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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.256.7
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/289110

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Clay
Technique
Impressed
Dimensions
3.7 x 3.9 x 1.3 cm (1 7/16 x 1 9/16 x 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Louise M. and George E. Bates, Camden, ME (by 1971-1992), gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1992.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Louise M. and George E. Bates
Accession Year
1992
Object Number
1992.256.7
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Square shaped clay tablet with cuneiform writing on both sides. The tablet is inscribed 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), from the period karum-Kanesh level II (c. 1927-1836 B.C.E).

The text is a loan contract recording a debt of silver owed by Imlik-Ea to Ela.

Text reads:
(obv.) 11 GIN2 KUG.BABBAR / s,a-ru-pa2-am / i-s,i2-ir / Im-li-ik--a / E-la i-šu / iš-tu3 ha-mu-uš-tim / ša Li-u2-ši2-im / (rev.) ITI.1.KAM Ti-i=na-tum / li-mu-um / A-al-DUG3 / ki-ma a-wa-at ka3-ri-im / s,i2-ib-tam2 / u2-s,a-ab2 / IGI Ša-lim-A-šur3 / IGI Puzur4-A-šur3

11 shekels of refined silver are owed by Imlik-Ea to Ela from the hamushtum-period of Liušum, in the month of Tinatum in the eponym year of Al-t,ab He will add interest according to the decree of the karum-authority. Witnessed by Shalim-Assur; witnessed by Puzur-Assur.

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu