Tablet of Shamash
Tablet of Shamash | |
---|---|
Material | Limestone |
Size | Length: 29.2 cm, Width: 17.8 cm |
Created | 888–855 BC |
Present location | British Museum, London. Room 55. |
Registration | ME 91000 |
The Tablet of Shamash (also known as the Sun God Tablet or the Nabuapaliddina Tablet) is a
Discovery
The tablet was discovered during excavations by Hormuzd Rassam between 1878 and 1883. The tablet was found complete but broken into two large and six small pieces. By the time of King Nabopolassar, between 625 and 605 BC, it had broken into four parts and been repaired. The terracotta coffer also contained two clay impressions of the tablets presentation scene. The coffer was sealed under an asphalt temple floor. It has been suggested that the coffer also contained a second tablet as well as a third clay impression (now in the Istanbul Museum).[3][4]
Description
It was encased in a clay cast or "
The bas relief can be superimposed with two orders of golden rectangles.[6]
Inscription
The scene contains three inscriptions.[7] The first, at the head of the tablet reads:
(1) ṣal-lam (ilu)Šamaš bêlu rabû |
(1) Image of Shamash, the great Lord |
Above the sun god a second inscription describes the position of the depicted moon, sun, and star as being over against the heavenly ocean, on which the scene sits:
(1) (ilu)Sin (ilu)Šamaš u (ilu)Ištar ina pu-ut apsî |
(1) Sin, Shamash and Ishtar are set over against the heavenly ocean |
The final inscription in the scene reads:
(1)agû (ilu)Šamaš |
(1) Headdress of Shamash |
The
References
- ISBN 9780714110691. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ^ "Cover | British Museum".
- ^ Hormuzd Rassam (1897), 401-402. Asshur and the Land of Nimrod: Being an Account of the Discoveries Made in the Ancient Ruins of Nineveh, Asshur, Sepharvaim, Calah, etc. Curts & Jennings.
- ^ C. E. Woods, The Sun-God Tablet of Nabû-apla-iddina Revisited, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 56, pp. 23 - 103, 2004
- ISBN 978-3-7278-1555-3. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-904263-47-0.
- ^ British Museum Collection
- ^ L. W. King (1912). Babylonian boundary-stones and memorial-tablets in the British Museum: with an atlas of plates. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ISBN 978-965-221-050-0. Retrieved 9 April 2011.