Tablet of the Sun God with clay covers

INTRODUCTION
- Man and the stars
SECTION I
- The dawn of astronomy: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Biblical Cosmos
SECTION II
- The cosmos becomes a sphere
SECTION III
- The geometry of the cosmos
SECTION IV
- The skies of Islam
SECTION V
- Evangelisation of the cosmos
SECTION VI
- The Renaissance of Astronomy
SECTION VII
- Galileo: the cosmos through the telescope
SECTION VIII
- From Galileo to Newton

Tablet with the text of the "Enuma elish" poem

Tablet with letter to Assyrian King Esarhaddon

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Tablet of the Sun God with clay covers, 860-850 B.C.
London, British Museum, inv. BM91000, BM91001, BM91002

This stone tablet comes from ancient Sippar (Tell Abū Habba), where the sanctuary of Ebabbar dedicated to the Sun God (Šamaš) was situated. King Nabű-apla-iddina (887-855 a.C.) is led into the presence of Šamaš, who is portrayed wearing the many-horned tiara and the symbols of divine authority. He is seated on a throne with two bulls supporting each of its pillars. Under the awning we see the disc of the Moon (symbol of the Moon God Sîn), the disc of the Sun (symbol of Šamaš) and the morning star (symbol of the Goddess Ištar). The primordial ocean (Apsű) is represented by the series of wavy lines beneath the figures.