Old Babylonian
The term is used to describe the culture of southern Mesopotamia between approximately 2000 BC-1600 BC.
Description:
The Old Babylonian Period describes southern Mesopotamia where a number of important sates dominated the region, including Isin, Larsa, Eshnuna, and Babylon. The sixth ruler of Babylon, Hamurabi, unified the southern states and expanded his control into north Mesopotamia. After his death, the empire gradually shrank, but remained an important power until it was sacked by the Hittite king Mursili I. During the Old Babylonian period, literary activity flourished with scribes composing and recording religious, poetic, and ‘scientific’ works in Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform. The state retained the Akkadian language for official use, and the Sumerian language for religious use, but Amorite was the spoken language. The earlier Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in Babylonian culture.
Ultra-Low Chronology: 1798-1499 BCE
Short/Low Chronology: 1830-1531 BCE
Middle Chronology: 1894-1595 BCE
Long/High Chronology: 1950-1651 BCE
Objects: Old Babylonian Export: JSON - XML - CSV
| Object | U Number | Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) | Museum Number (BM Registration Number) | Museum Number (UPM B-number) | Description (Catalog Card) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 16013 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Business document. Date: Year when Sin-igisham became King. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16017 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cone. Fragmentary: base intact. Sumu-ilu. bulding of Eginabtum (Ur inscription 114) [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16044 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Commercial. Date: very difficult to decipher. It appears to begin with mu-gadgal... Year in which the great wall? [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16047 | (none) | 1931,1010.7 | (none) | Clay cone. Fragment. A few signs of the base left. Evidently an inscription of Nur-Ada. amking the revolt of Naid-Shamash at Ur, and his expulsion, for which see Ur Inscription III HC. 30/2, 1 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16056 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Fragment [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16057B | (none) | 1953,0411.100 | (none) | [A-C] 3 Clay Tablets. In envelopes. (A) mu-us-sa-za(.) -bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku. ; UET/V:227 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16058A | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] 2 Clay tablets (fragments) UET/V:231 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16060B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] [A-B] 2 clay tablets. (A) mu-us-sa i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (B) (in envelope). (A) UET/V:821 |
| 16061V | (none) | 1953,0411.254 | (none) | [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] [A-W... 23 tablets in museum record] 22 Clay tablets. (A) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (B) mu-us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (C) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (D) 90mm x 50mm [no other information]; (E) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; mu us-sa 2-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (G) mu us-sa-a-bi 8-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (H) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (I) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku (K) mu-us-sa-a-bi 7-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (L) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (M) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku. |
| 16061W | (none) | 1953,0411.255 | (none) | [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] [A-W... 23 tablets in museum record] 22 Clay tablets. (A) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (B) mu-us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (C) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (D) 90mm x 50mm [no other information]; (E) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; mu us-sa 2-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (G) mu us-sa-a-bi 8-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (H) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (I) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku (K) mu-us-sa-a-bi 7-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (L) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (M) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku. |
| 16061N | (none) | 1953,0411.261 | (none) | [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] [A-W... 23 tablets in museum record] 22 Clay tablets. (A) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (B) mu-us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (C) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (D) 90mm x 50mm [no other information]; (E) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; mu us-sa 2-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (G) mu us-sa-a-bi 8-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (H) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (I) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku (K) mu-us-sa-a-bi 7-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (L) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (M) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku. |
