Cuneiform Tablet (Yale #21)

3D Model

“Clay cone – Cuneiform record. Babylonian (?) Circa 2200 B.C., or 1930 B.C. Found at Ur of the Chaldees. The cuneiform inscription of twenty lines is from Libit-Ishtar, a Babylonian King of ca. 2150 B.C., or 1930 B.C. It is translated ‘The divine Libit-Ishtar, the humble shepherd of Nippur, the faithful husbandman of Ur, who doesn’t change the face of Eridu, a king befitting Erech, the king of Isin, the king of Sumer and Akkad, who captivated the heart of the goddess Ininni, am I. When justice in Sumer and Akkad he established, this temple he built.’ An excellent example of the writing of the age of the Biblical character Abraham, and mentions the names of most of the early Mesopotamian cities in the Book of Genesis. See also “Babyloniana” file in RBC office.”

(Text above from Curiosities Cabinet: An Index to Holdings. UNC Rare Book Collection. June 1995.)

(Item housed in the Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill)