Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for silver, archive of Iddin-Nabu and Shellebi
Unknown Artist
ca. 562 BC
Medium
Clay
Dimensions
3.6 x 4.5 x 2 cm (1 3/8 x 1 3/4 x 3/4 in.)
Classification
Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Culture & Period
Babylonian · Neo-Babylonian
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, 1886
Accession Number
86.11.77
Art Historical Context
Step back 2,500 years to the bustling Neo-Babylonian Empire where this unassuming clay tablet served as a vital promissory note for silver. Dating to around 562 BC, it hails from the archive ofddin-Nabu and Shellebi, individuals whose business dealings are preserved in this tiny artifact—measuring just 3.6 x 4.5 x 2 cm. Part of the Metropolitan Museum of's Ancient Near Eastern collection (purchased in 1886), it exemplifies the everyday bureaucracy of ancient Babylon under rulers like Nebuchadnezz II, whose reign saw monumental achievements like the Hanging Gardens and Ishtar Gate. Inscribed w...