Nebuchadnezzar Brick
Nebuchadnezzar Brick
IL.2018.024.1
Cuneiform
ca. 580 BC
Iraq
Akkadian
Clay
13 × 8 × 4 in. (33 × 20.3 × 10.1 cm)
On view in The History of the Bible, In The Beginning
A clay brick that bears an inscription celebrating the construction of a new palace for Nebuchadnezzar and his family in Babylon. It is written in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian in cuneiform script. This brick, along with numerous similarly-inscribed copies, would have been used to construct the walls of the new palace.
Created in ca. 580 BC in Iraq. Acquired March 1, 1934, by Grace Strang in Iraq; Ownership assumed on May 19, 1935, by Addison McCorkle;[1] Via death to descendants; Loaned in 2018 from the McCorkle family to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC, until 2038.
Notes: [1] Grace Strang was a missionary to Iraq beginning in 1928. Addison McCorkle and his wife (Myra McCorkle née Vernon) worked on various missionary projects with Ms. Strang during this time. The brick was given to Ms. Strang in Iraq. However, some months later, she wrote the director of the Baghdad Museum to transfer ownership of the brick to Mr. McCorkle since her “going to America [had] been postponed.”
Selected References:
The brick is a copy of the inscription published in C. B. F. Walker, Cuneiform Brick Inscriptions in the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the City of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, the City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. (London: British Museum Publication Limited for the Trustees of the British Museum, 1981), No. 31.
Questions about our Collections?
To acquire permission to use this image, please visit our Rights and Reproduction page .
More From The Collections
