II period (2200-2100 BC), which was evidently re-used as an amulet in early Islamic times; its “excavator” added an Arabic inscription without erasing the original cuneiform text. The figurine in Montserrat, however, represents a different case. It is conceivable that an ancient inscription was found and used as model for the slab at the feet of the figurine.

CDLI entry: P432947

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

Montserrat Museum holds a larger collection of royal inscriptions that commemorate building projects by the ruler Sinkashid. These texts date to the Early Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1900 BC).

These short inscriptions are attested in two shapes. A group uses a tablet-shape, another one little cones. Building inscriptions as these were usually deposited in the foundations of temples, but the high amount of manuscripts suggests that these small objects were possibly distributed in order to commemorate Sîn-kāšid's temple building.

CDLI entries: List of tablets
List of cones

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

This cone dating to the Early Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1900 BC) commemorates the building of a temple for god Lugalbanda and his spouse Ninsun by Sîn-kāšid, king of Uruk and king of Amnanum.

The inscription contains an interesting reference to the silver equivalencies at that time:

In his period of kingship, according to the market value of his land, 3 kor of barley, 12 minas of wool, 10 minas of copper, 3 ban of vegetable oil cost one shekel of silver.

CDLI entry: P432704
CDLI composite text: P448524

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The collection of the Montserrat Museum holds several fragments containing Middle Hittite texts. MM 1501 on the left-hand side joins to Bo. 363 (Istanbul Museum) and contains a text known as the "Great Feast of Arinna" (CTH 634). This composition is well attested in the Hittite documentation (see the list of available manuscript in the Konkordanz der hethitischen Texte).

The second fragment was classified as fragment describing rituals for cultic feasts (CTH 670) (see the list of available manuscript in the Konkordanz der hethitischen Texte).



CDLI entry: MM 1501 and MM 1502

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

Scribes of the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC) composed a scholarly list of human body-parts beginning with Sumerian ugu-mu, “my skull.” The entries of this lexical text follow down systematically from the head to the feet. Most of its witness manuscripts contain only the Sumerian designations of these body parts. Nevertheless, there are already in the Old Babylonian period bilingual versions of the composition providing their Akkadian translations. This fragment in the Montserrat Museum is such an examplar.

CDLI entry: P283788

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The fragment originates from Babylon and originally belonged most likely to a private "library" in a Neo-Babylonian house (see O. Pedersén, ADOG 25 [2005], 279ff.). This private house was in a well-located area of Babylon, not far off of the famous ziqqurat of Marduk, the Etemenanki. The approximately sixty tablets that can be assigned to this house date to the second half of the first millennium BC and mainly to the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods.

The tablet had two columns on both obverse and reverse. The text contains a list of plants and drugs that were used as sole cure for ailments. Each entry provides (1) the name of the plant or drug categorised with the Sumerian classifier u₂, "plant," (2) the name of the illness and (3) the way of applying the plant for treatment. Such lists are organised either by the plants or by the illnesses. MM 501 follows the latter case.

The tablets BAM 4, 380 and STT 1, 92 are duplicates, which provide the information in three columns instead of two as on MM 501.

Such lists differ from more complex recipes that includes different kinds of plants and ingredients for the treatment of illnesses.

Edition: B. Böck, "Die medizinischen Texte der Tontafelsammlung des Klostermuseums Montserrat," Fs Tragan (2011), 22ff.

CDLI entry: P285452

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

This small tablet in the Montserrat Museum dates to the Neo-Babylonian period (ca. 626-539 BC). It was published by F. Köcher in the fourth volume of Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin und Untersuchungen as BAM IV, 392. It is the only example of an incomplete recipe containing various designations for drugs. Texts as this example omit the description of the symptoms of an illness.

Edition: B. Böck, "Die medizinischen Texte der Tontafelsammlung des Klostermuseums Montserrat," Fs Tragan (2011), 30ff.

CDLI entry: P285463

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The institutional archive of the Eanna temple in Uruk consists of approximately 8,000 texts (see the remarks in Jursa, Neo-Babylonian Legal and Administrative Documents, 2005, 138f.). The texts predominately date to the early reign of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabopolassar. The latest texts date to the 29th year of Darius. There is a break in the archive in the second year of Darius, which might be connected to investigations regarding the corrupt official Gimillu. Although many texts belonging to the Eanna archive have been found by the German excavators, many texts came via illicit excavations onto the antiquities market and found their way into major US and European museum collections.

This letter from the Eanna archive in the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat dates to a time of great tension. The administration of the Eanna temple underwent a major re-arrangement after the Persian conquest of Babylonia. As the text also mentions, we are in the term of the satrap Gobryas (line 11: gu-bar-ru). The letter writer Innin-ahhe-iddin writes to his superior Nadin as follows (edition: Stolper, Achaemenid History 13, 265ff.):

There is no-one who has exact information about my rations except for you. (You,) my lord, should consult your list, whether old or current, (and) [(you,) my lord should] send me my rations. I have seen the document that you sent me. It is satisfactory to me. Until Gobryas has had assignments made(?) for temple-slaves of Bel, Nabû, or Nergal, their rations are paid according to the list from (the time of) Nebuchadnezzar.

CDLI entry: P432824

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

Among the neo-Babylonian texts and fragments kept in the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat is this well-preserved fragment of a text dealing with land registers (edition: C. Wunsch, AuOr 15, 141ff.). Although not fully preserved, the tablet can be dated to the 13th year of the neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus (543 BC).

The text represents an inventory of various fields and gardens in and around the city of Uruk. For neo-Babylonian Uruk, we have the large institutional archive of the Eanna-temple, to which currently about 9,000 texts can be assigned. The plots mentioned in this text are related to the temple, and in at least two cases private land was transferred to the temple estates.

Another aspect of this text is noteworthy. It provides information about the location and size of temple estates in that area and furthermore allows insights into the administrative procedures related to these lands. The areas mentioned in this text do not seem be adjacent to each other. One plot had already been registered in a previous inventory. It adds the remark akî lē'i labīri šaṭir, “as is written on the old tablet.”

CDLI entry: P432815

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

Old Babylonian legal texts are easy to recognise. They carry many physical features, which make them stand out compared to legal and administrative texts of the Ur III or early Old Babylonian period.

This small document in the collection of the Montserrat Museum (edition: J. A. Belmonte Marín, "Old Babylonian Administrative and Legal Texts from the Montserrat Museum," AuOr 15 [1997], no. 12) is a typical loan of silver, whose content starts with the amount of silver. It states that an individual, whose name is just partially preserved, received silver in order to buy barley. As frequently attested this document contains the following clause:

On the day of [the harvest time] he shall measure out barley (at the current) [mar]ket [rate in effect] to the bearer of [his] do[cument].

This clause is followed by several witnesses and a date, which allows us for dating this document into the 18th year of the Babylonian ruler Samsu-ditana.

The cross-hatching on the reverse is not modern damage. The texts represents a cancelled tablet, which was invalidated by striking text and seal impression on the reverse.

CDLI entry: P432857

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

This tablet in the collection of Montserrat Museum (published as MVN 18, 321) dates to the Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 BC) and records a court decision following the contestation, by an officer, of a slave purchase by one of his men. The oath taken by the slave himself established the legal rights of the buyer.

Translation:
Aḫīma bought (the slave) Šu-Erra,
son of Ur-Bilgames, for 10 shekels of silver;
Pussunum, his officer-of-sixty, said:
"He did not buy him;"
Šu-Erra, Šukubum (and) Azuli appeared as witnesses;
among them, Šu-Erra was delivered to take the oath;
after Šu-Erra had sworn, Aḫīma took over the slave.
(Act established) in the presence of Lu-amana;
year: “The king Amar-Suen destroyed Urbilum”
(= 2nd year of the reign of Amar-Suen, ca. 2045 BC).

CDLI entry: P101616

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The Ur III period was witness to many different forms of text artifacts. A rather important, but small group are clay labels. The collection of the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat includes this round label (a kind of document that archaeologists call bullae). To produce such a label, a lump of clay enclosed either a cord or textile to protect against manipulation of some group of texts, or related commodities.

The outer surface of this label was sealed and inscribed. The economic account written on it deals with four oxen and thirty-two sheep and goats that were slaughtered for sacrifice (ba-uš₂). They were the property of a certain Tahiš-atal, an individual frequently mentioned in Ur III documents.

Our document dates to the 6th year in the reign of Amar-Suen. After the date follows a term that is attested several times on such bullae: e₂-tum for Akkadian bītum, “house” (see the discussion by Wolfgang Heimpel, JAOS 114 [1996] 280, with earlier literature). Following UTI 3, 2105, in the Arkeoloji Müzeleri in Istanbul, which separates im e₂-tum and im didli, “ ‘house’ tablets” and “single tablets,” it seems that e₂-tum designates a kind of container within a tablet box (Sumerian pisan-dub-ba) that was closed and provided with a sealed label.

The technical term e₂-tum is found on JRL 331 as well. Its seal is also the same, although on the example in Montserrat the impression is poorly preserved. The text in the John Rylands Library dates to the accession year of Amar-Suen and concerns 48 oxen and cows, and 775 sheep and goats, evidently offerings for the table of the 1% of the 21st century—BC. It is likely that the container or bag for which such a label was intended contained records of the named month(s). Therefore, the label in Montserrat records documents for the period from the 18th day of the 5th month through the completed 12th month of Amar-Suen 6.

CDLI entries: P107846 & P101388

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The collection of the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat keeps a small selection of lexical texts from Mesopotamia, most notably a copy of tablet XXI of the multi-thematic series ur₅-ra : hubullu (edited in MSL 11). This section of the series contains geographical names.

M. Molina published lexical and other school texts in the Montserrat collection (Molina, Fs Cagni, 751ff.; 753 no. 6). In doing so, he could join the small fragment MM 860, which adds important information to the first column and hence to the first entries of the list, whose reconstruction is still rather tentative due to its absence among the texts of the Kuyuncik collection.

Another text dealing with toponyms and also dating to the Neo-Babylonian period is Ashm 1923-277.

CDLI entry: P283789

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

In 1971, Richard Caplice published texts in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum that are classified as belonging to the genre of nam-bur₂-bi, or “its resolution” (OrNS 40, 133ff.). In no. 49, he collected manuscripts belonging to tablet 17 of the terrestrial omens, whose first entry is šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin, “When a city is placed on high.” This large series originally contained 120 tablets. Each entry, as is common for omens, starts with a protasis introducing a condition, while a following apodosis provides a result.

Two years later, Caplice published the present neo-Babylonian tablet kept in the collection of the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat with a hand-copy by Miguel Civil (OrNS 40, 511ff.). The colophon, though preserved, unfortunately does not name the responsible scribe.

Each entry is introduced by the number sign DIŠ, rendered with šumma in Akkadian (meaning “if”). Except for a couple of syllabically written words, most of the text employs Sumerian logograms, as is quite common in late scholarly compositions. Let us give a couple of lines in translation, which are preserved in the Montserrat manuscript:

If a man digs a well in the courtyard of his house, he will have trouble; (variant:) he will grow rich.
If he digs a well in the cattle yard, he will have good luck.
If he digs a well in the back of the house, he will grow poor.
If he digs a well in the woods, he will grow rich.
If he digs a well in garden plots, he will eat thick bread.
If he digs a well at the side of his house, income will flow in for him.
(rule)
If a man, when he digs a well, sees a silvery substance, that house will grow poor.
If he sees a golden substance, that man will live to an old age.
If he sees a tinny substance, his fame will be fair.

The text continues with a rather long list of metals, going on to stones, ants and other appearances. As this passage shows, the compilers tried to exploit as many possibilities as occurred to them. This is a feature well known from the Mesopotamian lexical tradition.

The reverse contains in its lower part (directly above the colophon) a namburbi ritual “for a new well, an old well, the repair of a well or washing place of a man's house.” It gives detailed instructions for someone who wishes to dig a well. These include purification rituals and the recitation of certain incantations (in this case the incantation "The well of Gilgameš").

CDLI entry: P432877

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The Akkadian poem known as "Išum and Erra" is, as Andrew George put it, "a portrayal of violence (...), how it needs to be recognized and feared as potentially the most powerful of forces. Violence can eliminate even the order ordained by the gods and sweep away in its frenzy all the hopes and accomplishments of civilization" (A. R. George, Before the Muses [2005], 880).

This literary text is one of a few compositions that name its author:

How it came to pass that Erra grew angry and set out to lay waste the lands and destroy their peoples,
But Ishum his counsellor calmed him and left a remnant,
The composer of its text was Kabti-ilani-Marduk, of the family of Dabibi.
He revealed it at night (...),
Nor one line did he add.

MM 837 is one of two manuscripts of this literary text in the collection of Montserrat Museum. The other fragment, MM 841, originally contained a complete copy of Tablet V of the poem.

CDLI entry: P432861

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The collection of the Museum of the Abbey of Montserrat contains a small number of Akkadian literary fragments. Among these is a fragmentary copy of the first tablet of the famous “Atrahasis Epic,” that is, the Old Babylonian precursor of the flood story related in the 11th tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic. This artifact constitutes the lower fifth of a one-column tablet, whose obverse and reverse surfaces originally contained about 50 lines each, physical characteristics otherwise known in contemporary manuscripts from the “Sippar library” (A. R. George and F. N. H. Al-Rawi, Iraq 58 [1996] 147-190). Since it was acquired in the antiquities markets, just where the Montserrat fragment was unearthed in modern times is unknown. However, the Catalan monk P. Ubach acquired several text artifacts in the 1920s directly from Babylon that were transferred to the Montserrat collection, and this fragment may have come from there.

The surviving text on MM 818 belongs to the opening episodes of the epic, but shows intriguing variations to the manuscripts of the 1st millennium BC. This fragment preserves lines 38-61 of the composition, a crucial passage in the text according to which the Igigi gods, created to undertake hard labor, begin to complain about their fate.

CDLI entry: P432850

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

This fragment in Montserrat Museum is a splinter of the obverse of a tablet dating to the Middle Babylonian period (ca. 1400-1100 BC). It is now assumed that this fragment originally belonged to a six- or eight-column tablet with a total of approximately 320 lines. This tablet would have contained several compositions (for the latest edition see I. Rowe, “The Montserrat Fragment of the Instructions of Ur-Ninurta,” ZA 102 [2012], 179ff.). This is based on the Old Babylonian tablet VS 10, 204. That tablet contained a still unknown composition (A) followed by the Disputation of the Bird and the Fish (B). The third composition or group of compositions is known as Instructions of Ur-Ninurta (C). These precede a fourth group known as Counsels of Wisdom. Some of the latter two compositions might have been independent texts originally.

The Montserrat fragment adds important bilingual information to this Sumerian composition. The text contains several Akkadian glosses, which are written in smaller script slightly above the lines. The Middle Babylonian period represents a transitional phase. Various Sumerian literary compositions were transmitted together with their Akkadian interlinear translations. On this fragment however (partial) translations are still presented as glosses.

Edition: B. Alster, Wisdom of Ancient Sumer, 2005, 221ff.

CDLI entry: P432823

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The Sumerian literary composition known nowadays as “Instructions of Šuruppag” is one of the few literary texts, whose ancestors can be traced back into the Early Dynastic period. Of these, the version from Tell Abu Salabikh (ca. 2600-2500 BC; OIP 99, 323+) is the most complete. Another, quite fragmentary version comes from Adab.

However, the best documentation dates to the Old Babylonian period with a large amount of Sumerian versions. Among one of those manuscripts is also this tablet in the Montserrat Museum. It contains an extract of the Sumerian text. Its provenience is unfortunately not certain.

The “Instructions of Šuruppag” belong to a sub-genre of Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature. It contains instructions addressed to a son by his father, namely the ruler of the antediluvian city of Šuruppag. Although one expects that the instructions shall prepare his son to the role as ruler, the text is not explicit in that regard. The advices mainly feature proverbial sayings, so, for instance:

At the time of the harvest, at the most precious time,
glean like a slave girl, eat like a queen,
my son, glean like a slave girl, but eat like a queen, that is how it should be indeed!

Edition: B. Alster, Wisdom of Ancient Sumer, 2005, 46ff.

CDLI entry: P432820

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The Adda seal contains various Gods and Goddesses including a unidentified hunting god on the far left holding a bow and arrow next to the goddess Ishtar who is winged and armed with an axe and mace rising over her shoulders while holding a bush that is presumably a group of dates. Ishtar is standing above the sun God Shamashís head who has rays coming out of him and is holding onto a blade while emerging between two square-shaped mountains. To the right of the sun god is the water god Ea (Enki) who has one foot on a mountain and one arm reaching out to a eagle that is presumed to be the Zu bird who stole the tablets of dynasty. The God Ea (Enki) is usually depicted with water and fish flowing from his body. On the far right is Eaís vizier, a two-faced follower called Usimu on his right with his hand raised towards Ea. It could be noted that all male figures in the Adda seal have growing beards while the females do not. Also everyone in the Adda seal is wearing the multiple-horned head dresses which symbolizes their presence as Gods or deities. These seals were used to mark ownership in various places such as storerooms where the seal would be imprinted on the door or part of the room. The seal is only about 3.9cm in height and were often carried around.

Reference: BM 89115

credit: Kim, Kirk

Interestingly, this text presents an instance of long-distance trade that was conducted through the e₂-munus, or the ‘household of women’ (= divine Baba). The text mentions 270 še gur saggal in measures equivalent to the value of another measure of wool that is to be sent to Elam. This grain is given to Enudana, merchant (Sumerian dam-gar₃) of the e₂-munus, by Uremuš, the chief merchant under Lugalanda, the governor of Lagash province and husband of Baranamtara. The importance of this text suggests that each household had its own merchants in order to conduct long-distance trade on behalf of the highest administrative officials.

