Colophon

The end of a text usually separated from the rest of the tablet by a line. The colophon provided important information on where the text fitted into works that could span more than one hundred tablets. The scribe noted the title of the series, chapter, and lastly the section. He could also count the lines. The colophon very often mentioned the name of the tablet’s owner, the scribe who wrote it, if different, the place of composition and, very seldom, the date. It was impossible to find a text in Assyrian and Babylonian libraries without a colophon.