Ancient Inscriptions and Stelae

Artifacts including funerary stelae and cuneiform tablets showcasing ancient writing and depictions, representing historical practices and cultures.

Sumerian 'King List' circa 1800 BC. Description of Gilgamesh the ruler of Uruk and the narrative of a great flood in Mesopotamia which may be connected to the Biblical story of Noah and the flood.

Funerary stelae depicting the deceased with his family making offerings

Epitafium kapłana Tomasza. unknown, craftsman

XXIIe dynastie Apis VII né l'an 11 de Scheschonk IV, mort l'an 37, 1857, Paris, Publisher, Gide, Serapeum (aqqārah, Egypt), Photolithographs

Cuneiform tablet: adoption declaration, Egibi archive ca. 546 BC Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: adoption declaration, Egibi archive 321527

Epitaph of Tomasz's cap; 29.04.799 (799-00-00-799-00-00);Faras (Sudan), Epitaphs, Christian inscriptions, Greek inscriptions, Polish excavations in Faras (Sudan)

Pre-Islam. Funerary stele with an Old South Arabian inscription. Late 1st millennium BC. Limestone. 60x48x13 cm. Qaryat al-Faw. National Museum. Riyadh. Saudi Arabia.

Cuneiform tablet: allocation account, Ebabbar archive ca. 626-539 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: allocation account, Ebabbar archive 321794

Sumerian 'King List' circa 1800 BC. Description of Gilgamesh the ruler of Uruk and the narrative of a great flood in Mesopotamia which may be connected to the Biblical story of Noah and the flood.

Cuneiform tablet: account of date disbursements for prebendary brewers and bakers, Ebabbar archive ca. 617 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: account of date disbursements for prebendary brewers and bakers, Ebabbar archive 321798

Bill of sale for food, drink, and workmen ,

Cuneiform tablet: court deposition ca. 20th-19th century B.C. Old Assyrian Trading Colony. Cuneiform tablet: court deposition 325862

Stela wotywna Hor-hotepa i Hor-aa. unknown, author

Epitaph of Kap Ana Stefanos; 14.04.797 (797-00-00-797-00-00);Faras (Sudan), Epitaphs, Christian inscriptions, Greek inscriptions, Polish excavations in Faras (Sudan)

writing scripture cuneiform writing Ugarit conjuration against snakebite clay tablet ""House of the Priest"" 14th/13th century BC Damascus National Museum,

Egypt. Stele of General Intef (Antef). Detail. Hieroglyphic writing. C. 2050 B.C. 11th Dynasty. Middle Kingdom. Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum. Copenhagen. Denmark.

Cuneiform tablet case impressed with three cylinder seals, for cuneiform tablet 66.245.14a: loan of silver ca. 20th-19th century B.C. Old Assyrian Trading Colony. Cuneiform tablet case impressed with three cylinder seals, for cuneiform tablet 66.245.14a: loan of silver 328904

Stone Tablet Containing Names of Assyrian Kings Iraq

Egyptian Art. New Empire. Dynasty XVIII. Stele with a hymn to Amun. Detail of hieroglyphic writing. Museum of Fine Arts. Budapest. Hungary.

XXVIe dynastie Apis I, 1857, Paris, Publisher, Gide, Serapeum (aqqārah, Egypt), Photolithographs

King's stele with inscription and a relief depicting King Sennacherib praying in front of the divine symbols. 705-681 BC. Detail. Limestone. From Nineveh. Archaeological Museum. Museum of Ancient Orient. Istanbul. Turkey.

Writings in Ancient Language Engraved in Stone, Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany

Amarna letter: Royal Letter from Ashur-uballit, the king of Assyria, to the king of Egypt. Dimensions: H. 7.7 cm (3 1/16 in.); W. 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.). Dynasty: Dynasty 18. Reign: reign of Akhenaten. Date: ca. 1353-1336 B.C..This document was found in the late 1880s at the site of Amarna, the religious capital of Egypt under Akhenaten. It was likely originally stored in administrative offices that formed part of a palace complex in the central part of the city. It is written in cuneiform script on a clay tablet using a reed stylus. The language is an Assyrian dialect of Akkadian, the lingua franca of the time. In this letter the king of Assyria, Ashur-uballit, sends a personal messenger and offers gifts to the king of Egypt, most probably Akhenaten, in order to open communications with the major superpower of the region.For further discussion and translation, see the Curatorial Interpretation below. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Hieroglyphics on a wall in the Tomb of Idu, in the Giza Necropolis, Cairo, Egypt. G7102 or Idu's Mastaba, lies to the east of Queen Hetepheres pyramid in the Great Pyramid complex. He was an official of the sixth dynasty, probably during the reign of Pepi I. He held the titles "Scribe of the Royal Documents", Pepi I Meryre (reigned 2332 2287 BC) as the third king of the Sixth dynasty of Egypt

Ancient stone inscriptions in Singalese language texture. Pollonaruwa, Sri Lanka

Urartu. Iron Age. Royal inscription. Dedication of god Haldi. 700 BC. Uratian cuneiform. Van. Turkey. British Museum. London.

estela funeraria, siglo I d.C, Varea, Museo de la Romanización, Calahorra, La Rioja , Spain, Europe.

