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Inscribed Barrel Cylinder of Marduk-Apla-Iddina II
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Citations
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References
1953
Year
Following InscriptionArt HistoryHistorical ArchaeologyDistant ErechPressure VesselArchaeological RecordArchaeologyUnidentified BuildingLanguage StudiesInscribed Barrel CylinderArtsArchaeological EvidenceClassicsIntellectual History
The object which bears the following inscription (Plates IX–X) measures 15·7 cms. by 7·6 cms. (middle). The cylinder is made up of three separate pieces found at Nimrud on different days (of April, 1952) in chamber 4 of the as yet unidentified building called provisionally Z(iggurrat) T(errace), near a doorway on the south side of the room, where it was evidently not in situ but loose among the filling, having been cast or ruined out from some other location. Into the same room had been tipped as rubbish a large number of Assyrian letters, found embedded in the earth along the north side, and blocking two doorways. How strangely far away it was from its true original site is revealed by the inscription, which proves that it was brought to Calah from distant Erech, not so much as a trophy of war, though in consequence of it, but rather for reasons of policy.