Artifact Type: prism History

In the Mesopotamian record, objects referred to as ‘prisms’ typically had four to ten sides and were made of clay or stone. Prisms are attested from the Sargonic Period to the early Neo-Babylonian Period. Prisms bear various text types including royal inscriptions, hymns, myths, legal proceedings, and various lists. The text of a prism was typically inscribed perpendicularly to the axis, in long single or multiple columns on each face, unlike cylinders where the text was inscribed parallel to its axis. In the Old Babylonian period prisms containing lexical lists, excerpts of literary texts, and model contracts were involved with the training of scribes. Prisms were a vehicle for royal inscriptions in the Middle and Neo-Assyrian Periods; examples include the prisms of Tiglath-pileser and the Neo-Assyrian annals of Sennacherib. For other objects that bear royal inscriptions see the ‘Display Inscription’, ‘Cone’ and ‘Cylinder’ categories respectively. For smaller prism-shaped objects such as tokens and tags, see their respective categories.

Translations
Name Language
موشور Arabic

Children Artifact Types

Related Artifacts

There are 1296 artifacts related to prism
Click here to view the artifacts

Cite this Artifact Type

CDLI contributors. 2026. “Prism - Artifact Types.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. March 17, 2026. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7.
CDLI contributors. (2026, March 17). prism - Artifact Types. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7
CDLI contributors (2026) prism - Artifact Types, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7 (Accessed: March 17, 2026).
@misc{CDLI2026prism,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-03-17]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2026},
	month = {mar 17},
	title = {prism - {Artifact} {Types}},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7},
}

TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2026/3/17/
PY  - 2026
ID  - temp_id_444160732061
M1  - 2026/3/17/
TI  - prism - Artifact Types
UR  - https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7
ER  - 

Cite this Artifact Type

CDLI contributors. 2026. “Prism - Artifact Types.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. March 17, 2026. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7.
CDLI contributors. (2026, March 17). prism - Artifact Types. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7
CDLI contributors (2026) prism - Artifact Types, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7 (Accessed: March 17, 2026).
@misc{CDLI2026prism,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-03-17]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2026},
	month = {mar 17},
	title = {prism - {Artifact} {Types}},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7},
}

TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2026/3/17/
PY  - 2026
ID  - temp_id_502496634720
M1  - 2026/3/17/
TI  - prism - Artifact Types
UR  - https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/7
ER  - 
This website uses essential cookies that are necessary for it to work properly. These cookies are enabled by default.