Ur Box inscription

The Ur Box inscription is a 7th century BCE Phoenician inscription on the lid of an ivory box found in Ur in 1927 during the excavations of Leonard Woolley (a joint excavation by the British Museum and Penn Museum).[1] It was the first Phoenician inscription found in Iraq.[1]

Ur Box inscription (front of box)
Ur Box inscription (inscription close up)

Description

The box measures 11 x 5 cm.[1] The script resembles the Neirab steles.[1]

Discovery

It was found beneath "Nebuchadnezzar's pavement of the north-east chamber of the sanctuary E-nun-mah", providing a lower limit for the dating of the box.[1]

Interpretation

Eric Burrows, in his 1927 interpretation of the inscription, stated: "Was the inscription made at Ur or in Phoenicia? Probably in Phoenicia... The box probably reached Mesopotamia in the course of the Syrian wars [i.e. the Neo-Assyrian conquests]".

Bibliography

Notes
  1. Burrows, E. (1927). Phoenician Inscription from Ur, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (4), 791-794
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