Material Clay | Size 9.2 cm high, 10.5 wide | |
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Writing Akkadian language in cuneiform script Created Neo-Babylonian period (ca. 595–570 B.C.E.) Present location Museum of the Ancient Near East, Pergamon Museum, Berlin, room 6 | ||
Jehoiachin's rations tablets date from the 6th century BC and describe the rations set aside for a royal captive identified with Jeconiah, king of Judah. Tablets from the royal archives of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon were unearthed in the ruins of Babylon that contain food rations paid to captives and craftsmen who lived in and around the city. On one of the tablets, "Ya’u-kīnu, king of the land of Yahudu" is mentioned along with his five sons listed as royal princes.
Contents
Excavation
The tablets were excavated from Babylon during 1899–1917 by Robert Koldewey and were stored in a barrel-vaulted underground building consisting of rows of rooms near the Ishtar Gate.
Translation
The tablets' text states:
Another tablet reads:
This evidence matches precisely with the biblical text found in II Kings 24:10–17.