CDLI entry: P221854

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

The wife of the governor partook in the administrative structure by presiding over the ‟household of the woman” (=divine Baba). However, she also conducted her own personal exchanges with members of other ruling families. In this text, Baranamtara (literally “dais-of-fate”), wife of Lugalanda, exchanges amounts of tin and bronze in return for dolls made of boxwood (Sumerian ^geštaškarin) and ivory (zu₂ am-si) delivered by servants of Ningeškimti, wife of the governor of Adab. Their messengers, Malga and Anedanumea, also receive considerable compensation for their services in the form of exquisite garments (tug₂) and scented oil (i₃-ir-a).

CDLI entry: P221416

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

As mentioned in the previous entry, the nu-banda₃ engaged in a wide variety of activities in serving the temple. Interestingly, Eniggal was also involved in securing supplies for cooks (Sumerian muḫaldim). In this text, a total of 1200 fish are delivered to Eniggal by three overseers of fishermen, and then given to Amar-giri, the cook, who will use the fish for fermentation. Other texts describe Amar-giri as a brewer (Sumerian lu₂ lunga_x) associated with the house of the cook (e₂-muḫaldim). It has been suggested the house of the cook is responsible for allocating food to various organizations associated with the temple and aristocracy (see Lance Allred, Cooks and Kitchens: Centralized Food Production in Late Third Millennium Mesopotamia [unpubl. Johns Hopkins dissertation 2007] for further discussions of cooks and their provisional services). This connection between the house of the cook and temple household further accentuates the network of communication and the extent of the administrative structure during the ED IIIb period.

CDLI entry: P220954

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

The text describes the allocation of barley rations to the female slaves and children (geme₂, dumu-dumu-ne), the ‘blind’ workers (igi-nu-du₈), and the oxen and sheep (gu₄, udu) during the month of the malt-eating festival of Nanše. The basis for amounts distributed depends on the accumulated amount of work-time, age, sex, and worker status (specialized vs. unskilled labor). In this text, these designated workers form the lower tier of ration distribution for the unskilled labor they invested into the temple household.

Monthly quotas were set by the temple administration and communicated to the lesser officials who organized the workforce. Most often, deficits were incurred because monthly quotas were not fulfilled. This meant that the expected input did not meet the actual output of the workers, resulting in the owed amount being transferred to the next quota. Nonetheless, large amounts of barley and emmer were set aside for worker rations, especially during the reign of Lugalanda where the expanding household accommodated more workers in addition to temple personnel.

With regards to distribution, the majordomo or nu-banda₃ was responsible for allocating goods to serve various purposes in the temple-related activities. For instance, Eniggal, a well-known nu-banda₃, was not only responsible for supervising barley distribution to dependent laborers, but also responsible for surveying land with the head plowers, clearing trees from orchards to gather wood, or digging canals.

It should be noted that while the nu-banda₃ is more closely associated with supervising agricultural or temple-related activities in the ED IIIb period, this title later became a military rank under Shulgi in Ur III period when he reorganized the administrative structure and included a standing army.

CDLI entry: P020116

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

The text describes the amount of flour, per ban (~6 liters), baked into various types of bread for sacrificial offerings, in addition to various commodities for the temple, including beers, butter oils, dates, apples (or apricots), birds, fish and fish eggs, garlic, roasted barely, and turnips (or crushed grapes). As temple administrator (Sumerian sanga), Dudu is responsible for tracking these goods and, at various points in time, entering this information from smaller records to be collated into larger accounts, such as this tablet. The sum of all goods is usually indicated by the phrase šu-nigin₂, which occurs after a series of listed inventories. These lists are then followed by the name of the official who entered this information and the manner in which he entered it.

In this case, Dudu finalizes the various sets of goods added to the temple’s inventory by different officials which indicated by the verbal chain mu-na-ku_x(DU) (“he entered for him”). The purpose behind these minutiae is to determine goods that are missing or added to the record. Therefore, the role of the temple administrator is both the integration of cult and economic duties that are inherent to maintaining the trajectory of goods necessary for administrative, state, and societal obligations.

By the time this tablet was written, Dudu is already an experienced and honored temple administrator, stemming from the early reigns of Enmetena. This shows that, despite the transition of governors, Dudu remained temple administrator under the rulership of Urukagina. Despite the certainty of his position as temple administrator, it is uncertain as to which household he served after the reign of Enmetena. Several royal inscriptions from Enmetena's reign attest to his role both as the temple administrator and senior temple administrator (sanga-maḫ) of Ningirsu, the household of the governor. Consideration should also be given to the possibility that this may have been a completely different Dudu from Enmetena's reign. In addition, the lack of records from both Enannatum II's and Enentarzi's reigns further complicate issues in Dudu's continuity as a temple administrator.

CDLI entry: P220690

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

Basket labels of the Ur III period show a number of developments that hint at a shift in how they were attached, if at all, to baskets containing groups of administrative texts. This newer form shows two string-holes on its upper edge, suggesting that it may have been formed around a knot instead of having a rope pass completely through its vertical axis. Note the absence of the woven impression on the reverse of the tag, suggesting that labels of this period were no longer pressed onto their baskets. In fact, basing ourselves on the archaeological context of tags and administrative tablets, we are not entirely certain that they hung from their respective baskets and associated texts at all, but this seems the most logical reconstruction of ancient bookkeeping records.

CDLI entry: P330514

credit: Heinle, Michael

current

Despite their rarity and issues of preservation, the Old Akkadian "pisan-dub" tags represent an evolution in form while preserving the function of the preceding period. The spherical shape of the ED IIIb has given way to a rectangular or "tablet" shape, consistent with "pisan-dub-ba" tags of the Ur III period. Other Old Akkadian examples indicate that the method by which the tags were attached to their baskets had also changed. This is hinted at by the disappearance of the woven patterns and a change in the way that the string was incorporated within the tag.

CDLI entry: P217567

credit: Heinle, Michael

current

Tags of this type originate in the Early Dynastic IIIb period and continue to be used through the end of the Ur III period. Basket labels of this period may be identified by their initial text line (pisan-dub), single string-hole running through the vertical axis, and the impression of a reed matting pattern on the tag’s reverse. Tags were formed by placing clay around a piece of rope attached to the lid of the basket. The clay was then pressed onto the lid, shaped into a dome, and inscribed.

This particular basket label identifies the contents of its basket as documents recording the regular offerings of various officials, in the form of emmer flour, beer, and bread, during the festival of the goddess Baba. Furthermore, it identifies the temple household of Baba as the administrative unit to which the accounts belong. Finally, the tag is dated to the first year of the Lagash ruler Lugalanda (ca 2380 BC).

CDLI entry: P020202

credit: Heinle, Michael

current

This proto-cuneiform text artifact is a possible precursor of the well known tablet cataloging system best exemplified by the late 3rd millennium BC “pisan-dub-ba” basket tags widely employed by Ur III period accountants. Like the later tags, it has a well-formed, rectangular shape, and it would have been formed around a piece of twine and hung, presumably from a shelf or basket. The placement of the hole, here running through the longer surface so that, hanging like a pendant, the artifact would have presented its inscription in its natural writing and reading orientation, is like that of later exemplars; Uruk IV tags, though, had just the one hole through, while Ur III “pisan-dub-ba” had two entry holes, with the twine tied to a knot and encased within the tag—but also so that, hanging, the inscription was read in lines from top to bottom. The interpretation and order of reading of the three signs present on the tag are as yet unclear. Pictographically, the sign GIR3 represents the head of a bovine; the sign SANGA, a title designating a temple administrator, is thought to pictographically represent a talleying board with attached token box; and the sign DUB, a Sumerian reading designating a clay tablet in later times, may have represented a type of woven basket. Let us then attempt a translation of this text dating to ca. 3300 BC: “Basket of accountant Bull.”

CDLI entry: P002207

credit: Heinle, Michael

current

How did ancient scribes keep track of the often overwhelming number of administrative documents created by a large and very complex bureaucracy? How did scribal schoolmasters and temple personnel take inventory of the literary and hymnal compositions stored in their archives? The simple answer is they created labels and catalogues. The central image, a “pisan-dub-ba” or basket tag from the Ur III period, would have hung from a basket containing a number of administrative receipts that were grouped based upon varying criteria. Text type, “owner,” and accounting period of the receipts would be noted on the tag, allowing easy identification of the contents when a later review or collation of the account was to be performed. The image on the right is an earlier version of the “pisan-dub-ba,” here originating in the Early Dynastic IIIb period. While it is nearly identical in content, its form may be seen to be quite different. The image on the left is a literary catalog of the Old Babylonian period. Though its archival function is similar to the two administrative texts pictured here, its method of storage and its original archival environment are yet unclear.

CDLI entries: P105394, P222044, P346208

credit: Heinle, Michael

current

Notwithstanding any difference from the previous entries, this mace head presents the standard structure of “a ru” dedicatory inscriptions first seen in the ED IIIb period. First, it begins with the invocation of a specific deity or deities for which the object is dedicated. Immediately following, the person performing the dedication is named, occasionally indicated by the ergative marker, e. Next, the formula includes single or multiple individuals who receive the good will of the deity on behalf of the dedicator. This is usually indicated by the nominal phrase nam-ti-la-ni, meaning “his/her life,” and the terminative post-position marker, še₃, meaning in a non-dimensional sense "to." Finally, the inscription concludes with the verbal phrase a ru, meaning "to dedicate," which at times may or may not include some of the common grammatical prefixes before the verbal root ru.

CDLI entry: P222297

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

Among the many temples that Assurnasirpal II built at Nimrud, the one mentioned on this mace head is Kidmuru, a temple devoted to Ishtar, the queen and great mistress (Akkadian bēlet rabīti). Assurnasirpal II dedicated this mace head to Ishtar for the longevity of his life and the well-being of his people and land. In contrast to dedicatory formulae written in the Early Dynastic III and Old Akkadian periods, the reconstruction of this inscription replaces the standard verbal phrase a mu-ru with ba, rendered as aqīš in Akkadian, meaning “I gave."

CDLI entry: P464619

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

As mentioned in the previous entry, Semitic syncretism not only occurred on a theological level, but also changed the written language and the way in which texts were recited. In this period, tablets were written in either Akkadian and Sumerian, or both. If written mostly in Akkadian, this meant that divine names, in addition to logographic readings of signs, would have been spoken in their Akkadian renderings rather than their Sumerian counterparts. In this mace head’s text, however, the verbal phrase a mu-ru, placed at the end of the inscription, may have been spoken in a sort of liturgical Sumerian. Akkadian personal names, such as Iṣlum and Ilī-šāliq in the inscription, also became more prominent in the written record, especially tablets deriving from northern Mesopotamian sites such as Kish.

CDLI entry: P212432

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Manishtusu is the third king of the Old Akkadian period, well known for his diorite obelisk found at Susa. The inscription on this mace head describes Manishtusu as the dedicator to the god Aya, who is equivalent to the Sumerian god Sherida, wife of the sun god Utu (Akkadian Shamash). The inclusion of the Semitic goddess in dedicatory formulae attests to the religious syncretism of the Sumerian and Akkadian pantheon that occurred during this period. As a solar deity, she was worshipped alongside Shamash in the E-babbar (“White House”) temples of Sippar and Larsa (see the Oracc entry in their treatment of ancient Mesopotamian gods and goddesses for more information).

CDLI entry: P216553

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

This damaged mace head's inscription has been partially reconstructed from an Old Babylonian copy of Sargon’s royal inscription containing his epithet. Therefore, despite the lack of preservation, the title, “conqueror of Uruk and Ur,” can be attributed to Sargon as the dedicator. Most conspicuously, the use of the Akkadian conjunction u₃, suggests that this mace head is from the Old Akkadian period when certain Semitic influences became more prominent in the writing system. Sargon’s title emphasizes his decisive military expedition against Lugalzagesi in his capital, Uruk. His proclamation as conqueror of the southernmost Mesopotamian city-states, therefore, epitomizes his take-over of Sumer from the former ruler.

CDLI entry: P217324

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

This mace head is possibly from Larsa, a city that shared political relations with Isin and competed for territory before the consolidation of power in Mesopotamia by Hammurapi in Babylon. It is dedicated to the Lord of the Netherworld, Nergal, on behalf of Abi-sare, the Amorite king, and Arad-Utu, the mace head’s engraver. According to the inscription, Abi-sare ruled as “King of Ur and Larsa,” a title preserved from the previous king, Gungunum. Interestingly, Ur is the first city named, despite the king being enthroned in Larsa, suggesting that Ur’s political status from the Ur III period still maintained its significance as the center of southern Mesopotamia.

CDLI entry: P431605

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

This fragmented mace head only preserves part of the original inscription; however, it can be reconstructed based on other mace heads that preserve the text. It is dedicated to the god Ilaba and proclaims Naram-Sin as king, and his servant, Karshum, as governor of Niqqum. Naram-Sin’s name is preceded by the divine determinative “dingir” normally reserved for the names of deities. This self-deification followed numerous successful military campaigns that expanded the Akkadian Empire to its greatest size. He conquered Amarnum to the far northwest, Ebla to the west, and Elam to the east, taking the title “king of the four quarters of the world.” His military success and deification are further exemplified in his famous Victory Stele, which portrays his aggressive campaigns against the Lullubi in the mountains to the northeast.

Considering the vast extent of his empire, Naram-Sin needed to facilitate control over his conquered territories. He did this by installing ensis (governors) in conquered cities. Unlike the ensis of the Early Dynastic IIIb period, these officials were subservient to the king in Agade. Their main roles related to administrative activities, producing frequent reports to Naram-Sin. In this case, the inscription names Karshum as an ensi who controls the messengers in Niqqum, a city presumed to be in northern Mesopotamia. After Naram-Sin’s death, subsequent kings were unable to maintain control over conquered areas and failed to neutralize Gutian attacks, and the Akkadian Empire fell into disarray.

CDLI entry: P216600

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

This mace head is dedicated to the moon god, Sîn, and proclaims Rimush “King of Kish.” This title was once held by Mebaragesi and Mesilim in the Early Dynastic period, and was later revived by Sargon to display his rightful rule over the southern Mesopotamian city-states. Rimush inherited this title, including the expanse of the Akkadian Empire from his successful father, therefore making him the second king to rule. However, the areas that Sargon had conquered regained their autonomy upon Rimush’s ascension to the throne. Within the nine years of his reign, he reconquered southern Mesopotamia and Elam. The inscription suggests that the stone employed in the creation of this mace head derived from the booty extracted from Elam and Parahshum (modern Fars).

In honor of his fundamental contributions to the field of cuneiform studies, I am delighted to dedicate this cdli tablet entry to the Japanese scholar Tohru Ozaki, who today celebrates his 75th birthday.

CDLI entry: P217325

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

This mace head’s inscription describes Enlil, chief executive of the Sumerian pantheon and “king of all lands,” bestowing earthly rule to Lugalzegesi, king of the third dynasty of Uruk. Lugalzegesi was governor of Umma province; however, he rose to power when he overthrew the king of Kish, Ur-Zababa, and subsequently conquered the major Sumerian city-states of southern Mesopotamia. According to the Sumerian King List, he ruled for 25 years before Sargon usurped the throne, thus beginning the Dynasty of Akkad.

CDLI entry: P263413

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

This stone mace head, possibly from Girsu, is decorated with a lion-headed eagle known as the Imdugud or Anzu bird, shown clenching a pair of lions in its talons. Situated at the top of the mace head is an inscription by a high official dedicating it—the mace head—to Ningirsu, the chief god of the Lagash province and its capital Girsu, on behalf of Enannatum, the governor of Lagash.

As sukkal, Bara-ki-sumum was an official of the royal court, closely involved in economic and administrative affairs. He served under the governor Enannatum, who held great political and military jurisdiction during the ED IIIb period. Enannatum's political and military successes are mentioned on a series of clay cones dated to the period of Enmetena—the son of Enannatum and future governor of Lagash—describing a battle with Urlumma, governor of Umma. He successfully defeated the Ummaite to resolve the border dispute between the two city-states and restore crucial water rights.

CDLI entry: P222490

credit: Guerra, Dylan M.

VAT 9552 is a well-preserved fragment of the third tablet of the series Ana ittišu. In contrast to tablet VI we have a better preserved manuscript in Kuyuncik collection from Nineveh: P382244. The list starts with terminology regarding the harvest. Noteworthy are expressions regarding adoption.

CDLI entry: P282495

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This detail of VAT 8875 deals with lexical entries regarding the seal (Akkadian kunukku). Sealing practices varied from period to period. The lexical list Ana ittišu to some extent shows features of grammatical texts. In this case some of the entries are repeated with alternating possessive suffixes.

CDLI entry: P282494

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

So far, seven “tablets” are known, which belong to a lexical series which “gives a hodge-podge of words and phrases relevant to business documents mixed with laws” (N. Veldhuis, "The Cuneiform Tablet as an Educational Tool," Dutch Studies on Near Ea­stern Languages and Cultures 2 [1996] 11-26). This series is called after its first entry ana ittišu (Sum. ki-ulutin-bi-še₃), “upon pertinent notice given.”

This text artifact in the Vorderasiatische Museum, Berlin, is a copy of the sixth tablet of this series. There is so far just one other manuscript (K 4317+), dating to the neo-Assyrian period and belonging to Assurbanipal’s royal library in Nineveh. This manuscript has just a small fraction of the list preserved. The Middle Assyrian manuscript, on the other hand, preserves almost the entire text.

