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Collection #: UM 13
Publ. #: SET 338
RIME 4.4.1.2
Acquired from: Purchased from E. J. Banks, 1913
Measurements (HxWxTh): 66 x 49 x 18 mm
Condition: Intact; baked? The arabic numeral 5 is written in pen on the lower edge.
Description: Building inscription of Sîn-kšid
Period: Early Old Babylonian, ca. 19th cen. BCE
Provenience: Uruk


Transliteration:
 
obv. 1.  
dEN.ZU-kà-ši-id
2.  
nita kala-ga
3.  
lugal Unuki-ga
4.  
lugal Am-na-nu-um
5.  
é - gal
lo.e.  
(blank)
rev. 6.  
nam-lugal-la-ka-ni
7.  
mu - dù
Translation:
 
1.  
Sîn-kšid,
2.  
mighty man,
3.  
king of Uruk,
4.  
king of the Amnnum,
5-7.  
built his royal palace.



Click on picture for a larger view

Obverse of UM 13

Reverse of UM 13

Notes:

This tablet is one of at least 62 known exemplars of one version of Sîn-kšid's inscription commemorating the construction of his palace. It is registered as no. 35 in D. Frayne's list of exemplars of this text (RIME 4, Old Babylonian Period, no. E4.4.1.2); UM 14 is an exemplar of another version of the same inscription. Frayne describes the archaeological context in which those exemplars recovered during excavations were found: tablets and cones bearing three versions of this building inscription were laid within reed mats every fourth course of bricks in the wall of Sîn-kšid's palace at Uruk (ibid., p. 443). Thus they were incorporated into the very fabric of the building whose construction they recorded.

The text of this exemplar is inscribed very tidily, the lines demarcated by rulings, with a double ruling below the last line. On both obverse and reverse, boxes are drawn enclosing the text – even the blank space on the reverse is enclosed within a box.

The translation given here follows that of Frayne (op. cit.).


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Last Revised: April 7, 2002

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