Best Cuneiform
The Code of Hammurabi Stele is a diorite stone slab inscribed with Babylonian laws dating to approximately 1754 BC. It represents one of the earliest known comprehensive legal codes. The stele details over 282 laws covering various aspects of life including trade, family, and justice. Created by Kin...
The Amarna Letters are a collection of diplomatic texts inscribed on clay tablets dating from the reign of Akhenaten in 18th century Egypt. These letters, written primarily in hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts, represent correspondence between Akhenaten and various rulers across the Near East. They...
This Babylonian clay tablet, dating to approximately 7th century BCE, represents one of the earliest recorded accounts of a great flood. Inscribed with cuneiform script, it details a divine deluge sent by the gods to destroy humanity. The text closely mirrors later biblical narratives and offers cru...
This ancient clay tablet represents one of the earliest known maps of the world. Dating to approximately 6th century BC Babylon, it provides a remarkably detailed depiction of the Mediterranean region and parts of Asia using cuneiform script. The map’s significance lies in its insight into Babylonia...
The Taylor Prism is a significant Assyrian relic dating to 691 BC. Crafted from clay, it offers a detailed record of King Sennacherib’s military campaigns, notably his siege of Jerusalem. The prism features cuneiform inscriptions providing invaluable insights into the political and historical contex...
The Prism of Sennacherib is a lengthy clay inscription from the 8th century BCE. Created by Assyrian king Sennacherib, it details his military conquests and administrative activities. The prism’s extensive cuneiform writing provides valuable insight into Assyrian governance and warfare during that p...
The Sumerian King List is a clay inscription dating from the 3rd millennium BCE. It provides a chronological record of rulers in ancient Sumer, primarily focused on city-states like Kish and Ur. The list combines purported historical reigns with legendary figures, offering valuable insight into earl...
The Weld-Blundell Prism is a small, rectangular clay artifact originating from ancient Sumeria. Crafted around 1800 BC, it contains an inscribed list of Sumerian kings, providing invaluable information for historians and archaeologists studying the early Mesopotamian period. The prism’s cuneiform te...
The Ebla tablets represent a remarkable archive from the ancient city of Ebla in Syria. Dating to approximately 2400-2300 BCE, these thousands of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform provide invaluable insight into the administration, commerce, and daily life of this previously unknown Mesopotamian...
Samuel Noah Kramer was an influential Assyriologist who specialized in the translation and interpretation of Sumerian cuneiform tablets. Born in the Russian Empire and later emigrating to the United States, he spent much of his academic career at the University of Pennsylvania. Through his translati...
The Persepolis Foundation Tablets are a collection of clay administrative records discovered at the ruins of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in present-day Iran. Dating primarily to the reigns of Darius I and Xerxes I (6th–5th centuries BCE), the tablets are writt...
The Nabonidus Chronicle is a 6th-century BC Babylonian cuneiform text that forms part of the broader Babylonian Chronicles series. It documents the reign of King Nabonidus and the subsequent peaceful capture of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BC. The text provides historians with...
The Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III is a Neo-Assyrian stele dating to approximately 852 BC. Discovered in 1861 at Kurkh in southeastern Turkey, the limestone monument stands about 2.2 meters tall. Its cuneiform inscription describes the military campaigns of Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, includin...
The Rassam Cylinder is a clay document inscribed with the annals of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, dating to the 7th century BC. Named after Hormuzd Rassam, who excavated it at Nineveh in the 1850s, the cylinder records the king's military campaigns, building projects, and royal achievements in Akkadia...
The Xerxes Daiva Inscription is an Achaemenid royal text inscribed on a stone pillar discovered among the ruins of Persepolis in southwestern Iran. Commissioned by King Xerxes I, the multilingual inscription asserts the king's devotion to the creator god Ahura Mazda. Its most notable passage details...
The Prism of Esarhaddon is a hexagonal clay artifact inscribed with Neo-Assyrian cuneiform text, dating to the seventh century BCE. Commissioned by King Esarhaddon, the prism functions as an official historical record documenting his military campaigns, including invasions of Egypt and conflicts wit...
The Khorsabad Annals are a collection of Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions discovered in the palace of King Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin, modern-day Khorsabad, in northern Iraq. Dating to the 8th century BCE, these texts primarily document Sargon's military campaigns, detailing his conquests of regions...