As we have seen in earlier posts, the lexical texts from Assur are already bilingual. Each column of this four-column tablet has two sub-columns with a Sumerian version on the left and its Akkadian equivalent on the right. This column-based format of bilingual texts was mainly used for lexical texts. We will come across a different format when discussing copies of literary compositions.

In ana ittišu, each phrase is separated by a ruling from the subsequent one. The tablet’s colophon states that it’s source is Nippur. Forerunners of this lexical list are in fact known from Old Babylonian Nippur (ca. 1900-1600 BC).

CDLI entry: P282494

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Studying the extant colophons in the so-called "reconstructed Iibrary" M2 allows us to a certain extent to reconstruct the scribal sphere of a particular period in Assur's history. It is not known, whether the scribes attested in the colophons worked together or were educated at the same place. Little to nothing is known about these aspects of Middle Assyrian administration. The texts copied by the two brothers Marduk-balassu-eresh and Bel-aha-iddina offer a rather vivid picture. They checked each others copy in several instances. That may suggest that both were educated at the same time. However, we do not look at a full record.

This quite well-preserved tablet contains six columns of text. This list of objects made of wood is part of a large multi-thematic series, known by its first entry as ur₅-ra : hubullu, whose forerunners are known from the Old Babylonian period. By the Middle Assyrian period we already have a more or less standardised text.

As a general feature of lexical texts of this period, this list offers Akkadian equivalents to Sumerian terms. Each column contains two sub-columns with the Sumerian version on the left and the Akkadian on the right. Additionally, each Sumerian term is written with the classifier GIŠ to mark wood and wooden objects.

CDLI entry: P282430

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

It is unfortunate that hardly anything is known about the royal scribe Ninurta-uballissu and his sons. There are no letters, no administrative or legal documents, that may give us any hints about this family. The only testimony thus far are (currently) 23 texts, which can be assigned to one of the three sons of Ninurta-uballissu. There might be even more in the corpus (for an overview see K. Wagensonner, WOO 6 [2011]). Connecting lines in the diagram mark those tablets, where Marduk-balassu-eresh checked the copies of Bel-aha-iddina and vice versa.

(1) Marduk-balassu-eresh
(1.A.) Lexical texts
- Ea, tablet II
- Aa, tablet III/1 (= 16)
- Ura, tablet V
- Ana ittishu, tablet VI
- Ana ittishu, tablet VII
- Kagal, tablet B
- Nabnitu, tablet IV
(1.B.) Literary texts
- Lugal-e I-IV
- Lugal-e IX-XII
- Lugal-e XIII-XVI
- An-gim
- Nin-Isina's Journey to Nippur
(1.C.) Varia
- Astrolabe B

(2) Bel-aha-iddina
(2.A.) Lexical texts
- Ura, tablet III
- Diri, tablet II
- Ana ittishu, tablet III
- Kagal, tablet A
- Kagal, tablet II
[- Diri, tablet III]
(2.B.) Literary texts
- Nin-Isina's Journey to Nippur

(3) Sin-shuma-iddina
(3.A.) Lexical texts
- Ea, tablet I
- Izi, tablet XII
(3.B.) Literary text
- Unidentified

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The colophon of VAT 8875 may serve as good example of the range of information that can be gained from this data. This well-preserved tablet contains the sixth part (lit. "tablet") of the lexical series Ana ittišu, a list that contains judicial terminology and may be interpreted as a kind of phrase book.

The colophon is separated by a double ruling from the main body of the text. As mentioned in an earlier post, remarks may be written over this double ruling. The first line of the colophon contains a catch line, which refers to the first line of the subsequent "tablet" in the series. Such catch lines are used for lexical series that consist of several "tablets" in the series (DUB) or for literary compositions, which are copied on several tablets (e.g., "Ninurta's Exploits" which is copied on four tablets with four sections each; see later posts).

What follows is a technical apparatus containing information on the series, the amount of lines, and the provenance. In most cases the provenance is not rather accurate. In most instances of this "library" it is either Babylon or Nippur, where the sources supposedly originate from. There is just one case in this corpus, two copies of "Nin-Isina's Journey to Nippur," which provides more accurate data on the provenance.

The third main section of the colophon contains information on the scribe and his patronym. In some cases, not in this particular instance, this section also contains information about the individual, who checked the copy (IGI.KAR2). The colophons on the tablets written by two sons of the royal scribe Ninurta-uballissu contain a formula that contains a wish against the erasure of their name on the tablet.

Finally the tablets frequently bear a date.

CDLI entry: P282494

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The Middle Assyrian evidence for the first tablet of the lexical series Ea is quite good. The two texts presented here, VAT 10172 and BM 108862, are the main manuscripts for the reconstruction of the series. Both tablets bear colophons, although on the latter the colophon is unfortunately mostly broken off. The tablet on the left-hand side was written by a certain Sîn-šuma-iddina, son of the royal scribe Ninurta-uballissu. We will later deal in more detail with the textual heritage of this family, whose sons were responsible of copying more than 20 tablets. The colophon of this tablet states that the source for the copy was an "old" tablet. Indeed his copy makes use of archaising sign forms once in a while. This feature is missing on the second tablet, whose palaeography is clearly Middle Assyrian.

CDLI entries: P282497; P453275

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Each entry contains a very specific set of information: (1) A vertical wedge is the general marker for lexical entries; (2) a sign reading for the subsequent logogram (often written in smaller script);
(3) a Sumerian logogram; [(4) an analytical representation of the logogram (mostly part of the 1st millennium tradition]; and (5) an Akkadian equivalent.

CDLI entry: P282497

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Sign syllabaries represent the major source for both the sign values and the Akkadian meanings of Sumerian signs. In the later scribal tradition, there are, in particular, two sign syllabaries of great importance: (1) Ea and (2) Diri, both using a quite similar syntax in representing lexicographical data. The former list, whose first entry is e-a : A : nâqu, in general collects Sumerian logograms that are represented as single signs. Diri, on the other hand, contains logogram groups and their various readings and Akkadian equivalents.

The present tablet belongs to the lexical series Ea and is a copy of its first “tablet.” As a matter of fact, the Middle Assyrian evidence can be seen as the most important source for this series before the 1st millennium texts. This is due to its relative good preservation (together with P453275). The content and sequence of the list’s entries did not change significantly compared to the 1st millennium evidence, and thus the Middle Assyrian manuscripts form the basis for our reconstruction of Ea.

The sequence of the entries of Ea follows in some sense a pattern that presents simple or basic sign forms first and, subsequently, more and more complex sign forms. The first sign, A, is rather simple. Next are combinations of the sign A, A with inscribed characters (for instance, A×IGI [EYE within WATER]= Akkadian bakû, “to cry”), and so on.

CDLI entry: P282497

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The site of Assur, located on the western shore of the Tigris, yielded textual finds from many periods of Mesopotamian history. Very rich are the finds dating to the Middle Assyrian period (ca. 1400-1000 BC). The subsequent posts focus on the so-called "reconstructed library M 2," a collection of texts, whose larger part is considered to belong to an official library. However, their original setting is unknown. Some of these texts found their way to the later Neo-Assyrian capital Nineveh and were included in the "palace library."

The text depicted here is a bilingual copy of the Sumerian literary composition "Ninurta's Exploits." The bilingual sources from Middle Assyrian Assur represent the most important source for the Akkadian translation of Sumerian literature before the 1st millennium BC.

CDLI entry: P282600

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Conditions of tablets vary greatly and change over time. The example shown represents a tablet which had split into many fragments due to salt activity within the fabric. The fragments are brittle and crumble easily making it difficult to reassemble the interior. Since they cannot be reattached easily and in order to protect the remains from further deterioration during handling a removable fill was made. A thin plastic sheet was placed over the tablet before applying Polyfilla (calcium sulphate/cellofas) to the break edge. Once dry the fill and sheet were removed and the fill refined, sealed and painted before attaching it to the object. Polyfilla is lighter weight than plaster and much softer; using it to create as support fill allows the object to be held without putting pressure on the original surface which is delicate.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

Numerous cuneiform tablets exhibit dark spots and stains on their visible surfaces. The discoloration doesn’t represent damage, but it does diminish the readability of affected texts. This phenomenon was recently studied by C. Gütschow (“Methoden zur Restaurierung von ungebrannten und gebrannten Keilschrifttafeln—Gestern und Heute,” BBVO 22 [2012] 75ff.). Analyses showed that these stains derive from manganese, that is a natural component of clay. After excavated tablets dry out, the manganese reaches the tablet surface and oxidizes.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

This Hellenistic legal document is shown here being re-assembled using low tension clamps to secure the sections while the adhesive cures. The adhesive was applied in some areas as a liquid and in others as cured sheets which were reactivated with solvent.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

Here, the tablet Ashm 1974-580 is shown after the treatment. It shows several removable fills used to support fragments where the substrate has been lost. The fills have been painted to a solid colour so that they aren’t distracting to the object but also clearly distinguishable from the original. The fills have not been cast directly onto the object and can be easily removed with a small amount of solvent.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

Though appearing stable at first, the text Ashm 1974-580 suffered quite a lot. Parts of its surface were flaked off and left a greater number of fragments. To a great extent these fragments bear text and fragments of signs.

Recently most of the fragments could be rejoined to the tablet. Since the inner core is quite unstable as well, parts of the supporting material are gone. In order to re-attach some fragments, it was necessary to add a modern support.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

This four-sided prism contains a frequently copied Sumerian literary composition, which is nowadays called the "Kesh Temple Hymn." Although the inner clay body appears to be in a relatively good condition, some areas on the surface became unstable. In the course of a recent treatment of the prism a loose fragment (highlighted) could be rejoined to the tablet. Since any supporting material was gone, the fragment needed to be lifted onto a modern fill.

The surface of the prism contains many smaller cracks. In order to stabilise the surface and prevent additional fragments from falling off, a thin adhesive was applied with a micropipette to consolidate the cracks.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

This large four-sided prism containing several Sumerian literary compositions has received treatment some time ago. In order to stabilise the fragile body of the prism, the losses were filled with plaster. Unfortunately plaster that has been cast directly onto the tablet cannot be removed easily; making it difficult to replace with a more suitable material. A further complication is that plaster has been deposited on the surface adjacent to the fills leaving a fine layer of plaster. This layer is obscuring parts of the inscribed surface of the text.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

The large tablet Ashm 1923-404 (containing an Old Babylonian version of a profession list) unfortunately represents a rather degraded clay body. It is one of those objects in the Ashmolean Museum, which is at risk of irreparable damage, if it does not receive treatment to secure the surface as far as possible.

Parts of the surface have already been lost; other areas are at risk of flaking off. Two areas are highlighted here. The red area shows a part of the surface, which is extremely worn out. Most of the inscription is gone. Both obverse and reverse have been imaged with the camera dome. Reflectance Transformation Imaging discussed in earlier posts thanks to the raking light can still help to make remains of the inscription visible.

The green area represents earlier treatment of the tablet. This kind of pattern with little round dots can be found on a greater number of tablets. These are not ancient traces, but a shadow of the surface the tablet was dried on during the desalination process. The circles are actually salt drawn to the surface where it could escape more quickly due to holes in the material they were placed on.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

The majority of cuneiform artefacts were discovered unfired in the soil. In cases such as Palace G in Ebla, which has been destroyed by fire, the tablets were burnt already in antiquity. Furthermore, many so-called "library" texts were fired in antiquity as well. Until quite recently it has been customary to fire tablets in museum collections in order to better preserve them. The firing of a tablet, however, changes the chemical and physical characteristics of the clay. The firing not always led to the desired result and did the artefacts more harm than good. It became necessary to modify the firing process according to the analysis of the clay fabric of each artefact.

Historically firing was followed by desalination in water to remove soluble salts. However this treatment is not always effective and the approach is debated because the salt can be a significant part of the object's structure. Controlling the environment and specifically the humidity that these objects are stored has been shown to be an effective way of preventing salt movement and therefore damage. Cases are shown here of salts remaining in the clay body even after firing and desalination. Depending on the conditions of storage these salts might reach the surface and build smaller or larger encrustations. Examples: two Old Babylonian legal texts P315345 and P315343; and an Early Old Babylonian royal inscription with a larger area covered with thick salt encrustation.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

Including the collection of cuneiform artefacts of the Bodleian library the Ashmolean Museum holds 4,515 objects, which makes this collection the second-largest in Britain after the British Museum and one of the major European collections of text artefacts from the Ancient Near East. In preparation for the digitisation of the collection by CDLI the greater part of the collection has been surveyed between June and September 2012 (undertaken by the conservator Dana Norris). In the course of the assessment the tablets have been measured in order to start preparation for re-housing each tablet individually in storage boxes.

The assessment revealed that 15 % of the collection is in a very good condition and almost two thirds of the texts are stable. 38 objects of the collection were at risk of irreparable damage, would they not receive treatment. About 140 objects (the afore-mentioned 38 including) had loose or unstable fragments. Some of the largest objects in the collection may have suffered from the firing and subsequent desalination process that took place in the late 1970s due to the physical shape and thickness of the clay.

credit: Norris, Dana & Wagensonner, Klaus

(3) In the next step Image 3 is copied onto the merged Images 1 and 2. On this image the light comes from the right side. Therefore the better lit areas are selected. After feathering this the selection, it is copied onto a new layer and the original Image 3 can be deleted.

(4) It is now necessary to do some adjustments, which involve selecting areas of transition and modifying exposure and other settings. Since captures from light sources are taken, that lie opposite of each other, the transition points between the selected areas frequently appear problematic (especially in the case of tablet with a great curvature on the reverse).

After having all that done, this representation can be included in an already existed (flat-bed scanned) fat cross, in order to increase readability.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Much work is being done on developing an online RTI-viewer, which allows to adjust the light angles in a web-based environment (see, for instance, the Portable Light Dome). In the meantime captures taken by the camera dome can be used to gain a good 2D-result. It must be stressed that this process cannot be automatised. Each side need to be treated individually. The end result sometimes may seem over-edited, but it is aimed at provided the most readable result.

After processing the raw files to a PTM file, this file is opened in a locally installed RTI-viewer (see earlier posts). Depending on the curvature of the object either three or four images with different light angles need to be exported. On the left-hand side three such exported shots of Ashm 1922-176 are shown with indication of the various light sources (yellow points on green). Image 1 uses light from the upper left corner, Image 2 from the lower left corner and Image 3 from the right side.

(1) In a first step all three shots are opened in Photoshop. First, Image 2 is copied onto Image 1. Since on Image 2 the light comes from the lowerleft corner, we can select the areas of better visibility.

(2) The selection needs to be feathered in order to avoid sharp borders and have a smooth transition between the different images. That being done the selection is copied into a new layer. The original Image 2 can now be removed. In some cases one of the layers needs some adjustments.

Of course, parts of Image 3 still need to be blended over this result. This will be shown in tomorrow's post.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The script and Photoshop actions discussed in the last couple of days can also be used to automatically process large quantities of raw images. In order to do that a folder containing raw files is taken. The script searches for the first file that contains "be" (standing for bottom edge) and then selects all files that start with the same element (in this case a museum number).

The remaining parts of the process are similar to those described before. The files are merged together into one document. Then the background is removed and the sides are preliminary aligned. This preliminary fat cross is then saved with the museum number as file name.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

After the sides are aligned to produce a preliminary "fatcross" (see [4] on the left) each side can now be placed.

(5) Since the black background of each layer was removed in an earlier step, the sides can easily be aligned and placed quite close to either obverse or reverse. The obverse is surrounded by all four edges with the top edge above and so forth. Remains of the support (or foams) may now obstruct several sides. In a further step, a script helps reducing the manual labour in removing these problems as far as possible. Both obverse and reverse are cleaned. The remaining areas can be quickly cleaned with the eraser tool.

Last but not least, dust and little scratches need to be removed, but the pollution on scans depends on the frequency of cleaning the glass and of course on the text artefact itself, which might lose dust during the imaging process. Flat-bed scanner need to be renewed after scanning a certain amount of objects, since scratches cannot be avoided completely.

In tomorrow's post the processing of a large batch of raw files using this method will be presented.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

As we have seen yesterday, the individual sides are copied into one document. The script uses the raw files. There is no need to crop the sides individually, since the subsequent step in the script deals with the background (see upper left corner).

(3) First, the levels (brightness, contrast, etc.) are adjusted. This darkens not just the individual side (making the inscription more visible), but the background as well, which now should be pitch black. Photoshop's Magic Wand selects automatically a specific point in each layer (the upper left corner at position 0,0 is chosen for this purpose). The background is deleted. Since the edges are scanned with the help of a support, remains of this support may still be visible. The remains can easily be removed with the eraser, after all edges are aligned correctly.

(4) In the next step the script preliminarily puts all sides in the right area. Since the script does use the original raw files, final adjustments need to be done manually. However, most of the bakcground is gone now and hence it is possoble to move the edges rather close to obverse and reverse without obstucting them with the respective backgrounds.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The advantages of flat-bed scans in terms of processing times and efforts have been made clear (see Digitization Guidelines). Most of the manual labour of creating "fatcrosses" can be done by using scripts and actions. On this and the pages that follow in the next couple of days, one way of processing scans is being presented.

Let us have a look on creating a fatcross for one tablet, Ashm 1922-176, a letter from the famous Šamaš-hazir correspondence discussed earlier (CDLI-entry: P450713).

(1) First the individual sides (bottom edge (be), left edge (le), obverse (o), reverse (r), right edge (re), top edge (te)) need to be selected. The script copies these files into one document and into individual layers.

(2) The interim result of this first part is a patch-work of the individual sides. The layers are renamed to fit the sides.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Once all six sides (or even more in case of a cone or prism) are processed, they can be stitched together to a "fatcross," i.e., a representation of the text artefact making all sides visible.

