boss
- Museum number
- 1856,0909.136
- Description
-
Fragment of a clay boss: with three lines of inscription in cuneiform. It will have been fixed to the wall by a peg passing through a central hole and secured with glue which has left dark traces on the surface.
- Production date
- 880BC-860BC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 12 centimetres (when whole)
-
Height: 6 centimetres (when whole)
-
Length: 8.89 centimetres
-
Width: 6.35 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Inscription subject
-
royal
- Curator's comments
- This boss was probably placed with many others like it on the exterior walls of the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh. The use of terracotta pegs and bosses inscribed with a king's name and inserted in temple walls was a tradition which went back over 2,000 years in Mesopotamia.
Attached to 1856,0909.143
Attached to 1856,0909.184
Bibliography:
A. K. Grayson, ‘Assyrian Royal Inscriptions’, vol. II (Wiesbaden, 1976), 189.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2008-2009 21 Sept-4 Jan, Boston, MFA, 'Art and Empire'
2007 2 Apr-30 Sept, Alicante, MARQ Museum, 'Art and Empire'
2006 1 Jul-7 Oct, Shanghai Museum, 'Art and Empire'
- Acquisition date
- 1853-1856
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 1856,0909.136
- Joined objects
-
Joined Tablet Group: G14320 (3 objects)
