The Murashu Archive
In 1893, an archive of clay tablets was discovered by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania in the ancient city of Nippur, located in present-day Iraq. The tablets documented the business of the Murashu family, Jewish merchants in Babylonia in the 5th Century BCE. There is evidence of a considerable Jewish population in the vicinity of Nippur at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.The Cuneiform is written in Akkadian text with comments in Aramaic.
Aperçu
In 1893, an archive of clay tablets was discovered by archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania in the ancient city of Nippur, located in present day Iraq. The tablets documented the business of the Murashu family in the 5th Century BCE. Uniquely, the documents contain a large number of Jewish names, evidencing the existence of Jewish communities in Nippur, which is not found prior to the Babylonian Exile of 586 BCE.