Image: Funerary stone tablet of the Assyrian Queen Yaba, wife of King Tiglath-pileser III. From Nimrud, Iraq. Iraq Museum

Description: This stone tablet was found in a niche into the right-hand wall of the space leading to the burial chamber of Tomb II (one of the vaulted burial chambers of the so-called Queens' Tombs inside the North-West Palace at Nimrud). The cuneiform on this tablet inscription is a form of a funerary text for queen Yaba (Yabâ), wife of the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 744-727 BCE). The Queens' Tombs were found accidentally in the 1989-1990 CE season by the State Board of Antiquities of Iraq while reconstructing a part of the so-called "domestic wing" of the Palace. Inside these tombs, the "Nimrud Treasures" were unearthed. On display at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Republic of Iraq. Translation by Farouk N.H. Al-Rawi, "INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE TOMBS OF THE QUEENS OF ASSYRIA", in John E. Curtis, Henrietta McCall, Dominique Collon & Lamia al-Gailani Werr (eds.), New Light on Nimrud: proceedings of the Nimrud Conference 11th-13th March 2002, London, British Museum, London, British School of archaeology in Iraq et British Museum, 2008, pages 119-124: "By the name of Shamash, Ereshkigal and the Anunnaki, the great gods of the earth, mortal destiny overtook Yabâ, the queen, in death, she went to the path of her ancestors. Whoever, in the future, be it a queen who sits on the throne or a palace lady who is a concubine of the king, removes me from my tomb, or puts anybody else with me, and lays his hand upon my jewellery with evil intent or breaks open the seal of that tomb, above (earth), under the rays of the sun, let his spirit roam outside in thirst, below in the underworld, when libations of water are offered, he must not receive with the Anunnaki as a funerary offering any beer, wine or meal. May Ningishzida and the great door-keeper, Biṭu, the great gods of the underworld, afflict his corpse and ghost with eternal restlessness." (Link: http://www.bisi.ac.uk/sites/bisi.localhost/files/Curtis_et_al_New_Light_On_Nimrud.pdf ).
Title: Funerary stone tablet of the Assyrian Queen Yaba, wife of King Tiglath-pileser III. From Nimrud, Iraq. Iraq Museum
Credit: Own work
Author: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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