Cuneiform Brick

Inscriptions

The translation is as follows: 1. Shalmaneser, great king, 2. powerful king, king of the world, king of Assyria 3. son of Ashur-nasir-pal, great king,4. powerful king, king of the world, king of Assyria, 5. son (in turn) of Tukulti-Ninurta, king of the world, king of Assyria 6. The structure of the ziggurat 7. of Kalhu

Label

The primary building material of ancient Mesopotamia was mudbrick, made from readily available materials such as sand, clay, water, and straw and dried in the sun. Mudbrick naturally deteriorates, surviving over centuries only when buried by sand and protected from the elements.

This brick features an inscription that commemorates the construction of a ziggurat (stepped temple tower) in Nimrud by Ashurnasirpal II’s son Shalmaneser III. Inscribed bricks like this one would have been set into prominent places, such as near doorways or stairwells, to perpetuate the memory of the king who ordered the new construction. At least a dozen bricks with this specific inscription survive; the inscription on each seems handmade, and each is slightly different (including some errors). In the case of Shalmaneser’s ziggurat, these inscribed bricks likely formed the outer face of the structure, which was about 200 feet high and had a 200-foot base. In this way, the king was prominently connected to this significant building project.

From the 2025 exhibition, From Mastodon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

REL 81, Dickinson Distinguished Scholar Seminar: Orientalism and the Origins of Religion, Susannah Heschel, Fall 2012

ANTH 12.2, The Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Jason Herrmann, Spring 2013

History 10.02, Archival Research, Julia Rabig, Summer 2025

Writing 5.20, Foundations of Dartmouth: Samson Occom, Edward Mitchell, and the History and Cultures of Native American, African American, and "Minority" Students at Dartmouth College, Doug Moody 1, Fall 2025

Exhibition History

From Discovery to Dartmouth: The Assyrian Reliefs at the Hood Museum of Art, 1856-2006, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 19, 2006-June 17, 2007.

From Mastadon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 14, 2025 - Fall 2026

Provenance

Acquired by Reverend Austin Hazen Wright, at the request of Dartmouth Professor Oliver P. Hubbard, from Sir Henry Rawlinson, British archaeologist working at Nimrud; given to present collection, 1856.

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Subjects