central Anatolia / Ingot with Hittite hieroglyphs / 15th?13th century B.C.

central Anatolia
Ingot with Hittite hieroglyphs
15th?13th century B.C.
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Creator Nationality: Asian; Anatolian
Creator Name-CRT: central Anatolia
Title: Ingot with Hittite hieroglyphs
View: Principal view
Creation Start Date: 0
Creation End Date: 0
Creation Date: 15th?13th century B.C.
Creation Place: central Anatolia
Object Type: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Materials and Techniques: silver
Dimensions: W. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Description:

Hittite scribes wrote both in cuneiform script (borrowed from Mesopotamia) and in hieroglyphs, a local development that continued after the end of the Hittite empire into the Neo-Hittite kingdoms. Unfortunately, the hieroglyphs on this silver ingot are not legible, so the writing cannot help us determine the ingot's function.

It has been suggested that the ingot belonged to a silversmith, who might have used it to make or repair jewelry, sculpture, or drinking vessels or other ceremonial containers, such as the stag-headed cup (1989.281.10) also illustrated in this section of the Timeline. On the other hand, we know that in the earlier Assyrian Trading Colony period (ca. 1950&150 ;1750 B.C.), specific weights of Anatolian silver were traded for the goods imported from Assyria. Perhaps this ingot, or pieces from it, were weighed and used as currency in Hittite times, since coins as we know them were only invented in the mid-seventh century B.C.

AMICA Contributor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: New York, New York
ID Number: 1989.281.16
Credit Line: Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989
Copyright: Copyright ? 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art . All rights reserved.
Rights: http://www.metmuseum.org/education/er_photo_lib.asp
Style or Period: Hittite period
AMICA ID: MMA_.1989.281.16
AMICA Library Year: 2002
Media Metadata Rights: Copyright (c) 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved

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