Stap 9 van 11

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Fig. 1 - Relief depicting king Aššurnaṣirpal II besieging a city – British Museum – [BM 124554](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1849-1222-23)

Fig. 1 - Relief depicting king Aššurnaṣirpal II besieging a city – British Museum – BM 124554

As you have probably noticed, the clay model is covered from ‘head to toe’ with cuneiform inscriptions, written in the Akkadian language. At that time writing the Akkadian language had existed already for over 1000 years. Curious about how and for what purpose writing was invented? Look up the following websites: Teaching history with 100 objects: A Mesopotamian writing tablet; Cuneiform: The earliest form of writing from Ancient Mesopotamia; Cracking ancient codes: Cuneiform writing with Irving Finkel

Right now we are looking at a small square filled with writing on the left lobe. If there was a deviation on this part of the liver, the left lobe, beneath the gall-bladder, this would mean the following:

“I shall seize a fortified city from the enemy.” CT 06, pl. 01-03, Bu 1889-04-26, 238, obverse line 2

Many of the inscriptions written on the clay model concern military actions. At the time this tablet was produced (in the first half of the second millennium BC) tensions between kingdoms were not a rare phenomenon. Therefore, it was necessary for the king to gain knowledge about the movements of his enemy and how to anticipate these actions.

Based on this answer from the liver, the king received permission from the gods to attack the fortified city in question and take it (Fig. 1).