A School Tablet in the Shape of a Five-Sided Prism in Adana Museum

Rukiye Akdoğan; Tülay Ünlü; Mark Weeden

doi:10.1515/aofo-2022-0001

Article

A School Tablet in the Shape of a Five-Sided Prism in Adana Museum

Rukiye Akdoğan , Tülay Ünlü and Mark Weeden

Published/Copyright: June 9, 2022

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Author Information

From the journal Altorientalische Forschungen Volume 49 Issue 1

Abstract

In 2002 a 5-sided prism with a handle inscribed with cuneiform was acquired by Adana Museum by means of confiscation, but it is thought to be from Osmaniye-Toprakkale in the Adana province of south-central Turkey. The prism has a grey slip and a handle-like portion on its top with a hole through it, whereby it could have been used as an amulet or at least somehow displayed. The text on the prism consists of the first 54 lines of a basic cuneiform exercise for students, known as “Syllable Alphabet A”. This prism school-tablet, which is written in Babylonian script, is probably to be dated to the first half of the 2^nd millennium BC, although a date later in the 2^nd millennium cannot be excluded. The article presents the object and its text, considers its possible use-function, as well as raising the question of possible connections with Old Babylonian traders’ networks, such as evidenced at Tilmen Höyük on the other side of the Amanus mountains.

Keywords: Prism; school tablet; Babylonian; amulet; Adana

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to both former Museum Director, Nedim Dervişoğlu, and to current Museum Director Nalan Çopuroğlu, for facilitating the work on the tablet in every way. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers, and to editors of AoF, Jana Matuszak and Mirko Novák, for their help and suggestions during the submission process, as well as to Richard Essam for advice on prisms.

Bibliography

Barjamovic, G. (2011): A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period (CNIP 38), Copenhagen. Search in Google Scholar

Cavigneaux, A. (1980–83): Lexikalische Listen, RlA 6, 609–641.Search in Google Scholar

Cavigneaux, A. (1996): URUK. Altbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat Pe XVI-4/5. Mit einem Beitrag von Rainer Michael Boehmer (AUWE 23), Mainz am Rhein. Search in Google Scholar

Cavigneaux, A./M. Jaques: (2010): Peut-on comprendre le Silbenvokabular? In: D. Shehata/F. Weiershäuser/K.V. Zand (ed.), Von Göttern und Menschen: Beiträge zu Literatur und Geschichte des Alten Orients. Festschrift für Brigitte Groneberg (CunMon. 41), Leiden – Boston, 1–15. 10.1163/ej.9789004187481.i-502.6Search in Google Scholar

Cohen, Y. (2009): The Scribes and Scholars of the City of Emar in the Late Bronze Age (HSS 59), Winona Lake.10.1163/9789004370043Search in Google Scholar

Çeçen, S./K. Hecker (1995): ina mātīka eblum: Zu einem neuen Text zum Wegerecht in der Kültepe-Zeit. In: M. Dietrich/O. Loretz (ed.), Vom Alten Orient zum Alten Testament. Festschrift für Wolfram Freiherrn von Soden zum 85. Geburtstag am 19. Juni 1993 (AOAT 240), Kevelaer, 31–41.Search in Google Scholar

Çığ, M./H. Kızılay (1959): Eski Babil Zamanına ait Nippur Menşeli İki Okul Kitabı/Zwei altbabylonische Schulbücher aus Nippur, B. Landsberger tarafından eklenen bir yazı ile/Mit einem Beitrag von B. Landsberger, Ankara.Search in Google Scholar

Farber, G. (1999): Kleiner Leitfaden zum Silbenvokabular A. In: B. Böck/E. Cancik-Kirschbaum/T. Richter (ed.), Munuscula Mesopotamica. Festschrift für Johannes Renger (AOAT 267), Münster, 117–133.Search in Google Scholar

Fossey, Ch. (1926): Manuel d’assyriologie: fouilles écriture, langues, littérature, géographie, histoire, religion, institutions, art. Tome 2: Evolution des cunéiformes, fascicule 1, Paris. Search in Google Scholar

Gordin, Sh. (2014): The Socio-historical Setting of Hittite Schools of Writing as Reflected in Scribal Habits. In: Sh. Gordin (ed.), Visualizing Knowledge and Creating Meaning in Ancient Writing Systems (BBVO 23), Gladbeck, 57–80. Search in Google Scholar

Goren, Y. et al. (2007): Provenance Study and Re-evaluation of the Cuneiform Documents from the Egyptian Residency at Tel Aphek, ÄL 16, 161–171.10.1553/AEundL16s161Search in Google Scholar

Landsberger, B. (1933): Die angebliche babylonische Notenschrift (AfO Beih. 1), 170–178.Search in Google Scholar

Lauinger, J. (2011): Some Preliminary Thoughts on the Tablet Collection in Building XVI from Tell Tayinat, JCSMS 6, 5–14.Search in Google Scholar

Marchesi, G./N. Marchetti (2019): A Babylonian Official at Tilmen Höyük in the Time of King Sumu-la-el of Babylon, Or. 88, 1–36. Search in Google Scholar

