Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet, 2032 BCE
Clay
2 x 3.22
CT.013 IS LSO.101
Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earlies known forms of written expression. Firs appearing in the 4th millennium BC in wha is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneifor (‘wedge-shaped’) because...
Sumerian cuneiform is one of the earlies known forms of written expression. Firs appearing in the 4th millennium BC in wha is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneifor (‘wedge-shaped’) because of the distinctiv wedge form of the letters, created b pressing a reed stylus into wet clay. Earl Sumerian writings were essentiall pictograms, which became simplified in th early and mid 3rd millennium BC to a serie of strokes, along with a commensurat reduction in the number of discrete sign used (from c.1500 to 600). The scrip system had a very long life and was used b the Sumerians as well as numerous late groups – notably the Assyrians, Elamites,
Akkadians and Hittites – for around thre thousand years. Certain signs and phoneti standards live on in modern languages o the Middle and Far East, but the writin system is essentially extinct. It wa therefore cause for great excitement whe the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracke by a group of English, French and Germa Assyriologists and philologists in the mi 19th century AD. This opened up a vita source of information about these ancien groups that could not have been obtained i any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monument dedicated to heroic – and usually royal –
individuals, but perhaps its most importan function was that of record keeping. Th palace-based society at Ur and other larg urban centres was accompanied by remarkably complex and multifacete bureaucracy, which was run by professiona administrators and a priestly class, all o whom were answerable to central cour control. Most of what we know about th way the culture was run and administere comes from cuneiform tablets, which recor the everyday running of the temple an palace complexes in minute detail, as in th present case. The Barakat Gallery ha secured the services of Professor Lamber (University of Birmingham), a renowne expert in the decipherment and translatio of cuneiform, to examine and process th information on these tablets. The following i a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:
This tablet as a total of 25 lines on obverse and reverse and is written in a large clear scribal band. The top of the obverse and the bottom of the reverse are damaged, but most of the text is preserved and clear. It is a document dated to the 6th year of Shu-Sin, fourth king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, c. 2032 BC. It is a list of bronze vessels under the care of a priest called the Lumah. Presumably this was the whole stock of such vessels in his place of worship. Other tablets of this period are known with such lists of vessels, but this one has many rare words and even one sign not yet understood.
Translation:
[……] .. of bronze.
1 Bronze goblet.
6 bronze cauldrons.
3 bronze mirrors.
1 bronze cup.
1 bronze dish (?): their weight: 10 minas, 5 shekels.
1 bronze barber’s razor, weight not noted.
16 bronze travelling ……: their weight 15 and 5/6 minas.
1 bronze balance for weighing silver set with bronze……..
1 bronze balance for weighing silver set with a lead ……..
31 minas 5 shekels of bronze.
Property of the Lumah priest: Basmun, the scribe, received the bronze……..
Year: Shu-Sin, king of Ur erected a magnificent stele for Enlil and Ninlil.
The word for cup is in fact Elamite, from the kingdom in south-west Iran. We only have what is written, but it may be conjectured that the scribe was in fact checking the stock of bronze vessels for the king or a high state official.
Akkadians and Hittites – for around thre thousand years. Certain signs and phoneti standards live on in modern languages o the Middle and Far East, but the writin system is essentially extinct. It wa therefore cause for great excitement whe the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was cracke by a group of English, French and Germa Assyriologists and philologists in the mi 19th century AD. This opened up a vita source of information about these ancien groups that could not have been obtained i any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monument dedicated to heroic – and usually royal –
individuals, but perhaps its most importan function was that of record keeping. Th palace-based society at Ur and other larg urban centres was accompanied by remarkably complex and multifacete bureaucracy, which was run by professiona administrators and a priestly class, all o whom were answerable to central cour control. Most of what we know about th way the culture was run and administere comes from cuneiform tablets, which recor the everyday running of the temple an palace complexes in minute detail, as in th present case. The Barakat Gallery ha secured the services of Professor Lamber (University of Birmingham), a renowne expert in the decipherment and translatio of cuneiform, to examine and process th information on these tablets. The following i a transcription of his analysis of this tablet:
This tablet as a total of 25 lines on obverse and reverse and is written in a large clear scribal band. The top of the obverse and the bottom of the reverse are damaged, but most of the text is preserved and clear. It is a document dated to the 6th year of Shu-Sin, fourth king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, c. 2032 BC. It is a list of bronze vessels under the care of a priest called the Lumah. Presumably this was the whole stock of such vessels in his place of worship. Other tablets of this period are known with such lists of vessels, but this one has many rare words and even one sign not yet understood.
Translation:
[……] .. of bronze.
1 Bronze goblet.
6 bronze cauldrons.
3 bronze mirrors.
1 bronze cup.
1 bronze dish (?): their weight: 10 minas, 5 shekels.
1 bronze barber’s razor, weight not noted.
16 bronze travelling ……: their weight 15 and 5/6 minas.
1 bronze balance for weighing silver set with bronze……..
1 bronze balance for weighing silver set with a lead ……..
31 minas 5 shekels of bronze.
Property of the Lumah priest: Basmun, the scribe, received the bronze……..
Year: Shu-Sin, king of Ur erected a magnificent stele for Enlil and Ninlil.
The word for cup is in fact Elamite, from the kingdom in south-west Iran. We only have what is written, but it may be conjectured that the scribe was in fact checking the stock of bronze vessels for the king or a high state official.