Clay Cover of the Tablet of Shamash (Illustration)

Illustration

by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin
published on 22 March 2018

This is a fired clay cover of the sun god (Shamash) tablet. Its purpose was to protect the obverse side (face) of the tablet. It has retained the impression of the carved panel of the tablet. The Babylonian king Nabu-apla-iddina (reigned 888-855 BCE) made this cover and the tablet was buried. The Babylonian king Nabopolassar (reigned 626-605 BCE) found the tablet, and in order to open the tablet, this cover had to be broken. The latter cover, however, was replaced with a new one (to cover the face of the tablet) while this broken one was retained. Both covers were placed in a single coffer and then buried. Circa 860-850 BCE. From the Temple of Shamash at Sippar, Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London).

About the Author

Associate Professor of Neurology and lover of the Cradle of Civilization, Mesopotamia. I'm very interested in Mesopotamian history and always try to take photos of archaeological sites and artifacts in museums, both in Iraq and around the world.

License

Uploaded by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, published on 22 March 2018 under the following license: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

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