The Eighth Campaign of Sargon II of Assyria is engraved on a cuneiform tablet acquired by the Musée du Louvre in 1910. Fired clay
Dimensions: height 37.5 cm, width 24.5 cm, thickness 3.8 cm. Findspot: Khorsabad. Author: Nabû-šālimšunu. Date: 714 BCE. Inscription writing: Cuneiform. Inscription language: Standard Babylonian neo-Assyrian syllabary except colophon in Assyrian
Raphël Chipault - Musée du Louvre
Raphël Chipault - Musée du Louvre
Vist the site : Orient cunéiforme
The front and back contain 430 lines writtenin cuneiform script. The lines of script are arranged in a rectangular frame that more or less follows the shape of the tablet.
Despite its remarkable dimensions and the impressive state of conservation of its cuneiform characters, the lower part of the front and the upper part of the back are nevertheless incomplete.
There are small holes on the front, back and edge of the tablet. They were made at regular intervals, at the thickest points of the tablet, and their function during firing was to evacuate steam and prevent the clay tablet from shattering. The front alone has more than 24 holes.
The colophon provides two important pieces of information. It indicates the name of the scribe: Nabû-šālimšunu and the date he wrote it: 714 BCE.
The words and sentences on the tablet are not separated and there are no punctuation marks. The scribe does notend a line with a complete word and then start another line. If the sentence is too long, which is rare in this type of document, he continues it at the right end of the next line. If the sentence is too short, the scribe leaves spaces to place the last sign at the left end of the line.