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The use of writing boards in the Neo-Babylonian temple administration at Sippar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

John MacGinnis
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Extract

The use of waxed wooden writing boards in Mesopotamia can be traced back at least to the Ur III period and the indications are that at certain periods they were a major vehicle of cuneiform writing. This article deals with the use of writing boards at Sippar in the Neo-Babylonian/early Achaemenid period, based on the numerous references to their use in the archives of the Ebabbara. The word used for a set of writing boards was lē'u, normally written with the logogram gišDA but occasionally written out phonetically. This article presents a catalogue of the evidence from Sippar followed by an analysis of the purposes for which writing boards were used, an examination of the procedures and officials involved, comments on their manufacture and a review of the evidence concerning the end of the archives. An appendix gives editions of twelve new texts.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 64 , 2002 , pp. 217 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2002 

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