Stela of Ptahmose ca. 1320-1290 B.C. New Kingdom This funerary stela, belonging to the royal Scribe and Overseer of the Royal Harem, Ptahmose, contains four separate offering prayers to Ptah-Soker-Osiris. Above the main text, Ptahmose himself appears, worshiping the god. The form, style, and text of the stela point to Memphis as its place of origin.. Stela of Ptahmose. ca. 1320-1290 B.C.. Limestone. New Kingdom. From Egypt; Probably from Memphite Region, Saqqara. Late Dynasty 18-early Dynasty 19

Cuneiform tablet ca. 850-750 B.C. Iran. Cuneiform tablet 324238

Assyrian door-sill, 9th-8th Dynasty. Dated approximately 810-783 BC. Inscribed with text detailing the name and genealogy of Adad-nirari III.

Donation Stela of Shabaqo ca. 712-698 B.C. Third Intermediate Period From the Third Intermediate Period through the Saite Period a large number of stelae are preserved that, like this one, record the donation of land to temples. These give an unusually rich view into temple and land organization. Most often non-royal persons actually made the gift, and the gift was probably destined for the support of the donor's funerary cult. The donation was generally made through an intermediary somehow attached to the temple and who must have derived some benefit for his agency. For reasons of decorum, usually the reigning king was depicted as the official donor in the scene at the top. Probably because of the nature of land development, almost all such stelae relate to areas in the north of the country.On this stela the pharaoh Shabaqo offers the hieroglyph for "field" to the god Horus of Pe and the goddess Wadjet, divinities of Buto, a city in the Nile delta. The text, which is mostly in hierati

Clay tablet; Old Babylonian. Geometrical diagrams accompanied by problems; + 100041; 7 col. or more. Museum: BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDRES, UK.

Sumerian pictogram tablet- records of malt and beer. Pictogram for beer is conical jug. MESOPOTAMIA.

Cuneiform tablet: purchase of a field ca. 596 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: purchase of a field 321752

The Rosetta Stone. Fragment of a black granite stele with an inscription in different languages __of a decree of Ptolemy V Epiphanes king. Ptolemaic era. 196 BC. Hieroglyphical and demotic scripture. Detail. British Museum. London. United Kingdom.

King Hammurabi's founding tablet for Babylon. Babylonian civilisation, 18th Century BC.

Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for silver ca. 540 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for silver. Babylonian. ca. 540 B.C.. Clay. Neo-Babylonian. Mesopotamia, probably from Babylon (modern Hillah)

Stele of the reign of Menmaatre Seti I, describing his military victories. 19th Dynasty, Temple of Karnak, Egypt, discovered in 2020. Seti was the second pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt, during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II

The Babylonian Map of the World, Assyrian Art

Demotic inscription in the Isistempel in Philae, Maxime du Camp, 1852 photograph Philaeprinter: Lillepublisher: ParisEdinburgh paper. cardboard salted paper print inscription Temple of ISIS

Close-up View of Hieroglyphic Inscriptions and Sculptures (List of the Defeated Nations), Karnak. Théodule Devéria (French, 1831 - 1871)

Roman stone "Lapis Niger" with archaic Latin text. 6th century BC. From Roman Forum. National Roman Museum. Baths of Diocletian.

Inscriptions from the Dadanite period at Jabal Ikmah, petroglyphs, near AlUla, Medina province, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Peninsula, Asia

Hieroglyphic Christian calendar on an Aztec stele. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Fumagalli from Giulio Ferrario's Ancient and Modern Costumes of all the Peoples of the World, Florence, Italy, 1843.

Greek script. Lintel with inscription of Emperor Justinian. Marble. 538 A.C. Miletus. Market Gate. Pergamon Museum. Berlin. Germany.

Temple accounts dealing with receipts and expenditure of corn. 42nd year of Shulgi, 3rd Dynasty of Ur, Assyrian, Iraq. Shulgi of Ur was the second king of the 'Sumerian Renaissance' in the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from 2029 BCEñ1982 BCE. His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great Ziggurat of Ur.

