- Museum number
- 102485
- Description
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Limestone kudurru or boundary stone: consisting of a boulder of dark limestone, the faces of which have been slightly flattened by rubbing in order to take inscriptions and sculptures in relief. The stone tapers rather more towards the top than towards the base. The upper portion of the Obverse, for a space of 9 1/4 in., and the right side and part of the left side of the stone, are engraved in low relief with a series of emblems, the greater number of which are arranged within two registers separated by plain bands. Faces A and B, Upper register, (1) Solar disc, (2) Crescent, (3) Eight-pointed star, (4) Horned headdress upon a shrine, (5) Horned headdress upon a shrine, (6) Turtle upon a shrine, (7) Twin spirals upon a shrine (the spirals here curl inward and spring from a stem, thus presenting striking differences from the so-called inverted yoke), (8) Wedge upon a shrine (the thicker end of the wedge is here indented, and its face is ornamented with a decorative band), and (9) Spear-head upon a shrine; Lower register, (10) Lightning-fork upon a shrine, (11) Lamp upon a shrine, (12) Yoke upon a shrine, (13) Scorpion upon a shrine, (14) Dog upon a shrine, (15) Lion-headed mace a upon a shrine; below the second register on Face B, (16) Sheaf of corn upon a shrine; Left side and top of stone, (17) Serpent. The emblems in the Lower register are separated from the shrines on which they rest by a plain band. Below twin spirals, wedge upon a shrine and spear upon a shrine in the Upper register the engraver has left a similar band, but there he has cut it into sections, each of which forms a base for an emblem or a heavy cornice for its shrine. The lower part of the Obverse and the whole of the Reverse are devoted to the text, which records a deed of a gift recording a grant of five 'gur' of corn-land, in the district of Edina in Southern Babylonia, to Gula-eresh by Eanna-shum-iddina, governor of the Sea-Land. The estate is described as bounded by Bit-Iddiatu, the estate of Amel-Marduk, the province of the Sea-Land, and the Edina-Canal. The surveyor was Amurru-bel-zeri, and the transfer was completed by Zakiru and Adad-shum-ibni, two high officials.
- Production date
- 1125BC-1100BC
- Dimensions
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Height: 14.25 inches
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Length: 9 inches
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Width: 5 inches
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Although the kudurru is undated, and does not refer to any Babylonian king by name, there is no doubt as to the period to which it is to be assigned. For Eanna-shum-iddina, the governor of the Sea-Land, is clearly to be identified with the official of the same name, who, according to the stone tablet of Nabu-shum-iddina , held this post in the fourth year of Enlil-nadin-aplu. Moreover, the period of the stone may be determined on epigraphic grounds, since the forms of several of the signs are identical with those used in inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar I and Enlil-nadin-aplu. But Enlil-nadin-aplu's reign was not a long one, and Eanna-shum-iddina may have been appointed governor of the Sea-Land by Nebuchadnezzar, and have retained his office until the reign of Marduk-nadin-akhe, or even later. We are thus without sufficient evidence for deciding to whose reign the kudurru should be assigned, and it has consequently been classified as an undated kudurru. But its period may be fixed within a generation.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
Exhibition: 'Strokes of Genius-Contemporary Iraqi Art', 2000
- Acquisition date
- 1907
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 102485
- Registration number
- 1907,1014.1