- Museum number
- K.3375
- Title
-
Object: The Flood Tablet
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Object: The Gilgamesh Tablet
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Series: Library of Ashurbanipal
- Description
-
Fragment of a clay tablet, upper right corner, 2 columns of inscription on either side, 49 and 51 lines + 45 and 49 lines. Neo-Assyrian. Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet 11, story of the Flood.
- Production date
- 7thC BC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 15.24 centimetres
-
Thickness: 3.17 centimetres
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Width: 13.33 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This object is the single most famous cuneiform text and caused a sensation when its content was first read in the 19th century because of its similarity to the Flood story in the Book of Genesis. Baked clay tablet inscribed with the Babylonian account of the Flood.
It is the 11th Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh and tells how the gods determined to send a flood to destroy the earth, but one of them, Ea, revealed the plan to Utu-napishtim whom he instructed to make a boat in which to save himself and his family. He orders him to take into it birds and beasts of all kinds. Utu-napishtim obeyed and when all were aboard and the door shut the rains descended and all the rest of mankind perished. After six days the waters abated and the ship grounded. The first bird released "flew to and fro but found no resting-place". A swallow likewise returned but finally a raven which had been sent out did not return showing that the waters were receding. Utu-napishtim, who later told this story to Gilgamesh, thereupon emerged and sacrificed to the gods who, angry at his escape, granted him on the intercession of Ea divine honours and a dwelling place at the mouth of the river Euphrates.
This object was previously moulded by the BM Facsimile Service. It was issued as No. 10 in a previously issued series of postcards captioned "Assyrian monuments bearing on Bible history in the British Museum".
- Location
- On display (G55/dc16)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2018 19 Apr-22 Jul, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2017 28 Jun-08 Oct, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2017 1 Mar-31 May, National Museum of China, Beijing, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2016-2017 08 Sep-29 Jan, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2016 13 Feb-18 Jun, National Museum of Western Australia, Perth, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2015-2016 20 Sep-11 Jan, Kobe City Museum, Kobe, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2015 14 Jul–6 Sep, Kyushu National Museum, Dazaifu, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2015 18 Apr–28 Jun, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2014-2015 13 Dec-15 Mar, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
2014 23 Apr-01 Aug, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects’
2010-2011, London, BM/BBC, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'
1999 21 May-28 May, London, Brunei Gallery, The Epic of Gilgamesh
Room of Writing, case 5 (until Mar 1992)
1991 9 Mar-7 May, Japan, Osaka, National Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.24
1991 5 Jan-20 Feb, Japan, Yamaguchi, Prefectural Museum of Art, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.24
1990 20 Oct-9 Dec, Japan, Tokyo, Setagaya Art Museum, Treasures of the British Museum, cat. no.24
1990 28 Jun-23 Sep, Australia, Melbourne, Museum of Victoria, Civilization: Ancient Treasures from the British Museum, cat. no.12
1990 24 Mar-10 Jun, Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Civilization: Ancient Treasures from the British Museum, cat. no.12
Nineveh gallery, table-case A
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Epic of Gilgamesh
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- K.3375
