gems, ancient gemology, ancient jewelry, Egypt, Egyptian jewelry, glyptic, engraved gems, Babylon, agate, chalcedony, lapis lazuli

As the goddess of love Ishtar descended into Hades in quest of her youthful lover Tammuz, she had to divest herself of her queenly attire, her crown, earrings, necklace, breastplate, bracelets and anklets, girdle of precious stones; and when she passed the seventh gate, she was nude. For such is the rule of Hades. This old Babylonian legend embodies some historical facts so far as jewels are concerned. Nearly all these jewels and a few more are found in a tablet from Nippur dated in the 5th year of the Cassite King Nazimaruttash, about B.C. 1300. The tablet is not complete. There must be an interval of four to five lines between the two portions preserved. The left corner is broken off. The tablet contains a catalogue of over 125 jewels in gold and precious stones, chalcedony, lapis-lazuli, agate, etc. They rank from caskets all gold, or with stones inlaid, down to necklaces, bracelets, anklets, seal-cylinders in gold mounting, eyes of stone in gold mounting, breastplates, earrings, tablet mould and tongue of gold. They were brought over from Nippur and Dur-Kurigalzu to a third place Ardi-Bêlit, the last two being only parts of the same town of Nippur. The tablet itself does not state under what circumstances the removal was made. But the information supplied by the excavations and the Tell El-Amarna letters, the official correspondence between the Cassite kings of this period and the rulers of Egypt, will help us to realize the importance of this gold treasure.