Ancient Near East, Babylon, Middle Babylonian Period, ca. mid to late 2nd millennium BCE. A fine example of a rectangular form with one flat face and one convex face, smooth peripheries, and twenty-three inscribed lines for writing. One side of the tablet is filled with several lines of neatly inscribed cuneiform text that appear to have similar characters at the beginnings, though the subject of this text is still a mystery. The reverse side features four partially written lines that appear to contain a list of names starting with "Ili-" and then "Apil-Sin," then six blank lines, and then the last line with illegible cuneiform characters. Lucite display stand for photography purposes only. Size: 3" W x 4.125" H (7.6 cm x 10.5 cm)
Cuneiform script is one of the oldest known writing systems in the world, made using a reed as a stylus and scratching wedge-shaped marks onto clay tablets. Early cuneiform was pictographic, but in the 3rd millennium BCE it shifted to the more abstract form you see here. These cuneiform tablets are some of the roughly 2 million known from this culture; of these, between 30,000 and 100,000 have been translated. The earliest translations came in 1836 from the work of French scholar Eugene Burnouf and by the 1850s multiple scholars were able to produce similar translations, meaning the language had been deciphered.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private prominent D.K. collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s
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#153095
Condition
Repairs to areas of periphery and one corner, with small chips and light adhesive residue along break lines. Minor nicks to both faces and peripheries, with light encrustations, and softening to some inscribed cuneiform characters. Nice earthen deposits throughout. Some cuneiform characters are still legible.