Sumerian Cuneiform Nail, 2100 BCE
Clay
4.52
CT.048
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 has an inscription of ten lines of Sumerian cuneiform around the shank. It describes the rebuilding of a temple by Gudea, ruler of Lagash, famous for statues of him in the Louvre. It reads:
For Ningirsu, the mighty hero of Enlil, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, produced what was needed, built Eninnum his resplendent, Imdugud-bird, and restored it to its place.
Eninny was the name of the temple of Ningirsu, god of Lagash in the far south of Sumer. Gudea ruled c. 2100 BC.
Nails like this were put in hollows in the temple walls so that the head was visible on the surface. It was hoped that future rulers in further restoration (temples were built of sun-dried bricks) would find and have read these inscriptions, and so the memory of the previous restorer would not be lost.
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 has an inscription of ten lines of Sumerian cuneiform around the shank. It describes the rebuilding of a temple by Gudea, ruler of Lagash, famous for statues of him in the Louvre. It reads:
For Ningirsu, the mighty hero of Enlil, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, produced what was needed, built Eninnum his resplendent, Imdugud-bird, and restored it to its place.
Eninny was the name of the temple of Ningirsu, god of Lagash in the far south of Sumer. Gudea ruled c. 2100 BC.
Nails like this were put in hollows in the temple walls so that the head was visible on the surface. It was hoped that future rulers in further restoration (temples were built of sun-dried bricks) would find and have read these inscriptions, and so the memory of the previous restorer would not be lost.