Sumer, Southern Mesopotamia, ca. 2350 BCE. Cuneiform 001

Used by Sumerians and other Mesopotamian cultures beginning in the third millennium BCE, clay nails — also referred to as dedication or foundation pegs, cones, or nails — were cone-shaped nails made of clay, inscribed with cuneiform, baked, and stuck into the mud-brick walls to serve as evidence that the temple or building was the divine property of the god to whom it was dedicated.

This nail describes building dedication for the Eastern Temple of Ninnu to the patron God of the city, Ningirsu. Ningirsu was the agricultural rain god and son of one of the four principal deities of Sumer, Ninhursaga. This particular artifact, and the temple itself, comes from Lagash, in the Dhi Qar Province in Iraq and is from the first dynasty of Lagash under King Gudea.

Bibliography

Leeming, David. “Mesopotamian Mythology” in The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195156690.001.0001/acref-9780195156690-e-1034

“Cuneiforms, Book Collections in Special Collections and University Archives,” University of Oregon Libraries. Cuneiforms - Book Collections in Special Collections & University Archives - Research Guides at University of Oregon Libraries (uoregon.edu)

Dedication of the Temple of E-Ninnu, Sumer, ca. 2350. University of Oregon Special Collections & University Archives, Cuneiform 001. https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/3uoa1r/CP71337943230001451