After return by Italy: Iraq unveils 2,800-year-old stone tablet

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President Abdul Latif Rashid said, “I would like to thank the Italian authorities for their efforts and cooperation in returning this piece.” said. The titles of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III are written in cuneiform on the tablet. as noted by his father and grandfather.

The Italian authorities presented the plaque to the President during a visit to Bologna a few days ago. It is unclear under what circumstances the stone tablet was found and how it arrived in Italy in the 1980s. Iraqi Culture Minister Ahmed Fakak al-Badrani said the piece may have been found “during archaeological excavations or while working on the Mosul dam”.

El-Badrani underlined the importance of the tablet, whose entire inscription has been preserved. The stone also commemorates the construction of the so-called ziggurat, a pyramid-like stepped temple, according to scholars.

Today’s Iraq is the cradle of the Sumerian, Akkad, Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations and the first cities to which humanity owes its writing. Looters have long targeted the country’s ancient treasures. The chaos that followed the 2003 US-led invasion led to an increase in looting.

In Baghdad, where the stone tablet was presented to the national museum, President Rashid said, “We will continue to work to bring back all the archaeological objects from the history of Iraq from abroad.” said. We want to make the Iraqi National Museum one of the best museums in the world and we are working towards that.”

In May, Manhattan’s attorney general, Alvin Bragg, announced the return of two ancient statues, a limestone Mesopotamian elephant and a Sumerian alabaster bull, to Iraq. According to Bragg, the figures were stolen during the Gulf War and smuggled to New York in the late 1990s.

(AFP)

Source : Blick