Kudurru were stone sculptures used as boundary stones and as records of land grants to vassals by the Kassites in ancient Mesopotamia between the 16th and 12th centuries BCE. The word is Akkadian for "frontier" or "boundary." The kudurrus are the only surviving artworks for the period of Kassite rule in Babylonia with examples kept in the Louvre and the National Museum of Iraq. The Kassites were a mountain tribe of obscure origins speaking an Indo-European language who conquered Mesopotamia, bringing the Old Babylonian era to an end and for the first time welding together the network of independent, feuding city-states into a territory that can be called Babylonia. ... Mesopotamia ( Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers or the Aramaic name Beth-Nahrin two rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Akkadian was a language of the Semitic family spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... Babylonia was an ancient state in Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... The main courtyard of the Louvre. ... The National Museum of Iraq is located in Baghdad, Iraq. ...

The kudurrus recorded the land granted by the king to his vassals as a record of his decision. The original kudurru would be stored in a temple while the person granted the land would be given a clay copy to use as a boundary stone to confirm legal ownership.

The kudurrus would contain symbolic images of the gods who were protecting the contract, the contract itself and the divine curse that would be placed on a person who broke the contract. Some kudurrus also contained an image of the king who granted the land. As they contained a great deal of images as well as a contract, kudurrus were engraved on large slabs of stone.

References

• Bible History Online article on kudurru (http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaThe_Kudurru.htm/)
• Bible History Online article on the Kudurru of Melishihu in the Louvre (http://www.bible-history.com/ancient_art/Kudurru_of_Melishihu.html/)
• Encyclopedia Brittanica Online article on kudduru (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9046352/)
• BBC Ancient History Online Gallery of Mesopotamian Art (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/mesopotamia_gallery_07.shtml/)
• US State Department Gallery of Iraqi Cultural Heritage (http://exchanges.state.gov/culprop/iraq/0000002c.htm/)