Marchetti, N. (2003): Notes on an Old Syrian Seal Impression from Sippar, Iraq 65, 161–169.10.2307/4200538Search in Google Scholar

Panayotov, S. (2018): Magical-medical Plants and Incantations on Assyrian House Amulets. In: G. Van Buylaere et al. (ed.), Sources of Evil: Studies in Mesopotamian Exorcistic Lore (AMD 15), Leiden – Boston, 192–222.10.1163/9789004373341_009Search in Google Scholar

Panayotov, S./J. Llop-Raduà (2013): A Middle Assyrian Juridical Text on a Tablet with Handle, ArOr. 81, 223–233.Search in Google Scholar

Rainey, A.F. (1976): A Tri-lingual Cuneiform Fragment from Tel Aphek, Tel Aviv 3, 137–140. 10.1179/033443576788497903Search in Google Scholar

Roche-Hawley, C. (2012): On the Palaeographic ‘Syllabary A’ in the Late Bronze Age. In: E. Devecchi (ed.), Palaeography and Scribal Practices in Syro-Palestine and Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age (PIHANS 119), Leiden, 127–146.Search in Google Scholar

Rutz, M. (2013): Bodies of Knowledge in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Diviners of Late Bronze Age Emar and Their Tablet Collection (AMD 9), Leiden – Boston. 10.1163/9789004245686Search in Google Scholar

Salvini, M. (1998): I testi cuneiformi delle campagne 1989 e 1993 a Tell Barri/Kahat. In: P.E. Pecorella (ed.), Tell Barri/Kahat 2. Relazione sulle campagne 1980–1993 a Tell Barri/Kahat, nel bacino del Habur (Siria), (Documenta Asiana 5), Rome, 187–198. Search in Google Scholar

Scheucher, T. (2012): The Transmission and Functional Context of the Lexical Lists from Ḫattuša and from the Contemporaneous Traditions in Late-Bronze-Age Syria. PhD Dissertation, Leiden. Search in Google Scholar

Sollberger, E. (1965): A Three Column Silbenvokabular A. In: H.G. Güterbock/Th. Jacobsen (ed.), Studies in Honor of Benno Landsberger on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday April 21, 1965 (AS 16), Chicago, 21–28. Search in Google Scholar

Tanret, M. (2002): Per aspera ad astra: l’apprentissage du cunéiforme à Sippar-Amnānum pendant la période paléobabylonienne tardive (MHET 1/2), Ghent.Search in Google Scholar

Torri, G. (2010): Hittite Scribes at Play: The Case of the Cuneiform Sign AN. In: J. Klinger et al. (ed.), Investigationes Anatolicae – Gedenkschrift für Erich Neu (StBoT 52), Wiesbaden, 383–396.Search in Google Scholar

Tülek, F. (2008): Osmaniye ve İlçelerinde Arkeolojik Yüzey Araştırması 2005 Yılı Çalışması. 25. Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı, 28 Mayıs–1 Haziran 2007, Çanakkale, 1. Cilt, Ankara, 305–326.Search in Google Scholar

Tülek, F. (2009): Osmaniye Arkeolojik Kültür Varlıkları Envanter Çalışması (2007–2008), Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Kültür Envanteri Dergisi 7, 7–23.10.22520/tubaked.2009.0001Search in Google Scholar

Tülek, F. (2012): Osmaniye Arkeolojik Varlıklar Envanteri 2010 – 2013 Yılları Çalışmaları/An Inventory of the Archaeological Properties in Osmaniye 2010–2013, Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi Kültür Envanteri Dergisi 10, 31–59. 10.22520/tubaked.2012.0003Search in Google Scholar

Tülek, F./B. Öğüt (2014): Prehistoric Pottery of Osmaniye Province in East Cilicia: A Holistic Approach. In: P. Bieliński et al. (ed.), Proceedings of the 8^th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 30 April–4 May 2012, University of Warsaw, Wiesbaden, 155–164. Search in Google Scholar

van Soldt, W.H. (1995): Three Tablets from Tell Hammam et-Turkman. In: Th.P.J. van den Hout/J. de Roos (ed.), Studio Historiae Ardens. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Philo H.J. Houwink ten Cate on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (PIHANS 74), Istanbul, 275–291.Search in Google Scholar

Veldhuis, N. (1997): Elementary Education at Nippur: The Lists of Trees and Wooden Objects. Doctoral thesis, University of Groningen (http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/-faculties/arts/1997/n.c.veldhuis/).Search in Google Scholar

Veldhuis, N. (2014): History of the Cuneiform Lexical Tradition (GMTR 6), Münster.Search in Google Scholar

Waetzoldt, H. (1986): Ein altbabylonischer Schultext und zwei Wirtschaftstexte aus dem Vorderasiatischem Museum, AoF 13, 3–9. 10.1524/aofo.1986.13.12.3Search in Google Scholar

Weeden, M. (2011): Hittite Logograms and Hittite Scholarship (StBoT 54), Wiesbaden.Search in Google Scholar

Wilson, M. (2008): Education in the Earliest Schools: Cuneiform Manuscripts in the Cotsen Collection, New Castle, Delaware. Search in Google Scholar