Sumerian cuneiform is one of the
earliest
known forms of written expression. First
appearing in the 4th millennium BC in
what
is now Iraq, it was dubbed cuneiform
(‘wedge-shaped’) because of the
distinctive
wedge form of the letters, created by
pressing a reed stylus into wet clay.
Early
Sumerian writings were essentially
pictograms, which became simplified in
the
early and mid 3rd millennium BC to a
series
of strokes, along with a commensurate
reduction in the number of discrete
signs
used (from c.1500 to 600). The script
system had a very long life and was used
by
the Sumerians as well as numerous later
groups – notably the Assyrians,
Elamites,
Akkadians and Hittites – for around
three
thousand years. Certain signs and
phonetic
standards live on in modern languages of
the Middle and Far East, but the writing
system is essentially extinct. It was
therefore cause for great excitement
when
the ‘code’ of ancient cuneiform was
cracked
by a group of English, French and German
Assyriologists and philologists in the
mid
19th century AD. This opened up a vital
source of information about these
ancient
groups that could not have been obtained
in
any other way.
Cuneiform was used on monuments
dedicated to heroic – and usually royal
–
individuals, but perhaps its most
important
function was that of record keeping. The
palace-based society at Ur and other
large
urban centres was accompanied by a
remarkably complex and multifaceted
bureaucracy, which was run by
professional
administrators and a priestly class, all
of
whom were answerable to central court
control. Most of what we know about the
way the culture was run and administered
comes from cuneiform tablets, which
record
the everyday running of the temple and
palace complexes in minute detail, as in
the
present case. The Barakat Gallery has
secured the services of Professor
Lambert
(University of Birmingham), a renowned
expert in the decipherment and
translation
of cuneiform, to examine and process the
information on these tablets. His
scanned
analysis is presented here. The document
records the issuing of baskets to an
official
messenger.
Professor Lambert’s translation is
provided
below:
Clay tablet, 58x48mm., with 11 lines of
Sumerian
cuneiform on obverse and reverse. The
scribe
rolled his cylinder seal over the
surface of the
tablet after he had written it, and in
the process
obliterated some of he writing, but most
can be
read, if with difficulty. The text is
an
administrative document recording the
issue of
baskets to an official messenger.
Translation
300 reed double baskets
64 reed baskets: set aside for . . .
Mr A . . . –imitidam when he went from
Der to
the king
Month: barley harvest
Year: Shu-Sin, king of Ur, constructed
an exalted
barge for Enlil and Ninlil
It is not clear how the messenger was
expected
to convey 364 baskets from Der (in the
Diyala
valley) probably to Ur, where the king
ruled. No
doubt he had one or more porters to
assist.
The date is the 8th year of Shu-Sin,
fourth king
of the dynasty of Ur, c. 2030 B.C. The
seal rolled
gave the name, title, and father’s name
of the
scribe who owned it, but despite
multiple
rollings, it is not possible to read the
whole, but
it was of three lines:
Mr . . .
scribe,
son of Beli
Of the art-work of the seal, more is
clear: a
seated deity and a figure standing in
front of the
god.
