Tablet
Object Title:
Flood Tablet / Deluge Tablet
Object Number:
B10673
Current Location:
Collections storage
Provenience:
Iraq
Nippur
Date Made:
17th century BC
Early Date:
-1699
Late Date:
-1600
Section:
Babylonian
Materials:
Clay
Technique:
Baked
Iconography:
Eridu
Flood
Enki
Description:
Flood Tablet. Lower third of tablet with 6 columns of text; 3 on each side. Preserved columns each have 10-15 lines and the compete tablet would probably have had ca. 260 lines. Text, written in Sumerian deals with the creation of humans, prediluvian cities and their rulers, and the flood. Preserved passages: A) Divine instructions to man include the building of cities under the protectorship of specific deities. 5 city names preserved including the port town of Eridu to Ea, god of water B) Enki reveals the gods' plan to destroy the human race by means of a flood to Ziusudra, the king, and urges him to heed his advice. Wind and storms come and with them the flood, which lasts for 7 days and 7 nights before the sun returns. Ziusudra emerges from his boat and offers sacrifices. After Enki mollifies their fury, An and Enlil grant Ziusudra eternal life. Text dated to 17th century BC by script.
Other Number:
Current & Past Exhibitions:
Year of Water (20 Aug 2010 - 26 Aug 2011)
Bibliography:
[Book] Quick, Jennifer. 2004. Magnificent Objects from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. : Page/Fig./Plate: 138
[Catalogue] Aruz, Joan. 2003. Art of the First Cities: The Third Millenium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. : Page/Fig./Plate: 478
[Article] Poebel, Arno. 1913. The Babylonian Story of the Creation and the Earliest History of the World. The Museum Journal. 4 (2): 41-50. : Page/Fig./Plate: p. 42
[Article] Poebel, Arno. 1913. The Babylonian Story of the Creation and the Earliest History of the World. The Museum Journal. 4 (2): 41-50. : Page/Fig./Plate: p. 44
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