WESTERN ASIATIC NEO-SUMERIAN CUNEIFORM MESSENGER TABLET FROM IRI-SAGRIG
2037 BC
A baked clay tablet with cuneiform text in columns. 48 grams, 59mm (2 3/4").
Condition Fine condition. Owen, D.I. Cuneiform Texts Primarily from Iri-Saĝrig/Āl-Šarrākī and the History of the Ur III Period, CDL Press 2013, pp. 93-94, text no. 97.
Footnotes From the palace archive of the Sumerian city Iri-Saĝrig. A messenger tablet is a voucher for rations of food and drink to be collected at way station during a journey. This one is particularly unique because each of named messengers is followed by a description of his mission: "one portion of mutton, Zuzua, royal messenger, when he came for the soldier-workers at the place of the priestly office." According to prof. David Owen the Iri-Saĝrig archive is probably the archive of governor whose office was in the local palace. The king and other members of the royal family occasionally traveled to Iri-Saĝrig, perhaps on their way to or from Nippur or other towns. No town in Sumer was visited more often by the king than Iri-Saĝrig. This may explain the presence of so many royal messengers and other royal functionaries associated with the town.