| 16061O | (none) | 1953,0411.262 | (none) | [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] [A-W... 23 tablets in museum record] 22 Clay tablets. (A) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (B) mu-us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (C) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (D) 90mm x 50mm [no other information]; (E) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; mu us-sa 2-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (G) mu us-sa-a-bi 8-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (H) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (I) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku (K) mu-us-sa-a-bi 7-kam i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (L) mu us-sa-a-bi i-si-in-na ba-an-ku; (M) mu ki-6 i-si-in-na ba-an-ku. |
| 16062A | (none) | 1953,0411.70 | (none) | [A-B] 2 clay tablets. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] (A) Babylonian letter; (B) Babylonian letter to Lu-ud-lu-ul-... from: A-hu-ki-nu-un; HC.30/XIII, 1. (B) UET/V:4 |
| 16062B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] 2 clay tablets. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] (A) Babylonian letter; (B) Babylonian letter to Lu-ud-lu-ul-... from: A-hu-ki-nu-un; HC.30/XIII, 1. (B) UET/V:4 |
| 16090 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet UET/V:488 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16099 | (none) | 1953,0411.58 | (none) | Clay tablet. Fragment. UET/V:68 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16429 | (none) | 1931,1010.431 | (none) | Terracotta figurine. Nude female with hands to breasts. Moulded. Poor impression but retaining traces of pink paint on forehead between breasts & in lines of body. | |
| 16506B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-G] 7 clay tablets. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] (A) mu-us-sa 10 kam i-si-in-na in-dib-ba. (B) mugis gu-za bar zag-bi-us kuggi bar es-ma mah ^dinanna-ra mu-na-dim. ; (C) (no date); (D) (No date); (E) (No date); (F) (no date); (G) (no date). |
| 16506C | (none) | 1953,0411.80 | (none) | [A-G] 7 clay tablets. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] (A) mu-us-sa 10 kam i-si-in-na in-dib-ba. (B) mugis gu-za bar zag-bi-us kuggi bar es-ma mah ^dinanna-ra mu-na-dim. ; (C) (no date); (D) (No date); (E) (No date); (F) (no date); (G) (no date). |
| 16507C | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-D] 4 clay tablets. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] (A) mu-us-sa 4-kam i-(si)-in ba-(an-ky), inventory of cattle (B) mu^id mu-ba-al, (cf. Rim-Sin (b), SAKI 237, note a ?) (C) no date; (D) no date, |
| 16508 | (none) | 1953,0411.152 | (none) | Clay tablet. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16512 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Date: mu-us-sa 6-kam i-si-in-na ba-dib-ba Rim-Sin. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16519 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay Tablet. Babylonian letter to: A-hu-ki-nu-um from: Lu-dUru-ses-gal HC.30/VIII,1. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16521 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. (fragment). [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 16522A | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-F] 6 clay tablets. [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] (A) muididigna ba-ba-al Rim-Sin (SAKI 237); (B) muidXX-na ba-ba-al..... (C) (mu id) idigna ba-ba-al... (D) mu bad-gal...d u-a..., H.C. 30/IX, 1;, UET/V:816; (E) Babylonian letter; (F) Babylonian letter to: E-a-na-sir; From Ar-bi-tu..., UET/V:7; see also UET/V:23; UET/V: 614. |
| Location | Context Title | Context Description | Description (Modern) |
|---|---|---|---|
| House IV | Excavation designation in area AH mostly covering No. 1 Old Street but likely containing parts of No. 7 Church Lane as well. | (none) |
| House III | Excavation designation for a portion of area AH that was eventually published as No. 1 Church Lane and No. 1 Straight Street. It was also called the Pa-Sag or Hendur-Sag chapel. This space was identified as a neighborhood or wayside chapel at the NW edge of Carfax. | (none) |
| House II | Excavation house designation on the northwest side of Straight Street (originally called Division Street because it divided the initial excavation units of House I, II, and III). This unit may have initially contained some rooms in No. 3 Straight Street. | (none) |
| House I | Excavation house designation on the southeast side of Straight Street (originally called Division Street as it divided the first excavation house designations I, II, and III). This unit covered published houses No.2 and No. 4 Straight Street. | (none) |
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Related Terms
Ubaid - Uruk - Jemdat Nasr - Early Dynastic / Sumerian - Akkadian Dynasty - Guti/Post Akkadian - Ur III - Middle Assyrian - Kassite - Neo-Assyrian - Neo-Babylonian - Achaemenid Empire (Persian) - Seleucid - Parthian