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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 

Published in 1912

371, Lot: 1176. Estimate $300.
Sold for $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Terra cotta tablet recording an account of sheep delivered for various gods. Neo-Sumerian (Third Dynasty of Ur), King Shulgi (circa 2029-1982 BC).

The tablet is complete in fourteen lines of Sumerian cuneiform. Dated to year 46 of King Shulgi of Ur. There are a number of related administrative tablets.

This tablet was once the property of the Couvent Saint-Anne, Jerusalem (SA 024), and a translation was published (without transliteration) by E. Dhorme, in RA 09 (1912), p. 43. See Manuel Molina, “The Corpus of Neo-Sumerian Tablets: An Overview,” The Growth of the Early State in Mesopotamia (Madrid, 2008), p. 26, edited by Stephen J. Garfinkle and J. Cale Johnson.

The inscription is as follows:

1 sila4 dUtu
mu-kux ensi2 Gu2-du8-aki (=DU)
1 sila4 dEn-lil2
1 sila4 dNin-lil2
mu-kux zabar-dab5 (=DU)
1 sila4 dNuska
1 sila4 dNin-urta
mu-kux Lugal-me-lam2
zabar-dab5 maškim
2 udu da-da dub-sar
Arad2-mu maškim
zi-ga u4 10-kam (=DU)
iti ezem-dŠul-gi
mu Ki-maškii u3 Hu-ur5-tiki ba-hul

lamb for (the god) Utu,
delivered by the governor of Kutha
1 lamb for Enlil
1 lamb for Ninlil
delivered by the zabardab-official
1 lamb for Nusku,
1 lamb for Ninurta,
delivered by Lugalmelam,
zabardab-official (and) maskim-official,
2 sheep for Dada, scribe,
Aradmu, maskim-official.
Issued on day 10,
month VII,
the year (named) "Kimash and Hurti were destroyed."

A well-preserved, pedigreed piece. Old collection number “WF 177” written on side. Dimensions: 4.1x3.3cm.


From the Dr. Stephen Gerson Collection, purchased in London, 1991. Ex collection of the Couvent Saint-Anne, Jerusalem.