Since the distance between object and camera lens differs depending on the side taken (unless the distance is adjusted using the respective focus, which is however time-consuming), the size of each side need to be adjusted individually. Furthermore, although specific settings in the afore-mentioned software Photomatix Pro help to reduce the background noise, in many cases the background need to be cleaned carefully.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Earlier we saw that merging together photos taken with different exposure lengths and hence producing High Dynamic Range photos lead to a better output of shadows and highlights on text artefacts.

In most cases three shots suffice to get good results. Although images can processed manually to get an HDR photo, it is worthwhile to use specific software for doing so. Photomatix Pro, for instance, allows for adjusting various settings in order to gain a balanced photo.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The camera dome collects 76 images that are processed to a Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM) file. These processed files are opened in a locally installed viewer (called RTIviewer). In this program the light angles can be manipulated. For gathering an interim 2D image, three or four different light positions are saved individually.

In the left upper image the light position is (as indicated within the green circle) in the left upper corner; on the right side there is an extracted image with the light position in the right lower corner.

In Adobe Photoshop, these three (or four) images are merged and areas of good exposure and detail are kept and blended in order to gain an evenly lighted 2D result that can be combined with processed images from a flatbed scanner.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

After discussing various imaging techniques that are used by CDLI, let us return to Reflectance Transformation Imaging. Whether using a camera dome or just placing a shiny ball in an object's vicinity, it is necessary to process the gathered raw images. The essential key is a file that contains the light positions (x, y, and z axis) of each LED in the camera dome (or positions of light sources that are reflected in the shiny ball).

A so-called PTM-fitter merges the raw images together and calculates the various light angles. The resulting PTM-file can be viewed in a RTIviewer. In this program the various effects of the light sources on the text artefact can be simulated.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The camera dome at the Ashmolean Museum produces 76 images (as explained earlier each with a different light angle). The individual light positions are saved in a lp-file, which is in fact a text file containing a list of all LEDs and the corresponding x, y, and z axes (see the screenshot below on the right side).

Cultural Heritage Imaging provides a RTI-builder, which allows for easy processing the raw images from the camera dome. In doing so, they program uses the file with the light positions and calculates the different light angles. In case an object is imaged without a dome and using a glossy ball, the individual positions of the light sources need to be extrapolated in each processing by selecting the ball on the shots. The program then detects the highlighting reflections of the light on the glossy ball and thus calculates the light positions.

This program furthermore allows to crop the area. Therefore, valuable storage space is saved.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

As mentioned in yesterday's post, a steady work-flow guarantees not just a faster imaging, but is also less prone to errors (e.g., forgotten sides). CDLI's digitization guidelines, contain instructions of how to use such a work-flow. In doing so, starting with the right side (obverse or reverse) of a tablet is less crucial and can easily be corrected in the processing afterwards. (For some periods identifying obverse or reverse may pose difficulties. Furthermore, splinters from the surface of larger tablets quite frequently cannot be identified as belonging to either obverse or reverse.)

The work-flow can be used for one tablet at a time, but also for a bunch of tablets. Smallish administrative texts dating to the Ur III period, for instance, can be scanned in groups of up to 24. For edges it is necessary to use a kind of support. CDLI uses a "tablet box," which is a kind of frame with several compartments (see the photo on yesterday's post). In these conpartments the tablets can be inserted and hold in place with foam pieces.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

For larger collections of cuneiform text artefacts as the Ashmolean Museum the camera dome is used for about 20-25 % of the holdings. This technology is used, in particular, for high impact objects as well as damaged and sealed surfaces. Imaging texts with the camera dome takes a certain amount of time. The camera dome needs about 6-7 minutes per side.

All text artefacts are imaged using a conventional flat-bed scanner (here, the Canon 5600F, which proved to allow for very good results). Flat-bed scanning has several advantages. First, the whole process is faster (especially by employing a certain work-flow; see the next post) compared to other imaging techniques. Since each surface has always the same distance to the scanner, the speed of processing the raw files is significantly faster than processing images produced with other techniques (a nice side-effect is that given the resolution the size of an artefact can be calculated).

In the section "Processing" following soon, the processing techniques of scans will be presented in more detail.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

High Dynamic Range Photography (short HDR) allows for a better management of the shadowy and light spots of objects and therefore captures a greater dynamic range between the darkest and lightest spots of an image. This method is quite suitable for text artefacts. The camera is mounted on a copy-stand facing down (alternatively a tripod can be used). A light source casts light onto the object from the upper left corner. A reflector (either another light source or a piece of aluminium foil) on the opposite corner reflects the light back to the object.

The camera is set to M(anual mode). A mid-range shutter speed is chosen. Automatic Exposure (AE) bracketing allows for generating three (or up to nine) shots each with a different exposure length (short, middle, long). Single shots often can lead to a loss of detail.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

In case the object that needs to be imaged with Reflectance Transformation Imaging technology is oversized and does not fit into the dome (the maximum size of the object must not exceed a third of the dome's diameter), it is possible to use this imaging technique also without a dome. The great advantage of a camera dome is that it eliminates any ambient light and offers a completely darkened environment.

A hand-held flash replaces the LEDs attached to the inside of the camera dome. In order to have the light source approximately at the same distance to the object the easiest method is to use a piece of string, whose length is three times as large as the object's height.

At any point (or at several) a shiny ball (most adequate are either a red or black snooker ball) is placed that reflects the light source (from the hand-held flash) at every shot taken.

When processed the computer can calculate the location of the light source in relation to the reflection on the ball. Whereas the number of LEDs within a camera dome is fixed, so-called "Highlight RTI" allows for as many shots with different light positions as possible.

The object imaged here is a Neo-Assyrian relief from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus & Lafont, Bertrand

The diameter of the camera dome is approximately 1 m. The schematics on the right show demonstrate how the dome works. On the its inside 76 light sources (LEDs) are attached. One after another they cast light onto the surface of an object, which is placed in the centre. In order to gain the best results, the artefact is on level with the horizon of the hemisphere.

In a couple of days time we are going to have a look into the viewing and processing of images produced by such a camera dome. For further information on this technology and its use for the digitisation of ancient documents see the webpage of Cultural Heritage Imaging.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The camera dome used by the project "Creating a Sustainable Cuneiform Digital Library" at the University of Oxford uses 76 daylight-LEDs, which are attached to the inside of the plexiglas dome. A high resolution digital camera is mounted on the top of the dome, looking straight down through a hole. The object is placed on a stage in the centre lifted up to the horizon.

This technology named Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is used to create a Polynomial Texture Map (PTM) of any object whose surface has a texture. The 76 individual raw files each using a different light source and therefore a different light angle, are merged together. In the resulting PTM-file the various light angles can be simulated.

Tomorrow's post will show the inside of the camera dome as well as a cross section.

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This tablet in the Ashmolean Museum collects incantations from a medical ritual that is known as ugu, "scull," the full title being in translation "If a man's head is feverish." This ritual series collects medical conditions and a respective treatment, which includes the preparation of potions and ointments as well as their application.

K 2354+ is a large manuscript from the library of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal from Nineveh, which contains the first section of the ritual series. In contrast, the example in the Ashmolean Museum contains specifically incantations that belong to section I-IV of the series.

CDLI entry: P274683

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The cuneiform culture attests to a vast corpus of omina. Divination, the observation of signs on the organs of a sheep, was one of the major tools for predicting the future and come to a decision. While liver omina are well-known from cuneiform texts, omina regarding the sheep's lungs are quite scarce.

This quite large and unfortunately fragmentary tablet in the Ashmolean Museum originates from the excavations in ancient Kish and therefore belongs to the rich finds of scholarly texts from the first millennium BC Babylonia. There are several parallels known for this text (collected by A. R. George, "Review of OECT 11," [1990], ZA 80, 159). Most notable is a fairly well preserved manuscript from Nineveh dating to the Middle Assyrian period and coming originally from Assur (K 205).

Besides liver models in clay there are also a couple of examples of model lungs. The most significant example comes from Nimrud (CTN 4, 60). It is a three-dimensional model of a sheep's lungs and other internal organs. A further example is CBS 470, whose surface is divided into fields by lines. Each field is inscribed with either the cuneiform sign for "left," "right," or both to indicate whether the omen is good ("right") or bad ("left").

Coming back to our text, the following two omens may be cited:

If the lower part of the lung is split on the right, then the totality of my army will disintegrate. My army will collapse in its main body.
If the lower part of the lung is split on the left, then the totality of the enemy army will disintegrate. The enemy army will collapse in its main body.

CDLI entry: P348953

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

About 75 documents in the Ashmolean Museum date to the Hellenistic period (323-63 BC). Outstanding is a larger group of brick-shaped legal documents.

This contract (see T. Doty, Cuneiform Archives from Hellenistic Uruk [1977], 102ff.; P. Corò, Prebende Templari in Età Seleucide [2005], 307ff.) deals with the lease of a butcher's allotment (ṭābihūtu) for a period of 10 years. Compared to other prebends like brewer's prebend or the baker's prebend the individual leasing such an allotment will do the work that is connected with it and enjoys its income. Kidin-Sîn agrees to pay cuts of meat to Anu-mar-ittannu.

Furthermore the document contains clauses in order to prevent the seller (Anu-mar-ittannu) to otherwise sell the allotment, and to prevent Kidin-Sîn from subcontracting the allotment to other parties. Both parties receive a copy of the contract.

In the Hellenistic period the stamp seal came into new fashion. It is a common feature of such documents that the parties and witnesses sealed with their respective seals. The impressions are labeled.

CDLI entry: P342373

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Tabular accounts, which present information on horizontal and vertical axes are known, in particular, starting with the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC). This tablet in the Ashmolean Museum is such a tabular account. The information is organised and presented into columns and rows. It records the lengths, widths and depths of earth works. The table presents the volumes of canals dug and not yet dug and assigns these works to workmen or overseers. Additionally the document gives subtotals and totals of lengths and volumes at various points. The text groups the information into headed columns. Although the tablet bears no date, the names mentioned as well as the palaeography makes the area of Larsa in the time of the Babylonian kings Hammurapi or Samsu-iluna plausible.

The tabular complexity of this text is astonishing, for its organisation follows each, a horizontal and vertical axis. Furthermore, it has three levels of calculation: (1) entries marked with "that PN did" in the right-most column; (2) the descriptive phrase running the whole width of the tablet; (3) the grand total at the end. (edition: E. Robson, "Accounting for Change: The Development of Tabular Book-keeping in Early Mesopotamia," in: M. Hudson & C. Wunsch (eds) Creating Economic Order [2004], 112ff.).

CDLI entry: P347361

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This tablet in the collection of cuneiform artifacts of the Bodleian library, which is now part of the Ashmolean Museum, contains a mathematical problem, whose goal is to find the length and area of a triangle (edition: E. Robson, SCIAMVS 5 [2004], 24ff., no. 14). The area is described as a furrowed field, on which "furrows descrease on furrows by 6 rods." Therefore, the text provides information on the hypotenuse of the triangular area. Furthermore, it gives us the width of the field and the amount of furrows. On top of the obverse the text gives a diagram that shows the pertinent triangle.

The first problem is to calculate the length (line 4: UŠ EN.NAM). In lines 5-13 the calculations are described step by step. Since the width was already provided, the next problem is to find out the area of the triangle. The calculation of the latter is less complicated. It is simply needed to multiply half of the width with the length.

CDLI entry: P368255

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Mathematical texts come in many guises. This large multi-column tablet in the Ashmolean Museum contains a metrological list of capacities, weights, and areas. Metrological lists, such as this example, occur early in the Old Babylonian curriculum of apprentice scribes. A good grasp of numbers and the various ways of measuring were essential for a future administrative scribe.

Metrological lists are hence quite common in our documentation. Christine Proust mentions 187 tablets that can be assigned to this type of mathematical text (see C. Proust, CDLJ 2009:1). Thanks to their organisation in various sections and a clear structure of the metrology these texts provide valuable data on the different notations and the systems behind these notations. For a similar example see HS 249+1805 in the Hilprecht collection in Jena.

CDLI entry: P368260

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The Sumerian New Year was known as za₃-mu, “edge of the year,” and, celebrated with the Babylonian Akitu festival, fell on the day of the spring equinox. The term is best known from Ur III period references to a special ration of barley dispensed to dependent laborers. Nonetheless, we offer an example of accounting done in the provincial capital city of Umma five months after the celebration on 1 January 2019 BC—or thereabouts. Most likely, the receipt represents late clean-up of long open accounts.

CDLI entry: P116964

credit: Englund, Robert K.

The Ashmolean Museum houses a text dating to the Old Akkadian period (ca. 2340-2200 BC), which was interpreted as mathematical exercise text. Parallels are known. So is ZA 74, 60 a tablet in the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago (edition: R.M. Whiting, "More Evidence for Sexagesimal Calculations in the Third Millennium B.C." ZA 74 [1984], 59ff.). Exercises such as these show that sexagesimal place notation, which is known in Old Babylonian mathematical texts and served to express fractions, was already used in the 3rd millennium. Both texts end with the Sumerian phrase ba-pa₃. An even closer parallel to this small tablet in the Ashmolean Museum is ZA 74, 65. Both, this tablet and our text mention an individual named Ur-Ištaran.

CDLI entry: P215434

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This tablet in the Ashmolean Museum belongs to the Old Babylonian archive of Mannum-mešu-lissur in Nippur and was published by G. R. Hunter in the eighth volume of the Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts. Texts such as this one deal with agreements for adoption. Besides documents that deal with the adoption of children in order to fulfil the social need to provide parents to orphans or heirs for childless couples other texts attest to the economic aspects of adoption. They may declare properties to be shared by the inheritors or assignments of custodianships for specific gates and so forth.

This particular document is dated to the reign of Sin-iqišam. It contains the shares of two sons. The individual shares contain properties (houses and fields) including their various locations (in relation to adjacent plots) as well as temple offices (or prebends), which are given for specific periods.

The document ends with the phrase:

Together they have agreed to the division. In future each will not make a claim against the other. Thus have they sworn in the name of the king.

A parallel of this document is provided by OECT 8, 17.

Edition: E. C. Stone and D. I. Owen, Adoption in Old Babylonian Nippur and the Archive of Mannum-mešu-lissur (= Mesopotamian Civilizations vol. 3) no. 53.

CDLI entry: P283645

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This administrative document records very large amounts of reeds revceived by Shulgi-ili from three named “scribes of the brewery” and from the important imperial administrator known as the Sukkal-maḫ. The first two scribes are said to come from Drehem (ancient Puzriš-Dagan), the administrative and quite possibly redistributive center established close to Nippur by Shulgi; the third scribe is said to be from Nippur itself. The delivery from the Sukkal-maḫ is ascribed to the work of the conscripts of Girsu.

A simple search using CDLI’s new seals catalogue results in five almost identical documents recording the same transaction from the years Ibbi-Suen 1 and 2.

On the four other artifacts, the seal of Shulgi-ili is found directly on the tablet, whereas our Ashmolean tablet, itself unsealed, was placed in a sealed envelope. Shulgi-ili is otherwise mostly known in Drehem records as a deliverer of fattened animals; thus, the reeds in these accounts, whose qualification zi demonstrates that they were used as fodder, were destined for these same animals.

CDLI entry: P142785

credit: Dahl, Jacob L.

Thanks to the excavations at the ancient site of Kish, the Ashmolean Museum houses a substantial collection of late lexical material from Mesopotamia. These texts are generally dated to the neo-Babylonian period. They reach from elementary lists of signs to complex compendia of lexical items.

This relatively well-preserved tablet appears to be as yet unpublished. It furthermore cannot be found in Oliver R. Gurney’s index of the lexical texts of the museum published in MSL SS 1. The content clearly relates this text to the geography sections of the thematic lexical series ur₅-ra : hubullu (edited in MSL 11). This series in its canonical version consists of 24 “tablets” covering a wide range of topics. The geography sections are preserved on tablets 20-22 of the series. Our text is important for the reconstruction of tablets 21-22, starting with important place names like Nippur and Isin. The reverse contains, among others sections on temple names, gate names and, finally, stars.

CDLI entry: P450731

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This lexical text in the Ashmolean Museum dates to the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC). This period marks a time, when a new repertory of lexical texts has been compiled. Among the vast corpus of lexical texts dating already to the early second millennium, it is multi-thematic series ur₅-ra : hubullu that represents a complex inventory of words.

This multi-column tablet deals with topographical terms, among others a long list of rivers and canals. The list starts with the "ditch" (Sum. e.g.₂). The second entry is pa₅, "small canal." The list then goes on and proceeds with a long enumeration of river names marked by the classifier ID₂. All three designations are central to agriculture. Water for irrigation came from a river or major canal either to smaller canals (pa₅, Akk. atappu) or ditches (e.g.₂, Akk. īku).

The remaining text, as far preserved, contains other topographical designations and food stuff (e.g., designations of barley).

Quite a few designations are also attested in the later tradition of this lexical series, most notably in on the 22nd tablet (the series ur₅-ra : hubullu in its canonical version frm the late 2nd and 1st millennia BC consists of 24 tablets). In tomorrow's post a much later version of this list dating to the first millennium BC will be presented.

Edition: E. Reiner (with the collaboration of M. Civil), The Series HAR-ra = hubullu, Tablets XX - XXIV (MSL XI), 1974, pp. 144ff.

