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Tablet of Ini-Teshub
Near Eastern, Anatolian, Hittite
Late Bronze Age
1299–1200 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Terracotta
Dimensions
Legacy dimension: H. 8.75 cm, W. 6.75 cm
Credit Line
Frank B. Bemis Fund
Accession Number1977.114
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsSeals
DescriptionCuneiform tablet of Ini-Teshub of Carchemish, the Hittite Viceroy of North Syria during the mid-thirteenth century BC. The tablet records a lawsuit involving two merchants, one of whom demands payment of a debt. The text is written in Akkadian (Babylonian), the international language of the Late Bronze Age in the Middle East. In the center of a tablet is a bold impression of the king's stamp seal bearing the figure of a Hittite god holding a winged sphinx, with the king's name in both the cuneiform and Hittite hieroglyphic scripts.
Provenance1977, sold by Bruce McAlpine (dealer), London, to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 13, 1977)