Artifact Type: tablet & envelope History

Tablets in ancient Mesopotamia, when sent as messages, were often encased in a clay envelope. Functioning identically to modern envelopes, the clay objects were often impressed with a personal seal to mark the item with the official guarantee of the sender. The category contains both unopened envelopes containing unread tablets and broken or opened envelopes and their corresponding tablet. The ‘Tablet and Envelope’ category is distinct from both the ‘Tablet’ category and the ‘Envelope’ category as ‘Tablet and Envelope’ represents specific tablets and their corresponding envelopes that survived from antiquity.

Translations
Name Language
لوح وغلاف Arabic

Parent Artifact Type

Related Artifacts

There are 7557 artifacts related to tablet & envelope
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Cite this Artifact Type

CDLI contributors. 2026. “Tablet & Envelope - Artifact Types.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. February 15, 2026. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3.
CDLI contributors. (2026, February 15). tablet & envelope - Artifact Types. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3
CDLI contributors (2026) tablet & envelope - Artifact Types, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3 (Accessed: February 15, 2026).
@misc{CDLI2026tablet,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-15]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2026},
	month = {feb 15},
	title = {tablet & envelope - {Artifact} {Types}},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3},
}

TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2026/2/15/
PY  - 2026
ID  - temp_id_594312586791
M1  - 2026/2/15/
TI  - tablet & envelope - Artifact Types
UR  - https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3
ER  - 

Cite this Artifact Type

CDLI contributors. 2026. “Tablet & Envelope - Artifact Types.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. February 15, 2026. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3.
CDLI contributors. (2026, February 15). tablet & envelope - Artifact Types. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3
CDLI contributors (2026) tablet & envelope - Artifact Types, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3 (Accessed: February 15, 2026).
@misc{CDLI2026tablet,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-15]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2026},
	month = {feb 15},
	title = {tablet & envelope - {Artifact} {Types}},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3},
}

TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2026/2/15/
PY  - 2026
ID  - temp_id_607749414591
M1  - 2026/2/15/
TI  - tablet & envelope - Artifact Types
UR  - https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/3
ER  - 
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