Cuneiform Accounting Tablet Listing a Distribution to a Series of Babylonian Soldiers

MID 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.

5 1/8 in. (353 grams, 13 cm wide).

A bifacial rectangular tablet with lentoid cross-section, the two principal faces bearing cuneiform text relating to a distribution for several individuals whose names are recorded in the left-hand column (Sîn-bēl-ilī Masitum, Sinatum, etc.), probably Babylonian soldiers, the document dates to the end of the first Babylonian dynasty; repaired.

Provenance

Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992.
Thence by descent to family members.
Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.

Literature

Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 11.217.4, for similar.

CONDITION

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LOT 0172