Images(2)

Kudurru (Boundary Stone)

Dateca. 1300 B.C.

Label TextKudurrus ("boundary stone" in Akkadian) were used in ancient Babylonia to commemorate gifts of land from a king. The feathery cuneiform script records a dedicatory inscription in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the ancient Near East. As most Babylonians were unable to read, probably including the king and the recipient of his gift, images also adorned kudurrus. Any viewer would associate celestial disks, horned altars, turtles, snakes and hybrid goat-fish with the gods they represented. In both text and image, the message that this was a gift from a powerful man close to the gods would have been clear.

Kudurrus ("boundary stones" in Akkadian) were used in ancient Babylonia to commemorate gifts of land from a king. The feathery cuneiform script records a dedicatory inscription in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the ancient Near East. Because most Babylonians were unable to read, probably including the king and the recipient of his gift, images also adorned kudurrus. Any viewer would associate celestial disks, horned altars, turtles, snakes and hybrid goat-fish with the gods they represented. In both text and image, the message that this was a gift from a powerful man close to the gods would have been clear.

Object number48.45

ProvenanceCollected by Dr. Richard Eugene Fuller; donated to Seattle Art Museum, 1948

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Published ReferencesHandbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 12 (b&w) Snell, Daniel, The E.A. Hoffman Collection and Other American Collections, 1979 no. 219, p 21.

Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection

Dimensions8 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (21 x 21.6 x 8.9 cm)

MediumStone