04. TABLETS & PAPYRI
Most ancient literature from Mesopotamia survives as cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets (e.g. Sumero-Akkadian, Hittite), most literature from Egypt on papyri (e.g. hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic). The local resources for tablets and papyri include the oldest “books” in the Library of Congress (LoC), artifacts of questionable provenance in the Green Collection of the Museum of the Bible (MotB), and better-documented aftifacts from the Catholic University Semitics / Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR) Library. Concerning the conservation and preservation of tablets, we can refer to the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANES)

learning goals:
  1. identify unique accession numbers
  2. catalog artifacts by standard categorical descriptions (e.g. material, size, color, decoration)
  3. catalog artifacts by type (e.g. correspondence, dedications, scribal exercises)
  4. catalog artifacts by Sumero-Akkadian or Egyptian narrative style
  5. record provenance (point of origin) whenever possible–particularly archaeologcal context
  6. include results of laboratory analysis and/or conservation, whenever possible
  7. compare to University of Californian at Los Angeles CDLI (Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative)
  8. compare to University of Pennsylvania ORACC (Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus)

Fill out the .pdf worksheet (here) with the information below
Pick five tablets by navigating through the CDLI catalog, specifically DMV institutions (e.g. ICOR, LoC, WAM). You must limit your selection to the Early Iron Age (ca.900-600 BCE). Find four Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian tablets that meet the following criteria:
  • provide the acession number (unique museum identifying number
  • provide formal or stylistic comments from the online description
  • provide the provenance/archeological context, or note absence and estimated point of origin
  • include one from the Library of Congress (LoC) AND one from The Walters Art Museum (WAM) AND at least one from The Semitics/Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR)
  • explain at least one narrative inscription, if possible
  • try to find a related tablet (parallel by theme, provenance, etc), from any other tablet collection

1. FIRST EARLY-IRON TABLET
image (obverse, reverse, top, bottom, sides):
date/period:
provenance/point of origin:
form/style/description:
inscription (if translated):
material: clay (terracotta)
accession number:
parallel/comparison (how is it similar)?

2. SECOND EARLY-IRON TABLET
image (obverse, reverse, top, bottom, sides):
date/period:
provenance/point of origin:
form/style/description:
inscription (if translated):
material: clay (terracotta)
accession number:
parallel/comparison (how is it similar)?

3. THIRD EARLY-IRON TABLET
image (obverse, reverse, top, bottom, sides):
date/period:
provenance/point of origin:
form/style/description:
inscription (if translated):
material: clay (terracotta)
accession number:
parallel/comparison (how is it similar)?

4. FOURTH EARLY-IRON TABLET
image (obverse, reverse, top, bottom, sides):
date/period:
provenance/point of origin:
form/style/description:
inscription (if translated):
material: clay (terracotta)
accession number:
parallel/comparison (how is it similar)?

5. FIFTH EARLY-IRON TABLET
image (obverse, reverse, top, bottom, sides):
date/period:
provenance/point of origin:
form/style/description:
inscription (if translated):
material: clay (terracotta)
accession number:
parallel/comparison (how is it similar)?

IMPRESSION OF THE INSCRIPTIONS (+/- 100 words)
Did you notice any significant patterns?
What do these tablets seem to say about indidual or regional identity or status (i.e. language)?parallel/comparison (how is it similar)?
How well do the databases provide usable, searchable, sortable information?

Fill out the .pdf worksheet (here) with the information above