Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
The deeply impressed cuneiform characters, which are well-spaced in the horizontal registers on the shaft of this votive nail, record in Sumerian the building of a temple in Girsu (modern Tell Telloh) for Nindara, a deity local to Lagash, by Gudea, ensi of Lagash. Girsu was an important religious and civic center in the 3rd millennium BCE. Gudea ruled over the city-state of Lagash (in southern Iraq) in the second half of the 22nd century BCE (ca. 2144-2124 BCE). Over one hundred examples of this text are known, appearing on clay nails as well as bricks. Clay cones and nails were inscribed in the name of a ruler of a Mesopotamian city-state to commemorate an act of building or rebuilding, often of a temple for a specific deity. Deposited in the walls or under the foundations of these structures, the words of the texts were directed at the gods but would be found by later restorers.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
3157
label
Nail of Gudea
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
3157
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Nail of Gudea
description
The deeply impressed cuneiform characters, which are well-spaced in the horizontal registers on the shaft of this votive nail, record in Sumerian the building of a temple in Girsu (modern Tell Telloh) for Nindara, a deity local to Lagash, by Gudea, ensi of Lagash. Girsu was an important religious and civic center in the 3rd millennium BCE. Gudea ruled over the city-state of Lagash (in southern Iraq) in the second half of the 22nd century BCE (ca. 2144-2124 BCE). Over one hundred examples of this text are known, appearing on clay nails as well as bricks. Clay cones and nails were inscribed in the name of a ruler of a Mesopotamian city-state to commemorate an act of building or rebuilding, often of a temple for a specific deity. Deposited in the walls or under the foundations of these structures, the words of the texts were directed at the gods but would be found by later restorers.
provenance
Edgar J. Banks, Bagdad [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 2144-2124 BCE (Lagash II; Ur III [Neo-Sumerian])
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Ceramics
nails
cones
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
16
height
4.5
dimensionsRaw
Body: H: 6 5/16 × Diam: 1 3/4 in. (16 × 4.5 cm)Head: Diam: 2 11/16 in. (6.85 cm)Overall:H: 6 3/16 × Diam: 2 11/16 in. (15.7 × 6.9 cm)
Source extras
cul
Neo-Sumerian
inscriptions
[Translation from composite text of Cuneiform Digital Library RIME 3/1.01.07.031] For Nindara
/ the powerful king
/ his master
/ Gudea
/ ruler / of Lagash
/ his Girsu temple / he built for him. [https://cdli.ucla.edu/P272893]
reign
Gudea (ca. 2144-2124 BC)
med
baked clay, impressed
creator_ids
4252
collection_ids
ANE
exhibition_ids
none
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e49978e30f950b87