A bronze axehead formed as a tubular socket with four moulded ribs projecting to the rear to form four conical spikes, a tongue-shaped flat blade slightly pressed in the upper and lower border with incised cuneiform inscription; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: "Ancient Inscribed Bronze Axehead naming a King of Babylon. Maximum height: 5 cm, Maximum length: 14.8 cm. the centre of this axehead is round, with hole for the shaft. On the opposite side from the blade are four spikes, joined for greater strength about half-way between the points and the shaft-hole. Each spike continues as a ridge of metal around the shaft-hole, the lower forming a circle, the upper three continuing on the opposite side from the spikes onto the blade. This has an upper edge continuing the angle of the spikes, but the lower edge goes downwards to the cutting edge, which is thus deeper than the opposite end of the blade. Originally the blade was deeper that it is now: the upper and lower edges have been hammered to give the blade more strength by thickening the edges. This happened since manufacture because the inscription has been in part obliterated by this hammering. The inscription is in Babylonian cuneiform and reads: te-le-'-ᵈama[r-utu] [m]ut-nen-na-a e-te₄-[ra] [m]uš-te-'-ú aš-ra-ti-[ka] [..........] x du-un-nin i-di-ia-m[a] [lu]-šam-qí-ta ge-ri-ia [ša] ᵈnabû-ku-dúr-ri-usur lugal šár: You are able, Marduk, to save the pious who seeks after your shrines, [........].Strengthen my arms that I may fell my foes. [Property of] Nebuchadnezzar, king of the world. This is a prayer to the Babylonian god Marduk, with ownership ascription. The Nebuchadnezzar named is Nebuchadnezzar I, king of Babylon 1125-1103 B.C., not the Nebuchadnezzar II known from the Bible. The inscription begins on one side of the blade and is completed on the other side. Another axehead of the same type formerly in the Foroughi Collection has the same inscription, though complete, see G.Dossin, in Iranica Antiquea II (1962) pl. xxiv. Both these axeheads were apparently found in Iran, but the inscription is purely Babylonian. How such Babylonian inscriptions came to be found in Iran is a debated issue. It may be that such texts were copied onto bronze objects made in Iran, but in any case their date is close to that of kings named. This is then an important axehead naming a major king of Babylon." A later note of prof. Lamber completes the translation: " te-le-'-ᵈama[r-utu] [m]ut-nen-na-a e-te₄-[ra] [m]uš-te-'-ú aš-ra-ti-[ka] [eli n] a-ki-ri šu-zu-uz-zu [i-zi-q]a ša-ra-ka a-si-' n[a-ak]-ri-ia du-un-nin kak-ki-ia-ma lu-ú-di-ša ge-ri-[ia] ša ᵐná-[ku]-dúr-ri-ÚRU lugal šár: You are able, O Marduk,to make prevail over enemies the devout noble who ever seeks your sanctuaries. Your spirit has [blown], destroy (?) my enemies, strengthen my arms that I may tresh [my] foes. Property of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the world. This is Nebuchadnezzar I, king of Babylon 1125-1103 B.C. Another copy of this inscription on the same type of axehead exists in the former Foroughi Collection and was published by G.Dossin in Iranica Antiqua II (1962) p.158 and pl. xxiv. The inscription there is a little better preserved, and one can note one difference: this axehead under study writes du-un-nin, while the Foroughi example writes du-un-ni-in, proving that the one was not copied mechanically from the other. Some one involved understood the writing. This axehead comes from Luristan and probably dates from a little later than the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I, the inscription having been copied in Iran from an object with this inscription made in Babylon, but circulating in Iran. Generally this object is in good state of preservation, though there is some corrosion of the inscription, and the blade has been sharpened recently."

PROVENANCE:
From a London, UK, collection; acquired 1970s.

PUBLISHED:
Accompanied by an Art Loss Register certificate.

FOOTNOTES:
Nebuchadnezzar I., r. c. 1125-1104 BC, was the fourth king of the Second Dynasty of Isin and Fourth Dynasty of Babylon. He ruled for 22 years according to the Babylonian King List C, and was the most prominent monarch of this dynasty. He is best known for his victory over Elam and the recovery of the cultic idol of Marduk.