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The tidy Akkadian cuneiform characters, impressed neatly in horizontal registers all around this votive cone, describe an offering made by Lipit-Ishtar to the god Enlil and his consort Ninlil near the palace gates of the city of Isin. Lipit-Ishtar (also known as Lipit-Eshtar) ruled over the city-state of Isin (in south central Iraq) ca. 1934-1924 BCE. To establish the extent of his power, Lipit-Ishtar lists the territories (Sumer and Akkad) as well as the cities (Nippur, Ur, Eridu, and Uruk) then under the control of Isin. The section about setting “justice in the lands of Sumer and Akkad” may refer to the law-code of Lipit-Ishtar, which predated the more famous laws of Hammurabi of Babylon by about a century. Around one hundred examples of this text are known, of which the Walters Art Museum has three. 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.

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Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
094d80bdb44465cb
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
23862
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
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    "contentType": "object",
    "stage": "normalized",
    "title": "Cone of Lipit-Ishtar",
    "description": "The tidy Akkadian cuneiform characters, impressed neatly in horizontal registers all around this votive cone, describe an offering made by Lipit-Ishtar to the god Enlil and his consort Ninlil near the palace gates of the city of Isin. Lipit-Ishtar (also known as Lipit-Eshtar) ruled over the city-state of Isin (in south central Iraq) ca. 1934-1924 BCE. To establish the extent of his power, Lipit-Ishtar lists the territories (Sumer and Akkad) as well as the cities (Nippur, Ur, Eridu, and Uruk) then under the control of Isin. The section about setting “justice in the lands of Sumer and Akkad” may refer to the law-code of Lipit-Ishtar, which predated the more famous laws of Hammurabi of Babylon by about a century. Around one hundred examples of this text are known, of which the Walters Art Museum has three. 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, Alpine, New Jersey,  [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [said to be from from Senkereh]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1921, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
    "date": "1934-1924 BCE (Old Babylonian)",
    "citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/48.1454",
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Document identity
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    "localId": "23862",
    "label": "Cone of Lipit-Ishtar",
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Document source metadata
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    "id": "23862",
    "sourceUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/48.1454",
    "contentType": "object",
    "stage": "normalized",
    "title": "Cone of Lipit-Ishtar",
    "description": "The tidy Akkadian cuneiform characters, impressed neatly in horizontal registers all around this votive cone, describe an offering made by Lipit-Ishtar to the god Enlil and his consort Ninlil near the palace gates of the city of Isin. Lipit-Ishtar (also known as Lipit-Eshtar) ruled over the city-state of Isin (in south central Iraq) ca. 1934-1924 BCE. To establish the extent of his power, Lipit-Ishtar lists the territories (Sumer and Akkad) as well as the cities (Nippur, Ur, Eridu, and Uruk) then under the control of Isin. The section about setting “justice in the lands of Sumer and Akkad” may refer to the law-code of Lipit-Ishtar, which predated the more famous laws of Hammurabi of Babylon by about a century. Around one hundred examples of this text are known, of which the Walters Art Museum has three. 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, Alpine, New Jersey,  [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [said to be from from Senkereh]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1921, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.",
    "date": "1934-1924 BCE (Old Babylonian)",
    "citationUrl": "https://purl.thewalters.org/art/48.1454",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
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Document source extras
{
    "cul": "Babylonian",
    "inscriptions": [
        "[Translation from composite text of Cuneiform Digital Library RIME 4.01.05.03] Lipit-Ishtar",
        "/  shepherd",
        "/ honorer of / Nippur",
        "/ farmer / true / of Ur",
        "/ unending (caretaker) / for Eridu",
        "/ lord / fitting / for Uruk",
        "/ king of Isin",
        "/ king of the lands / Sumer / and Akkad",
        "/ gift of / the heart of Ishtar",
        "/ am I; / pot stands",
        "/ gifts for  / the side of Enlil / and Ninlil",
        "/ in Isin",
        "/ city of my kingship",
        "/ at the gate of the palace-- / Lipit-Ishtar",
        "/ son of Enlil",
        "/ am I-- / when  / justice / in the lands / Sumer / and Akkad / I set",
        "/ I made.    [https://cdli.ucla.edu/P272890]"
    ],
    "dynasty": "1st Dynasty of Isin",
    "reign": "Lipit Ishtar (1934-1924 BC)",
    "RelatedObjects": 498,
    "med": "baked clay, impressed",
    "creator_ids": [
        "7023"
    ],
    "collection_ids": [
        "ANE"
    ],
    "exhibition_ids": []
}
Page context
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