====== 100 Most Important Cuneiform Objects ====== {{ :images:wiki:1to10icons:codex_hammurabi_larger.png?230|}} Inspired by the BBC's //[[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld|A History of the World in 100 Objects]]// we list the one hundred most iconic inscribed objects from the Ancient Near East, objects that we think define the field. We hope that this list will help to engender conversations about these objects, to highlight the importance of cultural heritage protection, and to broaden the appeal of the field. *[[objects1to10|Top 10 objects]] *[[objects11to20|Objects 11-20]] *[[objects21to30|Objects 21-30]] *[[objects31to40|Objects 31-40]] *[[objects41to50|Objects 41-50]] *[[objects51to60|Objects 51-60]] *[[objects61to70|Objects 61-70]] *[[objects71to80|Objects 71-80]] *[[objects81to90|Objects 81-90]] *[[objects91to100|Objects 91-100]] *[[runnersup|Runners-up]] **About the Objects** The objects are presented initially with very short descriptions and bibliographies. We do not list compositions, but rather unique objects, such as the Gudea Cylinders, or Sargon's Letter to Ashur. Assyriologists often mention key objects that inspire them or define their work, or that they believe rank high on the list of humanity's most important cultural heritage objects.We share one object on our list with that of MacGregor from the BM: the Flood Tablet. The early writing samples we list include a spectacular early Iranian tablet located in the Louvre; a key text from Jemdat Nasr recording field allotments to high-ranking members of society, today in the Ashmolean Museum; and an extraordinary example of the early intellectual exploits of man – a mathematical exercise tablet from Uruk, today in Heidelberg. Not all of the text artefacts we list are monumental, or even extraordinary. From the Ur III period we include, for example, the tiny receipt today in Yale's Babylonian Collection, that V.V. Struve used to prove the relationship between the accounts and the receipts of the Ur III bookkeeping system. This list is a work in progress. Please email [[cdli.oxford@orinst.ox.ac.uk|cdli.oxford]] with suggestions and pictures. The complete list (see above for more information): 1. Codex Hammurapi\\ 2. The Bisitun Inscription\\ 3. The Flood tablet\\ 4. The Weld-Blundell Prism/Sumerian King List\\ 5. The Cyrus Cylinder\\ 6. The Stele of Vultures\\ 7. The Manishtushu Obelisk\\ 8. Complex surface calculations at Jemdet Nasr\\ 9. Sargon’s letter to Ashur\\ 10. Pythagorean Triples\\ 11. The Middle Assyrian Laws, A\\ 12. The Cylinders of Gudea\\ 13. Treaty between Hattushili III and Ramesses\\ 14. The Macehead of Mesilim\\ 15. The Black Obelisk\\ 16. Bassetki statue\\ 17. The Ebla sign-list\\ 18. The Statue of Idrimi\\ 19. Banquet Stela of Ashurnasirpal II\\ 20. The Largest Account of the archaic period\\ 21. La figure Aux Plumes\\ 22. The Old Assyrian Limmu list\\ 23. The Reforms of UruKAgina\\ 24. L'architecte au plan\\ 25. The Umma-Lagash border conflict\\ 26. A letter of the Mittanian king Tushratta to Pharoah Amenhotep\\ 27. The Blau Monuments\\ 28. The earliest known mathematical exercise\\ 29. The laws of Ur-Nammu\\ 30. An early literary catalogue\\ 31. How to read signs (diri:SI.A : watru prisms)\\ 32. Tiglath-pilesar’s annalistic text\\ 33. The succession treaty of Esarhaddon\\ 34. The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld\\ 35. The Taylor Prism (Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem)\\ 36. A tablet on Epilepsy\\ 37. Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa\\ 38. The Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur\\ 39. Sargon’s birth legend\\ 40. A bilingual statue from Tell Fekheriye\\ 41. A cylinder of Nabonidus\\ 42. The Shamash Tablet\\ 43. 58 designations for swine\\ 44. The Ushumgal Stela\\ 45. The large God-list from Fara\\ 46. A collection of proverbs\\ 47. Enki loves the love-charm\\ 48. A large account of a basketry and carpentry workshop\\ 49. Receipt shown by V.V. Struve to relate to year-end’s account\\ 50. The growth of a herd of cattle\\ 51. Your money or your life\\ 52. A temple plan\\ 53. Old Assyrian Sargon legend\\ 54. Old Assyrian testimony\\ 55. Gilgamesh P\\ 56. The political landscape after the Mari archives\\ 57. Agushaya A\\ 58. The Mari ritual of Eštar\\ 59. Prayer to the Gods of the Night\\ 60. A Song of Praise to Amurru\\ 61. The Daiva inscription of Xerxes\\ 62. A cross for the bull-man\\ 63. A literary catalogue\\ 64. Astrolabe B\\ 65. Middle Assyrian literary catalogue\\ 66. The pedestal of Tukulti-Ninurta I\\ 67. Zodiac compilation tablet\\ 68. Graeco-Babyloniaca\\ 69. Lord Aberdeen’s Black Stone\\ 70. Ninurta-paqidat’s dog bite\\ 71. The Ugaritic Baal Myth, tablet four\\ 72. Proof of the Sumerian UD.GAL.NUN cryptography\\ 73. Ashurbanipal praising his education\\ 74. The Diviner's Ritual\\ 75. Paleography exercise CTN 4, 229\\ 76. Lamentation over the Destruction of Lagash\\ 77. Tablet I of the Creation Myth\\ 78. Old Babylonian list of deities\\ 79. Mathematical text BM 13901\\ 80. Squareroot of 2 (Yale)\\ 81. Babylonian map of world\\ 82. Nippur Map\\ 83. Circular "Astrolabes"\\ 84. Foundation Tablet in Gold\\ 85. East India Company Inscription\\ 86. Tiglat-pileser prism\\ 87. Emar Foot imprint of child\\ 88. Ebla diplomatic letter (Ennadaggan)\\ 89. The Old Elamite Treaty of Naram-Sin\\ 90. Aramaic incantation in cuneiform\\ 91. UPenn tablet with bite-marks of student\\ 92. Till Tuba Reliefs\\ 93. standard inscription of Assurnasirpal II\\ 94. Alphabet tablet from Ugarit\\ 95. Tell Leilan treaty\\ 96. Nebuchadnesar's destruction of Jerusalem\\ 97. astronomical diary mentioning Alexander's entry into Babylon\\ 98. Rules for a gaming board\\ 99. earliest known medical tablet\\ 100. Old Babylonian account of the great revolt against Naramsin \\ \\ Runners up:\\ * Mul-Apin\\ * Enuma Anu Enlil\\ * The Zimri-Lim Epic\\ * L'inscription de fondation de Tiš-atal d'Urkiš\\ * Esagila tablet ([[http://cdli.ucla.edu/P363704|AO 6555]])\\ * Finding old inscriptions ([[http://cdli.ucla.edu/P227533|CBS 16106]]) \\ * Barton Cylinder ([[http://cdli.ucla.edu/P222183|CBS 8383]]) \\