ĜIRSU, THIRD DYNASTY OF UR, CIRCA 2112-2004 B.C.

This and the following lot once formed part of the collection of cuneiform tablets assembled by William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (1835-1909). As I.L. Finkel notes (p. 191 in “Tablets for Lord Amherst,” Iraq 58), it was “one of the most wide-ranging and important collections of cuneiform to have been assembled in private hands” and was gathered with the expertise of Theophilus G. Pinches, an Assistant in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum and later a lecturer at University College, London. The tablets presented here derive from Ĝirsu, one of the largest Sumerian cities and a gateway to Elam and points east and south. These tablets primarily concern the provisions given to messengers departing Ĝirsu. For the translations, please contact the department.