CDLI entry: P452252

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This lexical text was compiled in the late Uruk period (ca. 3200-3000 BC). It contains a list of metals and metal objects, following a sophisticated sequence based on semantic and graphical characteristics. This word list belongs to a group of archaic thematic word lists that, at the beginning of the third millennium, spread from Uruk to other cities in the ancient Near East. The best evidence for this particular list originates from the northern Babylonian sites of Fara and Tell Abu Salabikh, both dating to the ED IIIa period (ca. 2600-2500 BC). The list even reached the Syrian site of Ebla, attested there in an almost perfectly preserved manuscript.

While some archaic word lists, at least so far as we know, cease to be transmitted after the end of the Early Dynastic period, other lists continued in use until the early 2nd millennium, alongside the emergence of many new (genres of) lexical texts in the late Early Dynastic period. Still, the evidence for these texts in the second half of the third millennium is quite scarce.

The quite well-preserved seven-sided prism in the Ashmolean museum (originally published by O. R. Gurney in 1969 Iraq 31, pp. 3ff.) contains a version of the Metals list that dates to the Old Akkadian period. An important peculiarity about this version is the addition of a semantic classifier to each of the entries. This classifier ‛uruda’ precedes designations of objects made of copper. Otherwise, the text itself does not differ substantially from the Early Dynastic versions. Besides this modification, one should note the alternation of entries with and without the sign AN in a large section of the text. This feature is already present in the archaic versions. Patterns like this one are not uncommon in the early lexical corpus. The qualifier AN has been interpreted in several ways. Besides being a divine marker, it has also been argued that it might be an early form of the Sumerian designation for tin, an-na, or, since AN is also the Sumerian designation of the heavens, for “meteoric” iron.

CDLI entry: P213492

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

To all those who have contributed to, or just enjoyed our little app in the past year, our warmest wishes on this Christmas Day—two to go.

original icon by http://dryicons.com

The cultic calendar was of immense importance in Mesopotamia. This tablet in the Ashmolean Museum is a type of composition that was known to the ancient scribes as kakku sakku, "sealed, stopped up". A. Livingstone describes such texts as "expository works in which events from rituals are detailed and then explained by equating them with mythological events" (Livingstone, Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works [1986], 115). As was noted by O. R. Gurney in his edition of the text in OECT 11, the only close parallel to the text in the Ashmolean Museum is VAT 9947 (see Livingstone 1986, 126ff.).

Other compositions that loosely relate to such a text are the series Iqqur ippuš or the so-called Astrolabes (see, for instance, Astrolabe B). Most information regarding our text can be gained from the first column, which is better preserved. This column deals with days of the second month in the Babylonian calendar (iti-gu₄, Ayyaru). Astrolabe B relates to the gu₄-si-su festival in Nippur, which preceded the preparations of the coming plowing and sowing. That text states: "The month Ayyaru, the Pleiades, the Seven Gods. The Opening up of the ground; the oxen are yoked, the land becomes arable. The plows are washed; the month of heroic Ningirsu, the great ensi of Enlil." The tablet in the Ashmolean Museum deals with rituals performed on various days during specific months.

Edition: Gurney, O. R. 1989. Literary and miscellaneous texts in the Ashmolean Museum. OECT 11, Oxford, pp. 26ff.

CDLI entry: P348949

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This intriguing work of Akkadian religious poetry sings the praises of Amurru, a god of the steppe. According to one plausible interpretation, our text dates to the reign of Rim-Sin (1822-1763 BC), who ruled for sixty years over the southern Mesopotamian city of Larsa until his defeat at the hands of king Hammurabi of Babylon in 1763 (following the so-called middle chronology).

If the attribution to Rim-Sin is correct, then “Amurru and his crook” is currently one of the oldest extant works of Akkadian literature. The technical skill evinced in our poem’s carefully balanced verse, which is designed to be heard rather than read, suggests that Akkadian compositions such as these had a longer history than our limited sources allow us to see. In previous centuries, according to our evidence, Sumerian had been the literary language of choice. One of the most popular Sumerian genres was the hymn: a brief song of praise addressed to a god, at the end of which a king would request divine favor or thank the god for having granted his favor previously.

There is some evidence to suggest that under the kings of Larsa, among whom Rim-Sin was prominent, Sumerian literature in general began to decline, and that hymns in particular began to be composed in Akkadian. This development was to produce some of the early masterpieces of Akkadian literature under the dynasty of king Hammurabi of Babylon. While our text is no such masterpiece, it is nevertheless artfully composed and exhibits many phrases and grammatical features that are characteristic of high literary Akkadian. The religious outlook of “Amurru and his crook” is typically Mesopotamian: the singer praises Amurru both for his importance among the other gods of the pantheon and for the generosity and clemency he shows to mankind. The crook—the symbol of Amurru, who seems to be a pastoral god of the western steppe—has the power to “give life to the people,” as the hymn says. This may involve a pun on the word meaning “crook” (Akkadian: gamlum) and a similar-sounding word meaning “to be kind” (Akkadian: gamālum).

Edition: Gurney, O. R. 1989. Literary and miscellaneous texts in the Ashmolean Museum. OECT 11, Oxford, pp. 15-19

CDLI entry: P348900

credit: Metcalf, Christopher

The "Kesh temple hymn" is one of the few Old Sumerian literary texts, which is preserved not just through manuscripts from the ED IIIa period (ca. 2600-2500 BC), but also through a high amount of manuscripts dating to the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC). This composition belonged to the corpus of ten literary texts, which were copied by apprentice scribes in the Old Babylonian "school". This collection is nowadays known as "Decad".

This manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum is one of the few copies of this composition, which were inscribed on a prism. The inner structure of the text is maintained by the repetition of a refrain that was already extant in the earliest versions from Tell Abu Salabikh dating to the ED IIIa period (ca. 2600-2500 BC). In the Old Babylonian version this refrain reads in translation as follows:

Will anyone else bring forth something as great as Keš?
Will any other mother ever give birth to someone as great as its hero Ašgi?
Who has ever seen anyone as great as its lady Nintur?

This refrain is followed by the remark e₂-n-kam-ma-am₃, "it is the nth house." The "Standard version" in the Old Babylonian period contains either 8 or 10 of such stanzas.

The content of this temple hymn can be summarised as follows (after C. Wilcke, "Die Hymne auf das Heiligtum Keš," Fs. Vanstiphout [2006], 201ff.):
(1) Enlil praises Kesh and the goddess Nisaba writes down the song
(2) (Enlil approaching the temple), characteristics of the temple seen from the distance
(3) Visual and acoustic impressions of the temple
(4) Dimensions, architecture, colours, and shape of the temple
(5) Purpose of the temple for the gods and humankind
(6) The temple on its inside
(7) The temple on its outside
(8) Continuation of the description of the temple
(9) Cultic personnel and ceremonies
(10) Invitation to come to Kesh and participate at the feast

CDLI entry: P452248
ETCSL translation: 4.80.2

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Within the Old Babylonian scribal education collections of literary letters were used to instruct apprentice scribes. Besides a collection known as Sumerian Epistolary Miscellany (SEpM), of which this prism may serve as example, the school curriculum also knew further collections as, for instance, the Correspondence of the Kings of Ur (CKU) and the Correspondence of the Kings of Larsa (CKL).

This prism in the former Weld-Blundell collection and now part of the Ashmolean Museum is associated with the Sumerian Epistolary Miscellany (SEpM; see A. Kleinerman, Education in Early 2nd Millennium BC Babylonia. The Sumerian Epistolary Miscellany, 2011).

SEpM contains eighteen literary letters and four miscellaneous compositions. These compositions are linked through their epistolary nature and their close relation to the city of Nippur. The prism in the Ashmolean Museum is just linked via SEpM 22 to the afore-mentioned collection. The remaining compositions collected on it, belong to the correspondence of the Kings of Larsa. The prism contains the following compositions:

(1) Inim-Inana to Lugal-ibila (= SEpM 22; ETCSL 3.3.12)
(2) Sin-iddinam to Utu (ETCSL 3.2.05)
(3) Ninszatapada to Rim-Sin
(4) Nanna-mansum to Ninisina
(5) Sin-iddinam to Ninisina

The first literary letter is a quite short composition. Its content is appropriate for a pupil in the Old Babylonian school, whose curriculum mainly consists of Sumerian texts. It contains some instructions for how to treat children at school. The teacher is responsible for them and must not let them go, even if the pupil says so. Intriguing is the first part:

Do not neglect Sumerian! For the second time, I am sending you a message in the proper language.

In the Old Babylonian period, Akkadian was the vernacular. The curriculum of young scribes often betrays that fact. Though pupils had to copy bilingual lists as well, the major part of the curriculum was centred around Sumerian scribal lore.

CDLI entry: P345806

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Excavations in the area of ancient Kish yielded a substantial number of Old Akkadian texts. This tablet in the Ashmolean Museum was found in the eastern part of the city complex of Kish, called Tell Ingharra. Unfortunately the lack of any precise archaeological record does not allow any further judgements regarding the original location of the tablet. The tablet is written in a fine Old Akkadian ductus.

This tablet is one of the rare examples of incantations that can be dated to the Old Akkadian period (ca. 2340-2200 BC). It is certain that the contents of this tablet are to be interpreted as an incantation "designed to overcome the resistance of a recalcitrant girl against the love of a young man" (Westenholz, A. & J. G. Westenholz. 1977. “Help for rejected suitors. The Old Akkadian Love Incantation MAD V 8,” Orientalia NS 46, 198-219). The composition plays with the topos of the fertile garden, an oft-found feature of love-songs. Many of his motifs and figurative expressions occur in other, later literary compositions as well.

CDLI entry: P285640

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The Old Akkadian period (ca. 2340-2200 BC) witnesses the first significant corpus of letters in Mesopotamia.

This letter in the Ashmolean Museum has been published by Ignace J. Gelb (MAD 5, 2; edition in B. Kienast & K. Volk, Die sumerischen und akkadischen Briefe [1995], 141f.; siglum Ki 1). It is a letter of a certain Abbaja to a person named Dudua. Many letters like this one start with the particle en-ma, "thus," a precursor of later umma. In contrast to letters of later periods, which normally start with the addressee's (and therefore are introduced by the preposition ana), Old Akkadian letters generally mention the sender first. There are no blessings involved, even not in longer examples as P213212, a letter in the British Museum.

The body of this letter starts with the intriguing sentence "Why are you not my father?" (mi-num2 u3-la a-bi2 ad-da). The reason for this enigmatic question becomes clear in what follows. It must be noted in any case that kinship terms are frequently used to indicate ranks. Hence "father" refers to an individual higher in rank. The letter-writer goes on: "You not even trust me with 3000 liter barley."

The subsequent sentence bītum eri, lit. "the house is empty," was interpreted in a sense that the letter-writer still makes reproaches: "Is the firm broke?" He assures that he will be able to pay the requested amount of silver. He finally requests a message and Dudua's son to be sent.

CDLI entry: P213213

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This is one of the few letters addressed to Zinû, who was the wife of Šamaš-hazir. He instructs his wife not to hold back barley and dates, which are destined to be given to the hired workers by Igmil-Sîn. The matter is pressing, because - as Šamaš-hazir mentions - he wrote to Igmil-Sîn regarding the building of ships. In what follows, it seems that Šamaš-hazir entrusts to his wife the endeavor to manage the logistical tasks around the construction:

According to the salary that is given the task shall be fulfilled. Barley and dates may be given out in my absence (lit. without me). They must not be negligent at the construction of the ships. They must not be idle.

Besides Igmil-Sîn Šamaš-hazir instructed also another individual to build a ship. He orders his wife to give out a certain amount of barley and dates for the hired workers.

CDLI entry: P384859

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

In this letter in the Ashmolean Museum the ruler Hammurapi of the first dynasty of Babylon (ca. 1792-1750 BC) writes to Šamaš-hāzir, the head of the cadastre office in Larsa. This high official was responsible for the distribution and administration of royal land in the hinterlands of Larsa. Letters such as this example frequently deal with problems of ownership. In this letter a shepherd brought to the king's attention that four years earlier a certain Etel-pî-Marduk took away a field from him and enjoys the outcome ever since. Despite the fact that the shepherd informed Sîn-iddinam, the highest official in the province of Yamutbal, nothing happened.

The king wants this matter investigated and settled, since the shepherd has a sealed document issued in the palace. If his claim is just, he shall be returned the respective field in addition to the amount of barley Etel-pî-Marduk took from it in the previous years. Furthermore the king wants a full report on the matter.

This letter shows quite vividly that the king was directly involved in legal matters as well. Our letter mentions a "divine weapon," which gave divine authority to the judgements the royal official carrying it made. The plots of land were comparatively small. Due to the great amount of complexity registers needed to be kept in order to indicate who had the legal right to receive the usufruct of a field. Šamaš-hāzir's task was to watch over these assignments, which were confirmed by inserting a stake into the respective plots. In order to reclaim a field, when it was unjustly took over, a tenant needed to safeguard the document that asserted his rights.


CDLI entry: P384863

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The tablet shown here entered the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in 1926 and was published by G. R. Hunter four years later in the series Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts, volume 8, no. 9, republished by E. C. Stone and D. I. Owen, Adoption in Old Babylonian Nippur and the Archive of Mannum-mešu-lissur (= Mesopotamian Civilizations vol. 3) no. 41. It belongs to a group of particularly well-preserved Old Babylonian legal documents in the collection. Most of these texts had envelopes.

This text from Nippur describes the terms of an adoption. It states that Mannum-mešu-lissur purchased the guardianship (nam-en-nu-un) of a statue for 15 days annually, as well as for the same amount of time the custodianship of a gate. These two tasks used to be the prebend of a certain Sin-lidiš. As purchase price for these prebends, Mannum-mešu-lissur paid two shekels of silver “as its full purchase price” (Sumerian sa₁₀-til-la-bi-še₃).

Being a legal document, it of course also contains clauses in order to prevent that the seller or his family may lay any claims against this purchase and the prebend-ownership:

In future Sin-lidiš and his heirs, however many there are, are to raise no claim against the guardianship of the statue of the Ekur-igigal (and the custodianship of the) Asala Ubšu-ukkina gate. Thus has he sworn in the name of the king.

This royal oath formula mu lugal-bi in-pa₃ is followed by a list of witnesses (including the scribe of the document). The document is dated to the 12th year of the ruler Samsu-iluna, or ca. 1740 BC. Both enclosed document and envelope are sealed. The sealing concentrates on the seal legend and not on the pictorial depiction of the seal cylinder. The text is repeated on the envelope. Following any suspicion of fraud or manipulation of the agreement between the two parties, the envelope could have been opened and the contents of the enclosed tablet inspected.

CDLI entry: P283655

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

These fragmentary and poorly understood texts testify to the longevity of the cuneiform writing system, and the importance of the cuneiform culture even at a transformational time when Mesopotamia was no longer ruled by native dynasties. A majority of the so-called Greaco-Babyloniaca, but not this exemplar in the Ashmolean Museum, have an inscription in cuneiform on one side and a Greek transcription on the other, and can therefore be described as school exercises.
Ashm 1937-993 is monolingual, but perhaps a transcription of a Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual incantation (Maul 1991), although this has been contested (Geller 1997).

S. M. Maul, “Neues zu den ‛Graeco-Babyloniaca’,” ZA 81 (1991) 87-107.
M. J. Geller, “The Last Wedge,” ZA 87 (1997) 43–95.

CDLI entry: P412445

credit: Dahl, Jacob L.

In contrast to Egypt, labeled vessels are a rare sight in Mesopotamia. This shard in the Ashmolean Museum is the rim of a beer jug. The same as the lexical list containing pots and garments shown two days ago, it dates to the Uruk III period (ca. 3200-3000 BC) and originates from the site of Jemdet Nasr.

Interesting are the two signs to the left, one depicting a regular vessel with neck and spout, conventionally transliterated DUG_a; the other one the same vessel, but with horizontal markings. Based on later sources as well as on numerous proto-cuneiform accounts documenting the use of malted grain to produce the drink found in DUG vessels, we are confident that this sign represents “beer” (Sumerian kaš). The other two preserved signs are EN_a NE_a. This sequence occurs several times in Late Uruk administrative documents as well. In a small economic record, for instance, a similar sequence is associated with another variant of the sign KAŠ, although this variant is interpreted by specialists to stand for a dairy product rather than a fermented drink. While not attested in the professions lists of the Uruk period, EN_a NE_a is most likely to be considered a title or profession.

CDLI entry: P005309

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The early second millennium saw the emergence of a new set of thematic lists. Most notable is a large multi-thematic series, whose first entry is ur₅(HAR)-ra : hubullu (short Hh or Ura). The whole series in its canonical version from the late second millennium onwards contained 24 sections, lit. "tablets."

This large fragment in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum contains the tenth "tablet" of this lexical series. The many other manuscripts known to be part of this section help to reconstruct its original content. The tablet had three columns on each side (this can also be determined from the curvature of the edges). Each column was subdivided into two sub-columns with the Sumerian version on the left and the Akkadian equivalent on the right.

The list starts with the entry DUG : karpatu. Entries 1-336 of the list deal with various designations of vessels that are categorised as DUG. As a marginal note one might add the intriguing detail that in the first column of the tablet the sign DUG appears always on the left edge and not, as expected, on the obverse. This might give clues to the nature of DUG as (mute) classifier in this text.

After a section of various different vessels the second larger part of this list in entries 388-510 contains various designations for clay (IM).

CDLI entry: P451706

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The lexical tradition in Mesopotamia started already in the 4th millennium. The earliest lexical texts in Mesopotamia date to the Uruk IV period and come from the site of Uruk in Southern Mesopotamia. About 15 % of the texts found at Uruk can be classified as lexical texts, i.e., texts that did not serve an administrative purpose (see a list of the lexical texts from Uruk). The larger part of these texts date to the ensuing Uruk III period (ca. 3200-3000 BC). These word lists can be considered the roots of Mesopotamian lexicography. The manuscripts spread all over Mesopotamia and as far as Syria, where we find copies of them in the ED III-period (ca. 2600-2500 BC).

