REIGN OF KING SHULGI OF UR, CIRCA 2094-2047 B.C.

Details

A SUMERIAN STEATITE CUNEIFORM TABLET
REIGN OF KING SHULGI OF UR, CIRCA 2094-2047 B.C.
Rectangular in form, one side flat and one convex, with nine lines of Sumerian cuneiform recording the dedication of a temple to the gods Shullat and Hanish by King Shulgi, reading: "For Shullat-and-Hanish, his master, Shulgi, the mighty man, King of Ur, King of Sumer and Akkad, built his temple"
3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm.) long

Provenance

with Elias S. David (1891-1969), New York; thence by descent.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

King Shulgi was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. His reign spanned 47 years (2094-2047 B.C.), and he notably completed the construction of the Great Ziggurat of Ur. The inscription presented on this tablet dedicates a temple to a pair of minor gods, Shullat and Hanish, who are vanguards of the storm and throne-bearers to the storm god, Adad, as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh (see p. 884 in A.R. George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic). For another steatite tablet with the same inscription, now in the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, see p. 180 in P. Azara, Antes des Diluvio, Mesopotamia 3500-2100 A.C.

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