Cuneiform Tablet

Item number M4.24 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Clay cone tablet with a dome base and a broken top with cuneiform inscription. The sides of the body have worn, vertical linear inscriptions.

History Of Use

Cones were initially plain and put into temple walls for decoration. Cones with inscriptions were intended to be inserted into the corners of mud-brick walls of buildings to, e.g., commemorate who had the temple built, or record the construction (or reconstruction) of a major building. Gudea was a ruler (ensi) of the city of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia who ruled c. 2144 - 2124 BCE.

Narrative

This tablet appears in an article, in Vol. 8 1990 Annual Review of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia “Cuneiform Texts at the University of British Columbia” (by C.A. Peters & D.R. Frayne, Toronto, p. 49-51).

Iconographic Meaning

The inscription records the rebuilding of a major temple in ancient Mesopotamia, by the ruler Gudea. Translation: "For the god Ningirsu, mighty hero, of the god Enlil-ra, Gudea, governor, of Lagash, made the appropriate order appear. The E-ninnu temple, his shining Anzu bird, he built [and], restored for him." Alternate translation: "For Ningirsu, Enlil's mighty warrior, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, made things function as they should [and] he built and restored for him Eninnu, the White Thunderbird." (Note: M4.19 and M4.24 have similar inscriptions.)