This example in the Ashmolean Museum contains mainly a list of pots and garments dating to the Uruk III period. Between both section occur short groups of entries, which designate soups and sorts of cheese. It is yet not entirely clear, why the categories pots and garments were combined in one composition. Noteworthy is a long list of entries, which contain the complex graphemes composed of the frame sign DUG and inscribed with different kinds of commodities. It is important to emphasise that most of these sign combinations are not attested in contemporary administrative accounts. The purpose of the exhaustive treatment of sign combinations is, in the current state of our knowledge, to exploit the still young proto-cuneiform writing system. The tablet in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum is one of just two lexical texts found in Jemdet Nasr in Northern Babylonia. It demonstrates that in the Uruk III period at the end of the 4th millennium the lexical texts from Uruk started to spread to other places. Just a bit later versions of some of the Urukean word lists are attested in Ur (see a list of the lexical texts from Ur).

Our text is, however, not attested at Ur. We have to wait until around 2600-2500 in the ED IIIa period that a later version of this list of pots and garments reappears in the textual evidence. These later versions copy Urukean lexical texts mostly entry by entry and therefore serve as templates for the reconstruction of the archaic compositions, which are in fact rather fragmentary. It is SF 64, in particular, whose good preservations makes this text so valuable for the reconstruction of earlier versions.

The archaic list of Pots and Garments finally leaves the stage at the beginning of the second millennium. The only known manuscript so far is unfortunately rather fragmentary. But it is, nevertheless, more than just a copy of the list. It adds pronunciation glosses to the entries and therefore provides important phonetic information.

For the next text artefact to be discussed we will move on to a late stage of lexicography in Mesopotamia: the Neo-Babylonian period, and show another list of pots.

CDLI entry: P000713

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

One of the most significant inscribed objects from ancient Mesopotamia, this text records a large tract of land divided among the important members of society, showing the emerging hierarchization of early complex society. Conventioanlly referred to as the ‘field of the EN’ account, it contains area calculations for six large fields. It has been shown that the scribes prepared this particular distribution of productive land by dividing a grand total into three equal thirds, allotting two to the EN (later Sumerian ‘lord’), and dividing the other third unevenly amongst five high officials. One of these is the EN-SAL, whom some have interpreted as ‘wife of the EN.’ The text provides evidence of the role of scribal administrators in the distribution of resources, thus providing stark textual evidence for the socio-economic stratification of society in the earliest phases of recorded history.

Edition: H. J. Nissen, P. Damerow & R. K. Englund, Archaic Bookkeeping: Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East, Chicago 1993: University of Chicago Press, pp. 55-57.

CDLI entry: P005069

credit: Kelley, Karthryn E.

The economic importance of the office of ‘chief cattle administrator’ (Sumerian šuš₃) is elucidated from a broken, but still powerful, series of accounts of sheep and goats and their products from the Umma province. These records include SET 130, SET 273, and the top-level account Ashm 1924-666, a wool-account concerning the governor. The third year of Amar-Suen is particularly well documented, since both SET 273 and Ashm 1924-666 covered that year. Both of these accounts dealt with wool, and both belong to the standard type having a “debits” section and a “credits” section. In both accounts, the value of the “debits” surpassed that of the “credits” resulting in a “deficit” recorded just prior to the colophon. One text (SET 273), was a wool account concerning Ur-E’e, a “chief cattle administrator” of the governor of Umma, the other (Ashm 1924-666) a wool account concerning the governor himself. The three first entries of each account (following the “remainder” [si-i₃-tum]) are identical. The amount of wool recorded in the account of Ur-E’e is approximately one third of the amount recorded in the account of the governor. The account of the governor is likely to have recorded the entire production of the province, making Ur-E’e and his colleague (presumably En-KAS) responsible for the majority of the Umma wool-production.

Although a crucial section of Ashm 1924-666 is not preserved, and although we are left with only Ur-E’e’s wool-account from that year, it is clear that Ur-E’e and En-KAS shared the responsibility for the largest part of the Umma sheep and goat production.

See J. L. Dahl, The ruling family of Ur III Umma: A Prosopographical Analysis of an Elite Family in Southern Iraq 4000 Years Ago, Leiden 2007: 88-91.

CDLI entry: P142826

credit: Dahl, Jacob L.

The Ashmolean Museum houses an astonishing number of four-sided prisms, originally part of the Weld-Blundell collection. This example contains a forerunner to the lexical series Diri and is known as "Diri Oxford". Its continuation (with some parts overlapping) is written on yet another prism (Ashm 1923-400).

This lexical series, whose first entry in the late canonical version reads diri : SI.A : (w)atru, "surpassing," can be considered a complex sign vocabulary giving Sumerian readings for logogram groups. In this respect, it supplements the second major sign syllabary Ea : A : nâqu. In their canonical version the entries in both series follow the same pattern: the first column is reserved for syllabically written sign-readings for logograms (or, in the case of Diri, complex logogram groups), which are given in the second column. In late versions of both lists, a third column contains analytical explanations for the sign(s) used in the second column. A fourth column, finally, provides an Akkadian translation or equivalent. The readings in Diri cannot be directly inferred from the constituents of the logogram groups.

Both prisms in the Ashmolean Museum are "forerunners" inasmuch as, first, no sign-readings are given and, second, the later standardized version differs in respect to the number of entries and their sequence. Given the first observation, the prisms differ from other more or less contemporary sources that provide sign-readings and therefore add this important lexical layer.

CDLI entry: P447992

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Enuma Elish is a mythological tale describing a power struggle amongst the gods. Often called ‘The Babylonian Creation Epic’, it relates battle and intrigue at the very beginning of the cosmos, with creation of the human world as the end result of a stable universe. The myth describes the rise of Marduk, the only god powerful enough to defeat the armies of the sea-goddess Tiamat, how, through his victory, he becomes the supreme god in the Babylonian pantheon. The bodies of the defeated gods are turned into the basic elements of the new world: underground rivers, the earth, and the sky. Marduk orders his realm by establishing the dwelling places of the gods, determining the courses of the sun and the moon, and regulating the lengths of days. Finally, he creates man: ‘He shall be charged with the service of the gods, so that they may be at ease!’
Tablet I sows the seeds of the conflict. When the god Apsu plots the murder of his rebellious children, the god Ea kills him before he can execute the plan. Marduk is born, a fully-grown and formidable warrior, and Tiamat spawns an army to avenge her dead husband.

The opening lines of the poem (from which it takes its name) are partly preserved on our Ashmolean tablet:
When on high the skies were not yet named,
When below the earth had not been named,
Apsu was supreme, their ancestor,
Tiamat was creator, the mother of all.
The Ashmolean tablet was excavated at Kish in Southern Mesopotamia in 1924 by the 1923-1933 joint expedition of the University of Oxford and the Chicago Field Museum.

Translation:
Dalley, S., Myths from Mesopotamia, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Foster, B., Before the Muses, Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2005.

Primary publication of this tablet (cuneiform text):
Langdon, S., Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts 6, Paris : Librairie orientaliste P. Geuthner, 1927.

CDLI entry: P450752.

credit: Wisnom, L. Selena

The Sumerian King List (SKL) is an important chronographic document from ancient Mesopotamia. It lists a long succession of cities in Sumer and its neighboring regions where kingship was invested, the rulers who reigned in those cities, and the length of their reigns. The list starts with the remote mythical past when kingship had descended from heaven. The rulers in the earliest dynasties are described as reigning for fantastically long periods. Some of these rulers, such as Etana, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, are mythical or legendary figures known also from Sumerian and Babylonian literary in their royal inscriptions, the length of their reigns becomes more realistic. The King List ends with the reign of a Mesopotamian ruler presumably contemporaneous with the author or redactor of the SKL.

Following is the passage regarding the Old Akkadian period (ca. 2340-2200 BC) (a recently published manuscript dating to the Ur III period exchanges the reigns of Rimush and Man-ishtusu):

In Agade, Sargon, whose father was a gardener, the cupbearer of Ur-Zababa, became king, the king of Agade, who built Agade: he ruled for 56 years. Rimush, the son of Sargon, ruled for 9 years. Man-ishtusu, the older brother of Rimush, the son of Sargon, ruled for 15 years. Naram-Suen, the son of Man-ishtusu, ruled for 56 years. Shar-kali-sharri, the son of Naram-Suen, ruled for 25 years. 157 are the years of the dynasty of Sargon. Then who was king? Who was not king?

See: Jacobsen, Thorkild. 1939. The Sumerian King List. AS 11. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

CDLI entry: P384786
cdli:wiki entry: Sumerian King List
ETCSL: Translation

credit: Yi Chen, Samuel

The Neo-Assyrian period (ca. 911-612 BC) is best best portrayed by the huge amounts of Assyrian reliefs depicting the kings and their deeds. Other pillars of our knowledge of the Neo-Assyrian period are the "State Archives" of Assyria and of course the scholarly transmission of literary and lexical texts, omens, medical and magical compendia in the vast Kuyuncik collection of Nineveh, which is mainly owed to the last powerful king Ashurbanipal (and maybe his predecessor Esarhaddon).

This document in the Manchester University Museum is a legal document dating to this - in terms of textual and archeological data - rich period. This kind of tablet shape is well documented in this period and can be also found on texts in the Kuyuncik collection (now in the British Museum). An example is K 318a, which is in fact an envelope that has been sealed - as our example - with three stamp seals. A further example is K 313. The documents start with identifying the seal - either cylinder seal, stamp seal or impressions of finger nail marks. In our case it is the seal of an individual named Ha-za-a-a-an.

Identifying obverse and reverse of these documents can be difficult. One expects the seal impression on the reverse. The case is clear after the important date formula is identified, which normally is expected at the end of the document. Neo-Assyrian documents use eponyms to date documents. On the left edge there is additionally a personal name written in Aramaic.

CDLI entry: P432454

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The collection of the Manchester University Museum keeps a couple of texts dating to the Old Assyrian period (ca. 1950-1850 BC). Yesterday's text artefact was an envelope that probably can be dated to the same period. There are no complete Old Assyrian texts in the collection, but some fragments.

Among these fragmentary tablets is this example containing a letter. Unfortunately, just the upper half of the tablet is preserved. Old Assyrian letters use an easily recognisable tablet shape. For a complete example see a letter in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These letters originate mainly from the merchants' settlement in Kanesh, the modern site of Kültepe in central Anatolia. There, 22,000 texts were discovered. Further texts dating to this period and showing similar physical characteristics come from smaller sites in Anatolia.

The bulk of the Old Assyrian texts from Kültepe does not originate from archaeological diggings. Therefore, they lack important stratigraphic information. Many collections bought tablets on the antiquities market, and hence Old Assyrian texts and fragments are nowadays rather dispersed. A major collection of tablets - letters in particular - are nowadays kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The body of the letters starts directly after the address. It does not contain any blessing so commonly known from the slightly later Old Babylonian correspondence.

CDLI entry: P431268

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Business documents were frequently clad into clay envelopes in order to protect the tablet inside against any manipulation. Sometimes the content of the enclosed document is repeated (at least in abbreviated form) on the outer surface of the envelope. If there is any suspicion about the validity of the legal transaction, they envelope could be broken and the original be verified. Envelopes often bear seals.

This example in the Manchester University Museum dates to the Old Assyrian period (ca. 1950-1850 BC). The collection keeps a couple of text artefacts dating to this period. Broken envelopes as this one were often discarded after being opened. Hence the original tablet enclosed in this envelope is, so far, not known (and the text that can be seen in the positive impression on the inside of the envelope is too fragmentary for a sound identification.

Remarkable are the two preserved seal impressions, one showing a contest scene (referring back to Early Dynastic models), the other showing a couchant bull supporting an object (probably not the "winged gate" known from Old Akkadian seals, but maybe a kind of altar). Before that bull men are falling from an equid that is depicted above them. This scene is separated by a snake-like divider from another scene showing, most likely, individuals bringing offerings before a deity(?).

CDLI entry: P431279

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This small document dating to the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC) contains a receipt for barley (edition: Szlechter, Tablettes juridiques et administratives, pp. 94f.). Two harvesters (Hurussu and Belšunu) received 270 liters of barley. In the first two lines their respective shares are noted. The verb is given in Sumerian (šu-ba-an-ti-e-meš): "they received." They testified this receipt by impressing their respective seals. Their seals are labelled on the left edge.

The text dates to the 10th year of Ammi-saduqa. Before the witnesses and the date the text ends with the legal clause u2-ul i-il-la-ku-ma / ki-ma s,i-im-da-at šar-ri, "if they don't come, (then the penalty is according) to the royal decree."

CDLI entry: P315369

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This document dating to the 21st year of the Old Babylonian king Ammi-ditana contains a sale contract (edition: Szlechter, Tablettes juridiques et administratives, pp. 48ff.). It contains two items: (1) six sheep (value: 18 2/3 shekel of silver) and (2) two oxen (value: 24 shekel of silver). These animals are the igisû-offering for the first and seventh month. They belong to the herald of Inana-of-Uruk and constitute the levy (nemettum) owed to a certain Nanaya-ibnišu.

Noteworthy is the following clause in the text: "He will give his calculation to PN, when PN inspects and buys(?) the cattle and sheep, PN2 will step up and pay the silver, his calculation, he will pay the silver for the rations of the sukkallu and the tax collector for his calculation."

CDLI entry: P315365

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This is another example of the Old Babylonian legal texts kept in the Manchester University Museum (edition: Szlechter, Tablettes juridiques et administratives, pp. 10ff.). The text dates to the 33rd year of Ammi-ditana. The date is given on the top edge of the tablet following a long list of witnesses.

The main section of the text testifying the legal act is indented, leaving space for the impression of a cylinder seal in the left third of the obverse and the reverse. This was done in order to keep the seal legend visible and therefore authenticate the document properly. In fact, the whole surface of the tablet is sealed.

The text is about the share of inheritance. It starts with twp properties of land, one in the area of Habus. This location is known, among others, from several letters from the Kish area. A part of this corpus is in the John Rylands Library in Manchester and was edited by Kraus in AbB 10. Another, larger, lot of letters in the British Museum is currently being prepared for publication by John Nicholas Reid and Klaus Wagensonner. Besides the two properties the inheritance included two slaves and a certain amount of gold as well.

Unfortunately the middle part of the text is broken away. On the reverse it is stated that there is not to be put claim against the sister of the inheritors, who is identified as naditum-priestess of Marduk in Babylon. This mention led Szlechter to the assumption that the document might originate from Babylon. Nevertheless, regarding the clauses used for the inheritance share, he concluded that this tablet in fact originates from Kish, and this confirms the provenience of the letters mentioned above.

CDLI entry: P315372

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This is another of the quite substantial number of legal and judicial documents dating to the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC) and kept in the Manchester University Museum. The state of preservation of this tablet is quite good. Though sometimes faint, the whole surface is sealed. As was common practice, the seal legend was featured predominantly, while its figurative scene on the seal was of less importance. The space before the date formula at the bottom of the reverse was left empty in order to carry the whole seal legend without being obstructed by text. There is no area on the tablet (not even on the left edge), where the whole seal was impressed. Even there the seal legend predominates. (For another example see P264844).

The document dates to the 31st year of the Old Babylonian king Ammi-ditana (edition: Szlechter, Tablettes juridiques et administratives, pp. 62ff.) The date formula starts at the bottom of the reverse mentioned month, day, and finally the year name, which extends towards the top edge. The document concerns tenant farming. It states that 30 acres of arable land, which are in the possession of the naditum-priestess Dan-erissa, are leased by Rish-Marduk in order to cultivate them. The rent for one year will be measured out at the gate of the gagûm.

The collection contains several of such lease documents. Another well preserved example is P315378, which dates to the 14th year of Ammi-saduqa and concerns 30 acres of land as well.

CDLI entry: P315350

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC) is one of the major epochs in the emergence of lexical lists in Mesopotamia. The earliest lexical tradition goes back to the end of the 4th millennium. The (mostly thematic) lists compiled in southern Uruk were to a great extent meticulously transmitted throughout the 3rd millennium and even into the 2nd. Nevertheless, in this long time span “new” lists emerged, some of them thematic, others containing entries whose arrangement followed graphical characteristics.

The major thematic series that emerged in the Old Babylonian period is a series whose first entry reads ur₅-ra : ḫubullum. In its late stage, this multi-thematic series consisted of 24 tablets containing several thousand Sumerian terms together with their Akkadian equivalents.

The main evidence for the early stages of this series originates from Nippur and to a great extent from the school tradition. In fact, the huge numbers of school tablets found in several (private) houses in Nippur’s residential quarters (foremost the so-called “House F”) served to reconstruct the “Nippurean” school curriculum. Besides copying lexical texts, an apprentice’s duty also was to master his skills in copying more complex, literary texts.

This large tablet in the Manchester University Museum contains a long list of trees and wooden objects, and can be identified as a forerunner to the third tablet of ur₅-ra : ḫubullum. It dates to the Old Babylonian period and seems to originate from a school milieu. The columns—sa far as the are preserved—are not spaced very carefully. There is just one column of text on the reverse. The remaining space is already divided into columns, hence prepared to be filled with further entries.

CDLI entry: P432448

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This administrative account originates from the rich documentation of Umma. Thanks to its year-name, the text can be dated to the second year of the king Šu-Suen. It records a quite substantial number of boating implements. First, it accounts for 790 ^gešumbin ma₂. The Sumerian word umbin generally means finger or toe nail, but in this context it designates a part of the boat (possible the planks). The second group of items listed is surely destined for the construction of a boat. In this instance, 59,290 wooden nails are issued. This is a number unparalleled in the corpus. Another document (MVN 16, 834) mentions 18,000 of the same sort of nails.

