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All tablets.
Every tablet in the corpus — sortable by date, title or period; filterable by theme and period. Use the controls below or change the URL parameters directly.
1–17 of 17
Code of Lipit-Ishtar
One of the earliest law codes after the Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 BCE), and the closest direct predecessor of Hammurabi's better-known code. Lipit-Ishtar's code is written in Sumerian — by this period a learned tongue, no longer spoken in daily life — and uses monetary compensation for personal injury, in continuity with Ur-Nammu. The legal tradition is Sumerian; Hammurabi's later innovation is largely to translate it into Akkadian and add the lex talionis.
Law
Sumerian King List (Weld-Blundell Prism)
The single most influential Mesopotamian king list — the model for every later attempt to chronicle the deep history of the region. It transmits the political theology of divinely granted kingship, an idea that would echo through Babylon, Assyria, and into the Hebrew Bible. The Weld-Blundell prism (WB 444) at the Ashmolean is the most complete surviving copy.
MythologyWriting & Literature
British Museum Flood Tablet 1
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: "The Flood Tablet. This is perhaps the most famous of all cuneiform tablets. It is the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, and describes how the gods sent a flood to destroy the world. Like Noah, U
Mythology
Cuneiform legal tablet in case from Aleppo
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Clay tablet from Alalakh still in clay envelope. Dated 1720 BC.
Law
Cuneiform tablet- Emesal prayer MET ME86 11 285
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Seleucid or Parthian; Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Mythology
Cuneiform tablet- fragment of a ritual text MET ME86 11 376
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Mythology
Cuneiform tablet- fragment of a text containing incantations MET vsz86.11.448
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Mythology
Cuneiform tablet- fragment of an Emesal prayer MET vsz86.11.476a
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Seleucid or Parthian; Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Mythology
Cuneiform tablet- hymn to Marduk MET DP360674
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Babylonian (?); Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed;
Mythology
Cuneiform tablet- legal decision by appointed judges MET ME66 245 19a
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Old Assyrian Trading Colony; Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Law
Cuneiform tablet, legal document concerning a trial, Sumer, modern Iraq, c. 2037-2029 BC - Spurlock Museum, UIUC - DSC05943
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Exhibit in the Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain. CDLI: https://cdli.earth/artif
Law
Cuneiform tablet- petition, prayer for a king MET ME86 11 399
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Cuneiform tablet; Clay-Tablets-Inscribed
Mythology
Hattusa Bronze Tablet Cuneiform
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Bronze tablet from Çorum-Boğazköy dating from 1235 BC. Photographed at Museum of Anatolian Civilisations. This cuneiform document excavated at Hattusa in 1986 is the only bronze tablet found in Anatol
Law
Hittite Cuneiform Tablet- Legal Deposition(?)
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Tablet on display at the Oriental Institute , with the caption: Hittite Cuneiform Tablet: Legal Deposition(?) Baked clay Hattusha Late Bronze Age (13th century BC) A6004 A6004 - VBot 30 - CTH 832
Law
Tablet BM131452
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Clay cuneiform tablet of a legal case before Saustatar, King of Mitanni, involving Niqmepa, King of Alalakh. Dated 1550BC-1400BC.
Law
The Newly Discovered Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Meeting Humbaba, with Enkidu, at the Cedar Forest. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: The tablet dates back to the Old-Babylonian Period, 2003-1595 BCE.
Mythology
Code of Hammurabi (stele)
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.
Law