Tablet #36:Obverse (front). The flat side of a tablet is the front. It is read from left to right, and down the "page", like English.
Tablet #36. Obverse. Line-drawing by Marcel Sigrist. The translation of this tablet would not have been possible without Mr. Sigrist's line-drawings (I would not have even attempted it). Even the most experienced Sumerologist would have difficulty translating this tablet from a photograph, without being able to turn the tablet in the light so that the signs can be seen to best advantage. The crowded lettering, the compressed signs, and the worn and damaged condition of the tablet would make it almost illegible to a modern reader. Sigrist's line-drawings (he's done thousands of them) have the beauty of art and the precision of science.
Tablet #36: Reverse (back). The rounded side of a tablet is the back. When the front of a tablet was filled with writing, it was flipped over bottom-to-top (and not right to left, like the page of a book) and the writing was continued down the back. This makes the writing on the back of a tablet "upside down" relative to the writng on the front.
Tablet #36: Reverse. by Marcel Sigrist. Ancient Sumerian looks like a difficult language, and it's ten times more difficult than it looks. Every one of these signs have multiple meanings.
Tablet illustrations courtesy of the Library of Congress. Click here to go to the LoC's website: "Cuneiform Tablets: From the Reign of Gudea of Lagash to Shalmanassar III."
Special thanks to the Library of Congress for making this collection available on-line.
