Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for silver for purchase of sheep, Ebabbar archive
Unknown Artist
ca. 612 BCE
Medium
Clay
Dimensions
1.25 x 2.12 x .83 in. (3.18 x 5.38 x 2.1 cm)
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
86.11.184
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling world of ancient Babylon with this unassuming yet extraordinary cuneiform tablet from around 612 BCE. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Ancient Eastern Art department, this small clay artifact—measuring just 1.25 x 2.12 x 0.83 inches—was crafted during the Neo-Babylonian period, a time of imperial expansion under rulers like Nabopolassar, just before Nebuchadnezzar II's reign. Part of the Ebabbar, it records a promissory note for used to purchase sheep, offering a rare glimpse into everyday commerce in one of antiquity's great civilizations. Cuneiform, the worl...