A peculiar characteristic of our text is that the dividing line is vertical instead of being horizontal as in all the other texts of this kind (except for CUSAS 1, 8, see Monaco 2007: 45 Monaco 2014: 6).

In all these texts the sign N 1 is followed by three (or four) signs on the obverse of the tablet, while the reverse remains uninscribed. Monaco published the texts according the complexity of their content our text is similar to CUSAS 21 250 to 283. This small tablet is a school exercise related to the texts published in CUSAS 21 156-304 (Monaco 2014: 133-158). Monaco will publish a new edition of the text with some improvements and corrections. According to the description given by Monaco (2016: 197) the lower part of the tablet belongs to a different tablet, but examination of the tablet shows clearly that the tablet is almost complete and that all fragments belong to the same tablet (see photo). The text is an account of barley and emmer to be purchased (ŠAM 2).

This text has already been published by Monaco 2016 nr. All these texts are administrative in nature (one tablet from the Uruk III period one tablet from ED IIIb period three tablets dating to the Ur III period and one tablet dating on the OB period) except for school exercise from the Uruk III period and a brick inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II. His letters were the first texts written by a European traveler describing these ruins as well as cuneiform writing, whose characters Della Valle faithfully reproduced, though of course without deciphering or identifying them (he speaks of an “unknown language”).The Campalans collection of cuneiform text is a small group of eight texts purchased during last years in the antiquity market in Barcelona by Jordi Campalans. In the 17th century, the explorer Pietro della Valle, a rich Roman, composed letters on the ancient cities of Babylon and Persepolis, which he traveled to. The seal seen here is especially elaborate and depicts a very handsome Gilgamesh framed by two Enkidus, i.e., civilized as opposed to wild man. The trace left on the verso of the tablets or their edges developed like a frieze and was thought to have some protective value thanks to the depiction of divinities or mythological heroes. These cylinders were traditionally placed in the four corners of buildings under construction, though copies were also deposited in the royal libraries.Īfter having used flat rectangular seals, the Mesopotamians employed cylinder seals cut from semiprecious stone in order to identify clay tablets with a personalized mark. The first scholars to seriously tackle deciphering cuneiform would all work on this specimen. This cylinder may have come to light as early as the excavations carried out by the Abbé Beauchamps in 1784. The list includes the famous terraced gardens known as the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” which figured among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. To the rear a clay cylinder contains cuneiform inscriptions providing a list of the different construction works undertaken by King Nebuchadnezzar II, notably in Babylon. This display case features documents on the first system of writing, which developed in Sumer in Mesopotamia.

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