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Inscribed tablet: ANE.8.1972

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 23

Entities

Categories

Description

Tablet, inscribed in Old Assyrian cuneiform script, a business letter

Notes

History note: Hahn Collection, Berlin

Measurements and weight

Length: 0.074 m
Width: 0.055 m

Place(s) associated

  • Kultepe ⪼ Anatolia ⪼ Turkey

Find spot

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1972) by Sotheby's

Dating

Assyrian Colony period
Circa -1900 - -1801

Materials used in production

Clay

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: 35 lines

  • Text: An Assyrian clay tablet, comprising a letter to Idi-Ishtar from Ilia and Laqipum, the senders announce that by recovering 15 minas of copper from each of the three partners and by selling the addressee's stock of barley they have bought up the firm of Arshiakh; however, the activities described yielded only three talents of copper, while the firm cost four, so one talent had had to be borrowed on interest from a merchant banker, they ask for one mina of silver to be sent so that the debt may be paid off, at no interest to them, finally they invite a contribution for his kitchen, so that his children and wife will not starve in his absence

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: ANE.8.1972
Primary reference Number: 87685
Oldadmincategory: O
Oldobjectnumber: WAE.8.1972
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 6 December 2016 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Inscribed tablet" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/87685 Accessed: 2024-04-25 16:52:15

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/87685 |title=Inscribed tablet |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-25 16:52:15|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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