Plaster painted to look like old clay or stone, reproduction of a Sumerian Cuneiform tablet from the city of UR, under King Shugi. The tablet describes the dedication of a temple to the goddess Nimin-tabba (previously transcribed Dimtabba) temple, circa 2100 BCE.
Nimin-tabba is presumed to be a local deity of the city of Ur, as her only known temple was located there. Her worship was particularly associated with king Shulgi (reigned c. 2094 – c. 2046 BC).
Nimintabba is also known from a famous dedicatory inscription by Shulgi, found in the foundation of the Nimintabba Temple of Ur, and now in the British Museum (ME 118560).[7][8]
A foundation figurine (foundation figures were figures placed ritually at the foundations of temples) was also found under the northeastern wall of Temple of the Goddess Nimintabba, encased within baked brick boxes, and accompanied by steatite tablets, with the figurine positioned standing and leaning to the northeast. The steatite tablets rested on the bottom of the sealed box. A male figurine represents king Shulgi, a connection provided by the historical implication of the figure's posture. The posture of the figurine replicates the posture associated with royal iconography established in the mid-third millennium BCE. The basket atop the head of the figurine also resembles images of Assurbanipal (686-627 BCE) with a basket on top of his head. Inscriptions connect this image with the construction of the temple. These pieces of evidence combined with the inscription on the lower half of the figures contribute to the probability that the figurine under the Temple of the Goddess Nimintabba was a dedication to Nimintabba by Shulgi, claiming responsibility for the construction of the temple
- Subject Matter: Sumerian Temple Dedication
- Inventory Number: 2021.54
- Collections: Sacred World Art Collection