Clay tablet depicting a Late Babylonian map of the World. Dated 700 BC

Mesopotamium Tablet, Israel, Asia

Abruzzo, Chieti, Chieti, Museo Nazionale di Antichita, Italy, 20th century, photo, photography, Europe

Labayu writes to the king, Amarna Letters, 14th. c. BC.

Cuneiform tablet: record of sale ca. 552 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: record of sale 321729

Cuneiform tablet: cession of promissory note (), Esagilaya archive ca. 555-539 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: cession of promissory note (), Esagilaya archive 321769

Alphabet carved on stonewall at Odeon Of Gortyn, Crete, Greece

Cuneiform tablet describing the God Enki and the world order

Cuneiform tablet: balag colophon fragment ca. 135 B.C. Parthian. Cuneiform tablet: balag colophon fragment 321924

Ebony Tablet of King Mena

Cegła z napisem króla Salmanasara III. Salmanasar III (858-824 a.C.), author

Museo de Luxor.

A photograph taken of Philae, an island in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, Egypt. Philae was initially located near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt and was the site of an Egyptian temple complex. The temple complex was dismantled and moved to nearby Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO Nubia Campaign project, protecting this and other compounds before the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam. The most ancient was a temple for Isis, built in the reign of Nectanebo I during 380-362 BC, the other ruins date from the Ptolemaic Kingdom (282-145 BC), with many traces of Roman work in Philae dedicated to Ammon-Osiris.

Administrative clay tablet in cuneiform script with count of goats and rams, from Tell Telloh (ancient Ngirsu), Iraq

Cuneiform tablet: purchase of a field ca. 528 B.C. Achaemenid. Cuneiform tablet: purchase of a field 321914

Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal: shipment of barley ca. 2029 B.C. Neo-Sumerian. Cuneiform tablet impressed with cylinder seal: shipment of barley. Neo-Sumerian. ca. 2029 B.C.. Clay. Ur III. Mesopotamia, probably from Umma (modern Jokha)

Tablet commemorates building of house. Reign of King Ashur-Uballit I. 1363-1328 BC. Ashur, Iraq. British Museum. London.

Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for silver, Egibi archive ca. 545 BC Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for silver, Egibi archive 321538

Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for dates, archive of Bel-remanni ca. 496 B.C. Achaemenid. Cuneiform tablet: promissory note for dates, archive of Bel-remanni 321758

PIZARRA VISIGOTICA CON SIGNOS NUMERALES. Location: MUSEO ARQUEOLOGICO NACIONAL-COLECCION. MADRID. SPAIN.

Cuneiform tablet: dialogue document concerning succession and inheritance ca. 547 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: dialogue document concerning succession and inheritance 321746

Mashta inscription - Hebrew tombstone, found in Aden, Asia, 8th century. Artist: Unknown

Fragment of a monument base featuring inscribed epigrams, erected by the Athenians in commemoration of victories over the Persians, 490-480 BC. Numerous monuments of this kind were set up afterwards the Persian Wars (492-449 BC), through which various cities attempted to stake a claim to the victory. It was found in Adrianou Street. Athens, Greece. Museum of the Ancient Agora. Athens, Greece.

Inskrypcja fundacyjna biskupa Paulosa. unknown, Nubian workshop

Cuneiform tablet: fragment of a contract ca. 626-539 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: fragment of a contract 322003

Mesopotamian Art. Assyrian. Memorial slab about the Assur temple restoration by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari I (1305-1274 BC). it also describes his military exploits. Cast. Dated between 1300-1275 B.C. Cuneiform script. It comes from the Temple of Assur (Ashur). British Museum. London. United Kingdom.

Urartu civilization. Stele of Rusa II, King of Urartu between around 680 BC and 639 BC. Cuneiform inscription commemorating the building of a canal to channel water to the city of Quarlini from the Ildaruni (Hrazdan River). Pergamon Museum. Berlin. Germany.

