1983.109: Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Account Text

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1983.109

Title

Cuneiform Tablet: Old Assyrian Account Text

Classification

Tablets

Work Type

tablet

Date

c. 1900-1750 BCE

Period

Bronze Age, Middle

Culture

Assyrian

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/289672

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Clay

Technique

Impressed

Dimensions

3.6 x 4.1 x 1.5 cm (1 7/16 x 1 5/8 x 9/16 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

1983.109

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

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. There are no seal impressions. The tablet probably comes from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia).

The surface of the tablet is very worn and much of the second half of the text, written on the edges of the tablet, is illegible. What is preserved records a debt (line 2: hubullum) of 2 1/2 minas and 8 1/2 shekels of silver, owed by Ikupi-Ishtar and states that the time for its repayment is up.

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2019 - 01/08/2020

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