Text, The sun god tablet

This famous tablet of stone recounts how the ancient statue of the sun god Shamash in the Sippar temple was destroyed and his rites interrupted. Following the discovery of a clay image of the original, King Nabu-apla-iddina commissioned a new Shamash statue in gold and lapis lazuli. The scene carved on the tablet celebrates the king's triumphal installation of his new statue. Shamash is shown seated in his shrine, holding the rod and ring of justice. In front of him is the sun symbol on an altar, which had long-served in his place. This box housed the tablet and is labeled seven times, 'Image of Shamash'. With it were these two clay impressions of an identical scene, taken from a similar tablet, now missing. The back of the unbroken impression records textiles due to the Shamash priests. The other, broken impression was made in much finer clay on a different occasion. About 860 - 850 B.C., Shamash Temple, Sippar, southern Iraq