AKKADIAN-SUMERIAN Bi-Lingual Cuneiform DICTIONARY 600 BC Nineveh Library Tablet

​NINEVEH LIBARY TABLET – 600 BC

Large cuneiform tablet, museum stone, 7.5 x 5 inches (19 x 13 cm), one-inch thickness (25 mm), with display stand & description.

Museum replica bi-lingual cuneiform dictionary with Akkadian and Sumerian synonyms, excavated from the Nineveh Library of Ashurbanipal by Layard and Rassam in the late 19th century. It is one of the oldest known dictionaries ever found.

The words are arranged in three sets of double columns. The left-hand column of each set contains a rare Assyrian or foreign loan word for furnishings. For example, the word “door” appears in the center. The right-hand column of each set contains the equivalent Assyrian word in common use. The left-hand column ends with the colophon of the royal library of Nineveh.

One of the few kings of antiquity who could read and write, Ashurbanipal created an extraordinary underground library at Nineveh, where he gathered all ancient texts, tablets, and literature available in the known world, dispatching emissaries as far as India, Egypt, and Thrace.