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© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
ClassificationsAncient Near Eastern Art

School Practice Tablet, Probably with a Sumerian Proverb

AAT Object Form/FunctionCuneiform
AAT Object Form/FunctionWriting Tablets (Information Artifacts)
Place CreatedUmma, Iraq, Asia
CultureBabylonian
Periodprobably Old Babylonian Period
Dateca. 1800 BCE
MediumClay
Credit LineCollected by William A. Shelton, funded by John A. Manget
Dimensions3 9/16 in. (9 cm)
Object number1921.114
Label TextScribes had to undergo extensive training in order to master cuneiform writing. Trainee scribes first learned how to make tablets from clay and practiced writing cuneiform signs by copying short texts. This example of a school tablet shows the same proverb written on one side by the teacher and copied on the other side by the student.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - Spring 2001
Michael C. Carlos Museum Morgens West Foundation Galleries of Ancient Near Eastern Art, November 10, 2018 - Present
ProvenanceAcquired for Emory University Museum by William Shelton (1875-1959), ca. 1920.
Status
On view
Collections
  • Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art