Library of Ashurbanipal: tablet
- Gallery: Room 55
- Culture: Neo-Assyrian
- Date: 7thC BC
- Object type: tablet
- Materials: clay
- Museum number: K.251
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a clay tablet from the Neo-Assyrian period, part of the famous Library of Ashurbanipal. Known as tablet 7 of the Ana Ittishu series, it contains short legal clauses in Sumerian, an ancient language, with Akkadian translations arranged in four parallel columns. This style contrasts with the more common interwoven format of earlier texts. The tablet, though partially broken, bears a fine, clear cuneiform script and a later official note at the bottom of one column. Discovered at Kouyunjik in the 7th century BC, it reflects scholarly efforts to preserve and study old Sumerian law. Its legal content includes a chilling rule: if a woman denies her marriage, she might be cast into the river. This tablet offers a glimpse into ancient Assyrian legal traditions and educational practices.
See it in person
Library of Ashurbanipal: tablet is on display in Room 55 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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