The early publication of this tablet completely ignored the seal impression covering most of its surface. In many text publications, even of later date, just the legend on the text was impressed, something like current letter-heads used in official correspondence. The impression on the reverse shows that it was important to Babylonian scribes that the legend remain clearly visible. This particular seal, belonging to a certain Ur-Nungal, is well-known in the Ur III period. Another and more complete impression of the same seal can be found on several texts in the John Rylands Library, also in Manchester. The example shown here to the lower right is JRL 872, a pyramidal-shaped clay label. Its “base” was sealed with the same cylinder seal. Texts like these help to reconstruct partial or partly preserved seal impressions (of this particular seal, some 171 artifact witnesses are currently known in the CDLI files).

CDLI entry: P112293

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This legal text in the Manchester University Museum dates to the 23rd year of Samsu-iluna in the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC). The text records the exchange of two finished houses (e2 du3-a). The location of the first house is given by providing information about adjacent buildings. The front side lies on “broad street” (line 4: sila dagal-la). This house is exchanged for a slightly larger one belonging to the entum priestess of the god Zababa.

Intriguing is the mention that “by directive of the king” (ina qabê šarrim) three individuals (among them the mayor [Akk. rabiānum] of Kish and a certain Munawwirum, who might be identical with a well-known individual in Kishite letters) would transfer the property.

The text closes with a long list of witnesses, a common feature of such texts, and a date formula (edition: Szlechter, Tablettes juridiques et administratives, pp. 53ff.)

CDLI entry: P315377

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The Manchester University Museum keeps a couple of letters that date to the Middle Assyrian period (ca. 1400-1000 BC). The full corpus of letters dating to this period is not large. In a recent survey, Jaume Llop (AuOr 30 [2012]) presents an updated list of 238 published and unpublished texts originating primarily from the political centers Assur and Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta. Others come from such provincial centers in the kingdom as Tell Sheh Hamad and Tell Chuera.

This kind of tablet shape, with its square outline and slightly rounded corners, was already known in the Old Babylonian period, where it was—though rarely—used for letters as well (see, e.g., P385540). This format differs substantially from common rectangular tablets (for an example, see yesterday’s text).

Middle Assyrian letters, however, exhibit some intriguing differences. Although the address formula follows older examples (“To so-and-so speak, thus so-and-so”), in letters of the late 2nd millennium BC the address is separated from the body of the letter by a lined ruling. This kind of text separation can be also observed in the Middle Babylonian correspondence found in Amarna in Egypt. Letters of the Middle Assyrian period, as this example in Manchester, may contain a date. Another feature found quite frequently in this corpus is the indentation of lines in the area of the lower left corner.

This well-preserved example originates from Assur (excavation no. Ass. 14410; see Llop, AuOr 30 [2012] no. 45). It belongs to the archive of Babu-aḫa-iddina mentioned in our text. The letter is addressed to two individuals named Assur-bela-šallim and [Assur]-zuquppani by a certain Nabu-belu-da’iq. The text can be classified as a letter order and belongs therefore to the larger group of official correspondence.

As the sender of letter indicates, he writes on behalf of Babu-aḫa-iddina. He requests a report about the available wax (gaba-lal3; edition: Freydank & Saporetti, Babu-aḫa-iddina. Die Texte, 74, MCS 2, 14 2). A new edition and commentary including hand-copy is forthcoming (K. Wagensonner, CDLN 2014:013).

CDLI entry: P431253

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The John Rylands Library houses a substantial set of Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC) letters, but only a negligible number of Old Babylonian administrative and legal texts. The collection of the Manchester University Museum, on the other hand, has a relatively large number of administrative texts dating to the early 2nd millennium. This text is one of the few letters in the Manchester Museum dating to the Old Babylonian period.

In this letter the sender, a certain Marduk-ḫazir complains about the lack of the addressee’s support. Obviously,transfer it to other, more capable hands so that it could be properly tended (see the edition in Kraus, AbB 10, no. 52):

Regarding the management of the field and of the requirements about which my servant Apil-ilišu asked you, don’t be negligent! Cultivate the field ... and use (its harvest). Or give it over to other hands, in order that it may be cultivated!

CDLI entry: P431267

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

Among the text artifacts in the Manchester University Museum is this rectangular prism fashioned out of limestone. The inscription is nicely carved into the stone and follows the conventions of those on clay tablets. This can be seen on the left surface that imitates the direction of the script with lines turned 90 degrees.

The inscription is certainly royal. Although we know the use of archaizing sign forms from later royal inscriptions, the sign-forms in this text may favor an Old Babylonian date (ca. 1900-1600 BC). The text of the “left edge” appears to be divided into two columns. Unfortunately, the surface is quite worn out. Nevertheless, short passages can be understood. Thus, we find an interesting reference to the Old Babylonian king Abi-ešuḫ. The passage reads provisionally: “Abi-ešuḫ brought them to fall with the weapon up to three times" (left edge, i:2-5: a-bi-e-šu-uh ... / a-di ša-la-ši-šu / in ka-ak-ki-im / u2-ša-/am-qi2\-is?-su-nu-ti).

Despite a long reign of 28 years, just two inscriptions are thus far known that can be directly assigned to this king. Alternatively, and since large portions of the text are lost, the text might just refer back to his reign.

CDLI entry: P432449

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

In 1952, Fish published a hand-copy of this text (see Fish, MCS 2, 61f.) as a hymn to the god Marduk. In the next issue of the Manchester Cuneiform Studies, the Sumerologist Adam Falkenstein drew attention to the duplicates already published by Weissbach in his Miscellen, plts. 13-14. In his hand-copy, Fish omitted most of the text on the reverse, remarking that the “reverse is hardly legible,” just the composition’s subscript and the colophon.

Following the CDLI’s imaging mission to the Manchester University Museum, it is now clear that the reverse is by no means in such a bad condition. The text fits well to the remaining manuscripts of this type of composition.

The text is a late bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian prayer of the šu-il₂-la-type that was used in public worship (see, for a discussion and edition, Jerrold S. Cooper, “A Sumerian šu-íl-la from Nimrud with a prayer for Sin-szar-iškun,” Iraq 32 [1970] 51-67). Basically, it contains a list of cities, temples and deities, followed by a refrain. The Sumerian mostly uses the so-called Emesal-dialect attested in other prayers. Beyond our Manchester text, now to be considered one of the better preserved examplars, four further manuscripts are known, among others K 4933 in the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum.

CDLI entry: P432447

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The museum collection of the Manchester University Museum contains roughly 200 cuneiform artifacts, of which a great percentage are Old Babylonian legal and administrative documents.

Among the few literary texts in the collection, one tablet stands out. It is a unique, well-preserved tablet with six columns of text containing a Sumerian literary composition. Although the provenience of this tablet is unknown, it certainly can be dated to the Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900-1600 BC), a major period for the compilation and transmission of Sumerian literature.

The composition is sub-divided into stanzas. Following Bendt Alster’s discussion of the text these coincide with the shift of speakers (for an edition and study see B. Alster, “The Manchester Tammuz,” ASJ 14 [1992] 1ff.). The main players are the goddess Inanna, her spouse Dumuzi, and their audience.

The composition can be regarded as an accumulation of songs that might originally have been independent texts. Compilation tablets (German Sammeltafeln) are quite common in the Old Babylonian period. VAT 7025 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, is another example with tablet contains four Sumerian literary compositions.

CDLI entry: P355698

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

In this detail from the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III we see the king, holding a bow, and facing an emblem of the sun god Shamash. The bow is symbolic of the function of the king as warrior and great hunter. Outside of this detail, on the whole image we can see his field marshal, and another official, symbolic representations of the king as great warrior and as head of government.

CDLI entry: P423554

credit: Shifflette, William

In this scene from the Black Obelisk, tribute from Patina is being brought to the great king Shalmaneser. Patina was rich in silver, gold, tin and ivory. These materials would have constituted the tribute of this ambassador.

CDLI entry: P423554

credit: Shifflette, William

This detail from the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III depicts Jehu of Omri, king of Jerusalem. Jehu was king of Israel during the 9th century BC, and is depicted kissing the feet of Shalmaneser. This is illustrative of the relationship between Israel and the Assyrian state, which shifted between a state of vassalage and an annexed territory. By kissing the king’s feet, he is showing that he is a vassal ruler of Shalamaneser, and that Israel was a vassal state at the time the Kalhu was established.

CDLI entry: P423554

credit: Shifflette, William

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III was erected in 825 BC and it stood in the courtyard of one of the central buildings of Kalhu (mod. Nimrud). Its stepped top is thought to imitate the shape of a ziggurat, and though the exact purpose of the stele is not known with certainty, this visual cue may be a reference to one or more of the gods of the Neo-Assyrian pantheon. Kalhu was the center of a renewed Assyrian state, and this obelisk served as a tribute and description of the greatness, power and achievements of the king. Its four-sided layout allowed the king’s artists to highlight certain high-points of the inauguration and recent triumphal history of the king. A few of these scenes have been selected to accompany this pictorial representation of the obelisk in full form.

CDLI entry: P423554 (Oracc’s page)

credit: Shifflette, William

King Shulgi proclaimed himself a god and boasted that he was one of the few kings who went to school to become a scribe. At the schools that taught this difficult skill, students also learned how to debate in public and practiced the refined art of insulting opponents before refuting their arguments.

CDLI entry: Q000561

credit: Cartmel, Kathryn

King Sulgi of Ur was a wealthy ruler who augmented his fortune through such enactments as the taxing of temple households. Of course, the monarch did not solely focus his attention on gold jewelry; he expended the majority of the palace’s wealth on improving existing, and building new roads, on continuing his father’s policies of erecting monumental buildings, and on the maintenance of an internal policing, tax collecting, and military apparatus.

CDLI entry: P481718

credit: Cartmel, Kathryn

King Shulgi of Ur utilized any opportunity he could get to boast about his achievements. Many of these stories, most of which were certainly court propoganda, can be found on clay tablets similar to this one. Shulgi boasted about his ability to maintain high speeds while running long distances. He claimed in his 7th regal year to have run from Nippur to Ur, a distance of over 100 miles.

CDLI entry: P481723

credit: Cartmel, Kathryn

The mina is an Ancient Near-Eastern unit of weight. Shulgi’s name was was inscribed on the weight, and also inscribed on other artifacts like building walls and clay tablets. Kings often used this as a propaganda tool and a vehicle to spread their name and image across a vast territory. Translation: For (divine) Nanna, his king, by (divine) Shulgi, the strong leader, king of Ur, king of the four corners, (this) one-half mina was verified.

CDLI entry: Q001682.

credit: Cartmel, Kathryn

This object portrays a king carrying a basket of clay or other building material during his ritual participation in the construction of a royal building or temple, which is typical of copper and bronze “canephore” or “basket bearer” pegs. A late third millennium BC text (Cylinder A) of the ruler Gudea of Lagash provides a detailed description of his active role in the construction of the Ningirsu Temple at Girsu, during which he transported material in a sacred basket that he carried “on his head like a crown.”

Although it is not inscribed and its original context is unknown, stylistically this peg is nearly identical to others that are securely dated to the reigns of the Ur III kings Ur-Nammu (2112-2095 BC) and Shulgi (2094-2047 BC). Many of these pegs were found by archaeologists in boxes built into the mudbrick foundations of temples and palaces, often at the corners of buildings and flanking gateways. They were frequently accompanied by the remains of offerings or auspicious material such as beads, stone chips, and date pits, and some pegs were found with remnants of fabric clinging to them. Many boxes also contained remnants of what may have been wooden pegs as well as stone or metal tablets in the form of plano-convex bricks. The inscriptions on the tablets and on a number of pegs record the royal building of the relevant structure for the sake of a deity.

CDLI entry: P226509.

credit: Cartmel, Kathryn

When Sargon II founded his new capital of Dur Sarukhin, he enclosed it within a wall that had seven entrances. In front of those entrances were the lamassu. Their purpose was to both protect the city and to serve as an object that would bear the weight of the arches above. The lamassu are believed to have represented different deities. Their inclusion of a human head, a bull’s body, and wings were meant to convey the meaning of encompassing all life within them, thus their nature of protection. Furthermore, when looking at them from the front, on thinks that they are standing, but when looking at them from the side, they seem to be walking. Whatever their true purpose may have been, the lamassu still continue to amaze with their beautiful designs.

credit: Aslanyan, Rafayel

The scene that decorates the edges of the king’s robes, as mentioned before depicts the scene of fertilization. Having a fertile land in ancient Mesopotamia was one of the important aspects of the daily lives of the people if not the most important. The scene shows a winged creature, most likely Assur, assisting the king in dipping the pinecone, which is in the right hand (the masculine hand) into the bucket of the left hand (the feminine hand). Then sprinkling the tree in front of them in order to have fertile land. The significance of this scene is that is shows the bond between the king and the God – showing that the king is the representative of the God on Earth. Furthermore, the sheer amount of detail that went into these reliefs shows how important the palatial propaganda was to the elites and to the people.

credit: Aslanyan, Rafayel

The scene is meant to show Shalmaneser’s support of Marduk-zakir-Sumi in his efforts against the latter’s rebellious brother Marduk-bel-usati. Shalmaneser III’s reign was one that was full of rebellions all throughout the empire. Thus, Shalmaneser III had to carefully maneuver through the political scene of the time in order to not isolate himself from the others. The scene at of the throne base is a testimony to the diplomatic relations that Shalmaneser III established in order to keep the empire in tact. While most of the Assyrian reliefs are of military might and punishment, this one is of grace and diplomacy towards a friend. So, the relief shows that the Assyrians knew that in order to keep the balance they would have to respect the local rulers as well.

credit: Aslanyan, Rafayel

The Black Obelisk includes five scenes of tribute. Each one is depicted using four panels and each represents a tribute given from a different region. Also each one of the scenes has a cuneiform script that identifies the scene. The regions depicted are, Sua of Gilzanu (Northwest Iran), Jehu of Bit Omri (Ancient Israel), An Unnamed Ruler of Musri (Probably Egypt), Marduk-Apil-Usur of Suhi (Middle Euphrates, Syria and Iraq), and Qalparunda of Patin (Antakya Region of Turkey). The significance of this piece is that it shows the extent of the Assyrian Empire. The obelisk presents different people from different regions paying tribute to the all powerful king of Assyria, thus showing that by the time of Shalmaneser III, Assyria was a regional superpower and encompassed many different people.

CDLI entry: P423554

credit: Aslanyan, Rafayel

The inscription on the stele here (to the upper right, an Iraqi workman standing next to the artifact in situ) tells of a grand party that was attended by thousands and of the astonishing amount of food that was prepared for the guests. The stele also boasts about Assurnasirpal II’s accomplishments in the theater of war, citing his successful campaigns in the surrounding regions such as Urartu and Lebanon. Furthermore, apart from the inscription itself, the contents include various divine symbols and the king himself. Also in the description are the creation of various gardens and the reconstruction of older temples. Apart from being a commemorative piece, the purpose of the stele was to support the propaganda of the all-powerful king and to boast to the people of his accomplishments. It must be mentioned that the city of Nimrud had existed prior to Ashurnasirpal II, but the stele tells of the establishment of the city as the new capital. Thus, creating a bond between the new king and the city which would not have been the same had the capital been left in Assur.

CDLI entry: Q004484

credit: Aslanyan, Rafayel

On the left, deportees appear with hands upraised in positions of obeisance. Sennacherib is on the right side seated on a throne with attendants. Within the Neo-Assyrian empire, deportations were utilized for a variety of purposes. In the case of Lachish, the deportations occurred due to the prior Judean rebellion, therefore these deportations likely functioned as both punishment and as a way to exercise greater control over the empire through resettlement in foreign lands. Note the prominent position that Sennacherib has in the relief. The king is raised above the surroundings as he sits on an elevated throne. An inscription appears on either side of his head, which further portrays the importance of this figure to both illiterate and literate. The inscription in this detail states that Sennacherib is the king of the world who sits on a throne as the booty of Lachish passes before him. The king’s face was damaged in antiquity, perhaps by successive rulers or by foreign conquerors.

Image source

credit: Williams, Jeremy I.

The detail on the left shows three prisoners being impaled by Assyrian soldiers. In the relief, this image is located above captives who are walking away from the city, in front of the gate of Lachish. All three men are naked with heads sagging, suggesting that they are deceased. It is unclear as to whether this image was intended to have taken place during or after the battle. If the impaling occurred during the battle, it would certainly serve as an example of what may happen to inhabitants if they did not surrender. If the scene occurred following the siege, it may have functioned as a deterrent for future rebellion as well as a display of Assyrian power. The impaled prisoner on the far right is positioned in front of the other two and occupies the tallest stake, which is being stabilized or set in place by two soldiers. Some understand these details as suggesting that this particular captive was a prominent leader of Lachish, perhaps a governor or commander. This extreme form of humiliation and torture would also function to show the immense power of Sennacherib over the elite leader of this city. The detail on the right similarly depicts naked Judean captives, yet in this case, the prisoners are depicted as being flayed alive. With great detail, the artist shows the ribs of the Judeans, suggesting a lack of food in the city of Lachish during the siege.

Image source1, source2

credit: Williams, Jeremy I.

