The Lexical Text from Old Babylonian Hammam et-Turkman

The mound of Hammam et-Turkman (in the background) with in front the much smaller mound of Tell Abi Sabyad.

The excavations at Hammam et-Turkman in the Jazira (northern Syria) on the left bank of the Balikh river, were carried out by the University of Leiden under the direction of Diederik Meijer. Among the cuneiform objects from the site is a large Old Babylonian prism with a version of the sign list Aa (HMM 86-O6).

The sign list Aa belongs to the more advanced stages of education, where students studied not only regular cuneiform writing, but also the more obscure or outdated signs and sign values. The find of this object in the Jazira area demonstrates an interest in the scholarly traditions of Babylonia far outside the traditional Babylonian heartland.

Further reading

• Van Soldt, Wilfred H. 1995 Three Tablets from Tell Hammam Et-Turkman. Pp. 275-91 in Studio Historiae Ardens. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Philo H.J. Houwink ten Cate on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, eds. Theo P.J. Van den Hout and Johan De Roos. Publications de l'Institut historique et archéologique néerlandais de Stamboul 74. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut.

Niek Veldhuis

Niek Veldhuis, 'The Lexical Text from Old Babylonian Hammam et-Turkman', Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Lexical Texts, The DCCLT Project, 2019 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/dcclt/lexicallistsperiods/oldbabylonian/hammametturkman/]