1983.99: Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Legal Text

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1983.99

Title

Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Legal Text

Classification

Tablets

Work Type

tablet

Date

c. 1900-1750 BCE

Period

Bronze Age, Middle

Culture

Assyrian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/289210

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Clay

Technique

Impressed

Dimensions

2.7 x 3.3 x 1.3 cm (1 1/16 x 1 5/16 x 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Nanette Rodney Kelekian, New York, formerly in the possession of her father Charles Dikran Kelekian; gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1983.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Nanette B. Rodney

Accession Year

1983

Object Number

1983.99

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Small rectangular clay tablet with cuneiform writing. The tablet is inscribed on both sides with ruled lines of text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. The tablet probably comes from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia).

The text deals with an amount of refined silver entrusted to Assur-malik for transport, followed by the names of three witnesses with patronymics.

Text reads:

(1-5) 10 minas, 4 shekels of refined silver, its šaddutum-tax paid (and) which belongs to Šalim-ahum, (6-8) I entrusted to Aššur-malik, son of Usanaya. (9-10) Before Puzur-Ištar, son of Aššur-malik. (11-12) Before Iddi-Suen, son of Šu-Ištar. (13-14) Before Puzur-Aššur, [so]n of Elia.

IMAGE: Bottom row, second from left.

Verification Level