Babylonian Cuneiform Tablet

An ancient Babylonian clay oblong tablet fragment inscribed with 10 lines of cuneiform text listing quantities of flour to be delivered to the palace by “men of the Guard.”

Sealand Dynasty, southern Mesopotamia.Reign of Adarakalamma.
Ca. 1530-1500 BC.
Length: 2 3/4 in. (7 cm).

The tablet is arranged in ten columns, the last two now lost. The first column is headed. ‘Amount entered,’ the third column is headed, ‘1st (quality) flour,’ and the fifth column is headed, ‘2nd (quality) flour.’ The meaning of the to the headings of the second and fourth columns are not yet deciphered, but it is clear that the figures in columns two, three, and five always add up to the same amount as columns one and six, the latter headed, ‘Totals.’ From other similar tablets, we know that the two missing columns would have been headed, ‘Deficit,’ and ‘Delivery,’ and would have been followed by the name of the man concerned. The tablet is dated to a year (now lost) in the reign of King Adarakalamma, ca. 1530 – 1500 BC.

Formerly in a California private collection, acquired from Charles Ede, Ltd, London in 2002, inv. no. 4330.
Inv#: 7946
Guaranteed Authentic

$4,000

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