Fragmentary Excess: Body, Text, Receptacle

Cuneiform

Cuneiform is the oldest form of writing. During the language's 3000-year life, it was used to express approximately fifteen different languages including Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hittite, Urartian and Old Persian. All five of the items displayed here, however, are Babylonian. While we understand the script, many of these artifacts are fragmented and their contexts are sometimes unknown, enabling us to interpret partial narratives while still keeping us from the whole.
 
 
This 2nd millennium BCE tablet tells part of the Legend Etana. In this story, Etana attempts to fly on an eagle to the sun god, Anu, so that he might have a son. However, it is impossible to know whether Etana will be successful or not in his quest by reading this fragment. The potential ending of the story thus varies with each telling, producing an excess of possible outcomes. 

 This tablet tells part of a different legend: the Epic of Dibbarra. 
Unfortunately, very little is known about the adventures of this warrior, as this tablet is the only extant telling of this story.



These two tablets come from Zabala, a city of ancient Sumer, now modern day Iraq. They had, perhaps, an administrative purpose. One is a list, recording plots of a field. The other remembers the counts of land ownership and numbers of men.

 

Cuneiform (Old Babylonian) Tablet, ca. 2000 BCE by BMCexhibition on Sketchfab


This clay nail from 2350 BCE is impressed with a Cuneiform inscription by Gudea, the ruler of Lagash in southern Mesopotamia. Gudea, known as a patron of the arts, had this nail created for the dedication of a temple. Such a fascinating object deserves to be seen completely in the round; therefore we have chosen to include this object as a 3D model. 


 

Babylonian Gudea Clay Nail, 2350 BCE by BMCexhibition on Sketchfab

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