Tablet

This object is On Display

Object Title	Flood Tablet / Deluge Tablet
Object Number:	CBS10673
Current Location:	Middle East Galleries Currently On Display
Provenience:	Iraq Nippur
Period:	Old Babylonian Period
Date Made:	17th century BCE
Early Date:	-1699
Late Date:	-1600
Section:	Babylonian
Materials:	Clay
Technique:	Baked
Iconography:	Eridu Flood Enki
Inscription Language:	Sumerian Language
Length:	13.3 cm
Width:	10.16 cm
Thickness:	1.9 cm
Credit Line:	Gift of the Sultan; Babylonian Expedition to Nippur, 1896
Other Number:	P265876 - CDLI Number B10673 - Old Museum Number CBS 10673 + CBS 10867 - Other Number CBS10867 - Associated Object Number 0416 - Cast Number

Description

CBS Register: fr. of baked clay tablet.

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.

(ETCSL 1.07.04, CDLI Composite: Q000357). Joins with CBS10867.

Exhibited in the Middle East Galleries as number B10673.

Current & Past Exhibitions:

Year of Water (20 Aug 2010 - 26 Aug 2011)	View Objects in Exhibition
Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World (15 Aug 2015 - 07 Nov 2015)	View Objects in Exhibition
Middle East Galleries (21 Apr 2018)	View Objects in Exhibition

Bibliography:

[Web Site] Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative: Archival View of P265876.. Actual Citation	View Objects related to this Actual Citation
[Book] Quick, Jennifer. 2004. Magnificent Objects from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.. Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. ed. 1st. Actual Citation : Page/Fig./Plate: 138	View Objects related to this Actual Citation
[Catalogue, Exhibition] Aruz, Joan. 2003. Art of the First Cities: The Third Millenium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus.. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Actual Citation : Page/Fig./Plate: 478	View Objects related to this Actual Citation
[Article] Poebel, Arno. 1913. "The Babylonian Story of the Creation and the Earliest History of the World". The Museum Journal. Philadelphia. The University Museum. Vol. 4. no. 2. pg. 41-50 : Page/Fig./Plate: p. 42	View Objects related to this
[Article] Poebel, Arno. 1913. "The Babylonian Story of the Creation and the Earliest History of the World". The Museum Journal. Philadelphia. The University Museum. Vol. 4. no. 2. pg. 41-50 : Page/Fig./Plate: p. 44	View Objects related to this

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