Sun-God Tablet of King Nabû-Apla-Iddina
Image of Shamash, the great Lord
Sippar was a Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. It was the cult site of the sun god, Shamash, god of justice, morality, and truth. His twin was the goddess Ishtar, Queen of Heaven.
Hormuzd Rassam
The site was excavated by Hormuzd Rassam1 between 1880 and 1881 for the British Museum. It was here he found the Sun God Tablet. (He also excavated the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature.)2
The tablet is a bas-relief that shows Shamash, the Sun God, beneath symbols of the Sun, Moon and star. The God is depicted in a seated position, wearing a horned headdress, holding the rod-and-ring symbol in his right hand. There is another large sun disk in front of him on an altar, suspended from above by two figures.3
Sun God Tablet: A Masterpiece
Since its discovery, the Sun God Tablet has been deemed one of the masterpieces of ancient Near Eastern art. The text is often cited for its historiographic and religious significance.4 What is remarkable about this tablet is the impressive marshalling of visual and literary devices in terms of archaic iconography and poetic, historical narrative to establish not only the great antiquity of the Ebabbar cult but its ancient claim to prerogatives and privileges.5 It tells how Sippar and the Ebabbar temple of Shamash had fallen into disrepair with the loss of the statue of the God and describes how a new figure of Shamash was found in an eastern part of the to restore the cult.
It is now in the British Museum.6
Reade, J. “Hormuzd Rassam and His Discoveries.” Iraq 55 (1993): 39–62.
McCook, K. (2021). Gilgamesh in Ireland. Substack.
Woods, Christopher E. “The Sun-God Tablet of Nabû-Apla-Iddina Revisited.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 56 (2004): 23–103.
Ibid., p. 24.
Ibid., p.40.
Sun God Tablet. British Museum. Excavated/Findspot: Sippar. Excavated by: Hormuzd Rassam. Inscription script: cuneiform
Inscription transliteration: (1) ṣal-lam (ilu)Šamaš bêlu rabû (2) a-šib E-babbar-ra (3) ša ki-rib Sippar(KI)
Inscription translation: (1) Image of Shamash, the great Lord (2) who dwells in Ebabbara, (3) which is in Sippar. nscription translation: (1) Sin, Shamash and Ishtar are set over against the heavenly ocean (2) within the divine judge.
Inscription note: The label clearly refers to the position of the lunar disc, solar disc and eight-pointed star on the stone. They are clearly over against the heavenly ocean, since the scene rests on it; they are also represented as within the shrine of Shamash, who may be identified as 'ili muš-ti-mi'.
Thank you sooo very much -- never heard of Sippar -- truly magnificent.