Hieroglyphic writing from the Temple of Kom

Cuneiform tablet: fragment of the Weidner God List ca. late 1st millennium B.C. The invention of writing in approximately 3300 B.C. was one of many developments in administrative technology--including the use of geometric tokens for counting and cylinder seals to guarantee transactions--that accompanied the growth of the first cities and states in southern Mesopotamia. Proto-cuneiform is the name given to the earliest form of writing--pictograms that were drawn on clay tablets. Gradually, the pictograms became abstracted into cuneiform (Latin, "wedge-shaped") signs that were impressed rather than drawn. At its greatest extent, cuneiform writing was used from the Mediterranean coast of Syria to western Iran and from Hittite Anatolia to southern Mesopotamia. It was adapted to write at least fifteen different languages. The last dated cuneiform text has a date corresponding to A.D. 75, although the script probably continued in use over the next two centuries.This fragment of a clay tablet

Grabstele Funerary stele, 1st century AD, Varea, Museum of Romanization, Calahorra, La Rioja, Spain, Europe Copyright: xZoonar.com/BartomeuxBalaguerxRotgerx 22946437

Cuneiform tablet: partnership agreement ca. 500 B.C. Achaemenid. Cuneiform tablet: partnership agreement 321764

Aerial view of a textured surface with a grid pattern, revealing a complex interplay of light and shadow, Klaten Regency, Central Java, Indonesia.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics 01

Details of Sabaean inscriptions at the Awan Temple , Marib, Yemen

There is little scholarly consensus over the presence of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, also known as Eelam in early Tamil literature, prior to the medieval Chola period (c.10th century CE). One theory states that there was not an organized Tamil presence in Sri Lanka until the invasions from what is now South India in the 10th century CE. Another theory contends that Tamil people were the original inhabitants of the island. The Valaikkara Stone inscription at Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka dates from 100 CE and is considered to have been erected by Tamil soldiers.

Tablet reporting the King list

Egypt - Ancient Thebes (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1979). Karnak. Relief of Egyptian numbers. Detail of pylon of Amenhotep (Amenophi) III, 1390-1352 BC, 18th Dynasty

Tablet (Lamella) with a Prayer for Healing; 3rd century A.D; Gold; 2.3 × 3.2 cm (7,8 × 1 1,4 in.)

Kadesh Treaty, the earliest known political treaty, agreed between Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt and the Hittite king Muwatalli II in 1269 BC, Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

Old Persian inscription. Cuneiform script. Palace of Darius, Persepolis, Iran. 4th century. British Museum. London. GBR.

Cuneiform tablet: legal decision by appointed judges ca. 20th-19th century B.C. Old Assyrian Trading Colony. Cuneiform tablet: legal decision by appointed judges 325860

Hieroglyphic writing. Mit Rahina Open Air Museum. Memphis. Egypt.

Cuneiform tablet: account of flax deliveries, Ebabbar archive ca. 612 B.C. Babylonian. Cuneiform tablet: account of flax deliveries, Ebabbar archive 321788

LAPIDA CON INSCRIPCION FUNERARIA. Nº INV. 50387. ALTURA 40 CM. ANCHO 28 CM. PROFUNDIDAD 15 CM. MUSULMAN. (EXPOSICION: ARTE ISLAMICO ESPAÑOL) (DEPOSITO: MUSEO ARQUEOLOGICO NACIONAL).

The Rosetta Stone is a rock stele, found in 1799, inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text shown here, is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs

Contract for a large quantity of grain ,

Tomb of Ramesses III, Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. reigned from 1186 to 1155 BC and is considered to be the last monarch of the New Kingdom to wield any substantial authority over Egypt. Tomb KV11 is located in the main valley of the Valley of the Kings. The tomb has been open since antiquity, and has been known variously as Bruce's Tomb (named after James Bruce who entered the tomb in 1768) and The Harper's Tomb (due to paintings of two blind harpers in the tomb).

Liefdesscène van Krishna en Radha in het bos.On the irregular piece of cardboard, Krishna and Radha walk into a forest from the left in which all kinds of animals can be seen between the branches of the trees. Irregular piece of cardboard with left punching and finished on the left in a narrower point.

Detail of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Registration character ritual. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg. Russia.

Hieroglyphic script section of the Rosetta Stone a granodiorite stele, found in 1799, inscribed with three versions of a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic script and Demotic script, respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. As the decree has only minor differences between the three versions, the Rosetta Stone proved to be the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone, carved during the Hellenistic period

Offering list stela ca. 1353-1336 B.C. New Kingdom, Amarna Period. Offering list stela 549686

Cuneiform tablet: purchase of date-palm orchard ca. 632 B.C. Assyrian. Cuneiform tablet: purchase of date-palm orchard 321795

Cuneiform tablet: quittance for rent, Esagilaya archive ca. 523 B.C. Achaemenid. Cuneiform tablet: quittance for rent, Esagilaya archive 321768

Cuneiform tablet: excerpts from Enuma Anu Enlil ca. late 1st millennium B.C.. Cuneiform tablet: excerpts from Enuma Anu Enlil 321927

Greece. Linear B tablet. Clay from Pylos, Greece. Mycenaean Period. Script related to Linear B from Nestor's Palace. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

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