Defensive, and offensive weapons abound in depictions found in ancient art and literature. It will not surprise anyone that the sling is one of the oldest and simplest weapons of antiquity, yet it is rarely portrayed in the Iron Age apart from Assyrian works. No less than 66 slingers are depicted in the various reliefs of Sennacherib (705-681 BC). Nevertheless, the ancient slingers only appear in such limited contexts as this scene of the siege of Lachish. Engaged soldiers are stationed behind archers at the back of the attacking neo-Assyrian troops, suggesting that the range for slingers was greater than that of archers. Lachish’s excavated flint sling stones measured approximately 5-6 cm in width, further demonstrting the presence of these skilled marksmen in battle. Seventy slingers would have sufficed to launch a crippling barrage of stones against the city’s defenders.

Image source

credit: Williams, Jeremy I.

The Neo-Assyrians are well known for their military tactics. With great detail, the artist depicted the attack of the city of Lachish, located in the southern Levant. On the lower left, a battering ram is depicted going up the siege ramp. It is unclear whether these siege engines were built on site, but this may well be the case as the Neo-Assyrians regularly cut down trees as part of general siege tactics. The battering rams were pushed up the ramps with archers and others following for protection. In all, the relief contains five battering rams on top of the siege ramp. This may be an indication of the importance of the battle as there are rarely more than two depicted in a single siege. These machines are depicted in Neo-Assyrian reliefs as early as Ashurnasirpal. With regard to Judean defense tactics, the relief depicts a variety of ways that inhabitants of Lachish may have defended themselves. Here, archers are depicted defending a tower. Additionally, there appear to be burning torches being thrown down onto attackers. Elsewhere in the relief, four chariots or carts are portrayed as being thrown down onto the Assyrians. The vehicles appear to be on fire as they are falling down. Some understand these to represent war chariots being used as weapons as they were no longer useful in the battle.

Image source

credit: Williams, Jeremy I.

The relief depicted here in laborious hand copy carries two separate scenes occurring sequentially of the siege of Lachish (located in the southern Levant) during Sennacherib's campaign against the kingdom of Judah. The left side depicts the siege of the city complete with a siege ramp and fighting while the right side portrays both the deportation of captives and the removal of spoils. The Assyrian army is stationed on the siege ramp, attacking the gatehouse while the Judeans defend themselves. Originally, the scene of the siege of the city was positioned directly opposite the entrance of the room in which it was housed. The artist depicts deportees in groups, likely family groups, carrying their possessions. The scene is set in a forested, mountainous area as shown by the scaled patterns covering the background of the relief. The mountains are depicted with a horizon line, which was a new technique in Assyrian reliefs.

CDLI entry: P466678

credit: Williams, Jeremy I.

The Victory Stele of Naram-Sin is a stele that dates to approximately 2254-2218 BC, in the time of the Akkadian Empire. The relief measures six feet in height and was carved in pink limestone. It depicts the King Naram-Sin of Akkad leading the Akkadian army to victory over the mountain people, the Lullubi.

credit: Wheeler, Gregory Michael

The artifact was found in one of the largest royal tombs in Ur, tomb PG 779, associated with Ur-Pabilsag, a king who died around 2550 BC. Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations in Mesopotamia in 1927-28 uncovered the artifact in the corner of a chamber, lying close to the shoulder of a man who may have held it on a pole. For this reason, Woolley interpreted it as a standard, giving the object its popular name. The two mosaics have been dubbed "War" and "Peace" for their subject matter, respectively a representation of a military campaign and scenes from a banquet. The panels at each end originally showed fantastical animals but they suffered significant damage while buried, though they have since been restored.

credit: Wheeler, Gregory Michael

The statues were to represent the ruler in temples, to offer a constant prayer in his stead; offerings were made to these. Most of the statues bear an inscribed dedication explaining to which god it was dedicated. Gudea is either sitting or standing. He normally wears a close fitting kaunakes, maybe made of sheep-skin, and a long tasseled dress.

credit: Wheeler, Gregory Michael

The two boards date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC, thus making the Royal Game of Ur one of the oldest examples of board gaming equipment found. Discovery of a tablet partially describing the gameplay has allowed the game to be played again after over 2000 years, although reconstructions of the detailed rules have differed widely. The Royal Game of Ur was played with two sets, one black and one white, of seven markers and three tetrahedral dice.

credit: Wheeler, Gregory Michael

Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC in the Near East, at the contemporary sites of Susa in south-western Iran and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia.They were used as an administrative tool, a form of signature, as well as jewelry and as magical amulets; later versions would employ notations with Mesopotamian cuneiform. In later periods, they were used to notarize or attest to multiple impressions of clay documents.

credit: Wheeler, Gregory Michael

The Kurkh Monolith, also known as the Kurkh Stele is made of inferior limestone and has unfortunately eroded much over time. However, the image of king Shalmaneser III is still clearly apparent and stands in front of and under divine emblems. The four divine emblem the king stands under are the winged disk representing the god Ashur or Shamash, the six-pointed star of the goddess Ishtar, the crown of the sky god Anu, and the disk and crescent of the god Sin. The king is also wearing four amulets that also carries religious significance. The fork represents the weather god Adad, the eight-pointed star in a disk represents the sun god Shamash, and a winged disk of the god Ashur alongside next to a segment of a circle which meaning has yet to be identified. The gesture the king Shalmaneser III is posing has been the subject of controversy as the right hand he is holding up has been placed under various interpretations. The gesture is described on the stele by the phrase 'uban damiqti tarasu' which is translated as 'to stretch out a favorable finger' and has been interpreted as a possible gesture of an act of worship, the end motion of throwing a kiss, an act of religious ritual attributed to the Assyrians by the later Greeks, or simply a secular gesture of authority. The cuneiform writing on the monolith describes the reign of the Shalmaneser III including the battle of Qarqar at the end. The writing on the monolith is significant as it mentions the king Ahab of Israel and has been the only reference of the term ìIsraelî in every Assyrian and Babylonian records that survive today. It is also one of the only four ancient inscriptions that contains the word ìIsraelî and is also the oldest artifact that mentions the Arab people.

Reference: BM 118884

credit: Kim, Kirk

The Tablet of Shamash, also known as the Sun God Tablet is encased in clay that leaves the impression of the limestone on the clay while protecting it. This indicates that this tablet was an item of importance and has been culturally or traditionally significant. The tablet has its edges patterned in the shape of a saw which is the symbol of Shamash the Sun God. On the face of the tablet shows the Babylonian King Nabu-aplu-iddina on the far left led by priest Nabu-nadin-shum who is also led by the goddess Aa towards the sun god. In the center lays a solar disc supported by ropes held by deities on top of the roof and resting on top of an altar. The solar disc is supposed to have been the temporary replacement for the lost statue of the god Shamash until a replacement was made. The sun god Shamash is seated within a shrine and has a lunar disc, a solar disc and a eight-pointed star on top of him, which respectively are indications to the god Sin, Shamash and the goddess Ishtar and also represents the moon, the sun and the planet Venus. Shamash is seen wearing a horned headdress and carrying a ringed measuring rod in his right hand. The shrine that Shamash is positioned in is suppose to represent the sun god resting on the heavenly ocean. The inscriptions on the tablet are written in prose and poetry, which is in accordance of the style of Mesopotamian royal texts and explains how the king Nabu-aplu-iddina restored and re-dedicated the temple of the sun god at Sippar. It also contains information about temple practices, priestly rules, dress codes and regulations.

Reference: BM 91000

credit: Kim, Kirk

The front of the tablet shows an image of two men standing. On the left with his hand raised is the priest who is standing in front of his king on the right. On top of them is the shrine, which has various objects laid upon it. The objects on the shrine from the left are placed in the following order: (1) Spearhead, (2) Ram-headed crook, (3) Two rods joined in the center, (4) Two horned headdresses, (5) Eagle-headed mace, (6) Lion-headed mace. There are also other various symbols inscribed on the top and the side of the tablet as well. The writing that is inscribed tells us that the King Nabu-aplu-iddina restored the lands of the priest. The priest claimed that the land was part of his father Atnaa's property and therefore claimed it righteously his. The event is recorded to have taken place on the twntieth of Nisan, in the twentieth year of the rule of King Nabu-aplu-iddina. It has been inscribed on the tablet that it has received the royal seal of Babylon in front of five Babylonian high officials whose names have been inscribed on the tablet as well.

Reference: BM 90922

credit: Kim, Kirk

This wall relief is divided by two upper and lower sections and has a writing inscription in the middle band, dividing the two. In the upper register there is a city that is shown by three sets of elevations of castle walls that is under attack by Assyrian soldiers. On the top part of the city the elevation has been effaced over time and now only the lower two elevations remain visible. The only female figures present in this panel are the women in the middle section of the city, ready to surrender and the lowest elevation shows archers fighting back. Below the elevations of the city are armed Assyrian soldiers next to dead enemies with a soldier chasing away an ox on the right. The plan (un-elevated part of the relief) on the right of the city shows two large-scaled Assyrian soldiers defending themselves with shields, cutting through the city defenses with their lances. The lower register shows a procession of Assyrian soldiers carrying away their gods or statues of them in triumph. The first deity on the very right has his head completely eroded but along with the second deity on the left have been idenified to be different forms of the god Ishtar and the deity on the far left to be the weather god Adad. The text on the center band suggests that this wall relief may be a depiction of the Assyrian victory over the Chaldaeans. This style of wall panel relief is unusual in Assyrian artifacts due to the complexity of mixing elevation and plan on the same scene.

Reference: BM 118934

credit: Kim, Kirk

The National Museums Scotland contains an interesting group of Old Babylonian administrative texts, which date to the reign of Manana and probably originate from Kish. Many of these documents deal with the property of a certain Shumshunu-watar.

In this receipt Shumshunu-watar lends one kor of barley to a certain Ishme-Sîn, whose seal is also impressed on the surfaces of the tablet. A very similar document is the unpublished text BM 103194 (to be published by J. N. Reid and K. Wagensonner), which dates to the same month and year.

CDLI entry: P453221

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

In the Neo-Babylonian period (ca. 626-539 BC) the dowry was handed over to the groom at the time of marriage. This property rests with the husband, who was responsible for maintaining its value. If he died, it would secure the widow's future.

The well-preserved text in the National Museums Scotland the heir of the deceased husband acts in the interest of two dowries, that of his father's widow and that of his own wife. The former is the claimant of the dowry. She claims that the son and heir of her husband did not give her the dowry, which entered the property when she married his father. The heir Bel-apla-iddina states before the judge that his father never received the full amount of dowry and that he is unable to repay both dowries. As a husband he has usufruct on his wife's dowry.

The possessions of the heir's father are being re-evaluated and the court decides that both the heir's mother-in-law as well as his wife shall be fully paid for their dowries. The document contains an interesting clause, which prevents any creditors to lay claim onto the amount of money given to the two women.

CDLI entry: P453149

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

The Neo-Babylonian period (ca. 626-539 BC) is characterised by a dense documentation, which equals in terms of concentration and amount the Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 BC). Most of our documentation derives from institutional archives like the temple archive of the Ebabbar temple in Sippar (with approx. 35,000 texts) or the Eanna temple (with approx. 8,000 texts) in Uruk (for overviews see M. Jursa, Neo-Babylonian Legal and Administrative Documents. Typology, Contents and Archives, 2005 and Aspects of the Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium BC, 2010).

The largest private archive from the Neo-Babylonian and subsequent Achaemenid period (547-331 BC) is the Egibi family archive. So far approx. 1,700 texts can be assigned to this family of entrepreneurs spanning over five generations. This archive has been thoroughly studied by C. Wunsch (Das Egibi-Archiv, 2000).

This legal document in the collection of the National Museums Scotland witnesses the purchase of a plot of land. This perfectly preserved tablet is a duplicate to a tablet now in the British Museum (BM 32180+33125; published in Wunsch, op.cit., no. 199A). Since the latter has some damaged areas, the Edinburgh tablet, though with minor variations, helps to better understand the whole transaction.

This plot of land was in the possession of a certain Bēl-ēṭir of the family of Nūr-Sîn and was bought by Marduk-nāṣir-apli of the Egibi-family. The latter belongs to the fourth generation in the archive. This individual is also known as Širku in the respective texts.

As a general characteristic of such sale contracts (which is already attested in the Old Babylonian period) such documents start with a description of the plot of land. In this case we are dealing with a certain area of plantation outside of the city. The plot of land is not just a barren land, but is cultivated with date palms. It is situated opposite of the Ishtar gate in Babylon at the river arm of the old Kutha-canal. This general description of the characteristics of the plot is followed by a geographical location (lines 4-10). The sequence is always the same: (1) upper long side in the north, (2) lower long side in the south, (3) upper short side in the west, and (4) lower short side in the east.

The document was issued in Babylon on the 12th day of the first month Nisannu in the third year of Dareios (i.e., 3 March 519 BC): TIN.TIR{ki} ITI.BARA₂ / UD.12.KAM MU.3.KAM {m}da-ri-ia-muš / LUGAL TIN.TIR{ki} LUGAL KUR.KUR. The date formula is followed, among others, by the remark ṣupur Bēl-ēṭir nādin eqli, "fingernail (mark) of Bēl-ēṭir, the one who gives the field." The fingernail marks are visible on the top and bottom edges of the tablet. Left and right edges bear the impression of the cylinder seal, whose label assigns this seal to the scribe Arad-Marduk. The seal shows a standing figure standing before two pedestals with divine symbols.

CDLI entry: P453151

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

By the far the greatest amount of royal or monumental inscriptions from the Neo-Babylonian period (ca. 626-539 BC) can be assigned to the ruler Nabuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) (see R. Da Riva, The Neo-Babylonian Royal Inscriptions. An Introduction, 2008).

This clay barrel-cylinder in the National Museums Scotland contains a royal inscription that is known from several similar examples, so, for instance, another barrel in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, which is presented on the right-hand side. Both inscriptions are, except for minor variations in orthography, identical (see the edition for the latter F.N.H. Al-Rawi, Iraq 62 [2000], No. 77; for a full translation see ibid., No. 74). The text is inscribed in two columns and commemorates the rebuilding of the Ebabbar-temple in Sippar (lines 1-10):

I, Nebuchadnezzar, (...) built anew the Ebabbar, the temple of Šamaš, in the midst of Sippar, for Šamaš, the lord who prolongs my days.

In what follows the king invokes the sun-god:

O Šamaš, my great lord, look gladly on my works with favour and grant me as a gift life unto faraway days, ripe old age, security of throne and a long reign!

The king not just prays for his own sake, but also for the sake of his children and his dynasty:

May my descendants keep multiplying in kingship, may they be secure in the land.

The inscription ends with the wish:

Just as the bricks of Ebabbar are secure for ever, let my years lengthen unto everlasting days.

The same commemorative text has also been inscribed on bricks. Such an example is in the John Rylands Library as well (JRL 1092; see the edition in Al-Rawi, op.cit., No. 74).

CDLI entry: P453135

credit: Wagensonner, Klaus

This tablet consisting of two joined pieces in the National Museums Scotland contains a large, fourteen-column administrative text from the Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000). The upper half of the obverse and the lower half of the reverse are missing. The account, like others from the same period, deals with work performed for the house of the king, Amar-Suen (e₂ ^damar-^dsuen). This third king of the Ur III dynasty succeeded his father Šulgi, ruling for nine years. Unlike the founder of the dynasty Ur-Namma who was deified following his death, or the second dynast Šulgi, deified after an important event during his reign, Amar-Suen is the first king to have the divine determinative placed before his name at the time of his ascension to the throne. After Amar-Suen, deification was apparently an accepted part of monarchic succession. Despite the bold claim of divine kingship, Amar-Suen was known in later literary compositions as a weak king. Whether he was in fact powerless, or the victim of contrasts being made to highlight the strength of Šulgi, is unknown (see P. Michalowski, “Amar-Su’ena and the Historical Tradition,” in M. de Jong Ellis, ed., Fs. Finkelstein [1977] 155-157).

This tablet, to be published by J. N. Reid, deals with a variety of workers. Like other texts, the account records workers present, missing (nu) and dead (uš₂). Some of the workers have been dedicated to temple households (a-ru-a). The preserved part of the final column contains the following sub-total:

together: 14 male laborers (Sumerian guruš) at 1 barig (ca. 60 liters of grain) each;
together: 2 male laborers at 5 ban₂ (ca. 50 liters of grain) each,
together: 24 male laborers at 4 ban₂ (ca. 40 liters of grain) each,
together: 2 female laborers at 3 ban₂ (ca. 30 liters of grain) each,
together: 1 child laborer at 2 ban₂ (ca. 20 liters of grain),
together: 1 child laborer at 1 ban₂ (ca. 10 liters of grain),
are the nudaba laborers;
together: 2 male laborers at 1 barig (ca. 60 liters of grain) each,
together: 1 male laborer at 5 ban₂ (ca. 50 liters of grain),
are the dead laborers;

(they are of) the household of Amar-Suen.

A similar but larger total of a different household can be found in the second column of the reverse (e₂ ^dnin-mar^ki, demonstrating that the text originated in Girsu). The administrators divided the workers according to the designations nu-dab₅-ba-me (ones who have not been seized) and the ba-uš₂-me (in most cases to be translated as deceased workers). The best parallel to this large account found in the published Ur III corpus appears to be another joined UK artifact recently presented in cdli tablet by Oxford postdoctoral associate K. Wagensonner, the British Museum & Rylands Library account CST 881+ (app entry: 2013-06-26). Unfortunately, the date of our text would have been located in the missing half of the final column of the reverse, but it would most likely have derived from the reign of Amar-Suen. How these royal households were constituted in Girsu during the reign of individual monarchs—no small task given the conservative nature of provincial politics economies under rule from southern Ur—is a topic for future research.

CDLI entry: P453060

credit: Reid, J. Nicholas