>>20205068>what does that tablet say?From the entry in the catalog it was sold through in 1939:
>Babylonian Clay Tablet, inscribed in cuneiform characters containing a list of portions of land called "portions of the field" belonging to various persons and also a number of tents called "houses of the field," which were given, along with six gardens, to Balluti.>Size: 3¾ x 2¼ inches. (and it weighs 219 grams)>Dated in the reign of Khammurabi: "Month Ab (Tebit), 4th day. The year when the throne of Rimmon was made" [about 2000 B.C.]The year when the throne of Rimmon (Ramman) was made was the 20th year of Hammurabi's reign. 85 years ago they weren't sure when Hammurabi the great lawgiver reigned, but using the currently accepted years of ~1792 B.C. - 1750 B.C. this tablet would date to approximately ~1772 B.C.
>On the upper portion of the obverse the following interesting attestation occurs:--By the name of the Sun god of Gala and Unsdach and of Khammurabi the King they swore (Here follow the names of several witnesses, some of which are extremely important as being very early Semitic names, at a period not long after the migration of Abram). The following may be selected as specimens:--
>Akhum "brother">Samas mubanit "the Sun god--my creator">Ibi su abu su "his god is his father">Sin-salimi "the Moon god is my Savior"So basically the tablet could record the transfer of property owned by semitic proto-hebrews to a Babylonian dude, so they could go off following Abraham to the promised land where they'd then establish Abrahamic Monotheism, which of course later branched into Christianity and then Islam. Probably by far the earliest biblical-adjacent artifact I'll ever get my hands on.
