Position in chronology
Clay tablet. The cuneiform text mentions the murder of Xerxes I (r. 485-465 BCE) by his son and a lunar eclipse (609-447 BCE). From Babylon, Iraq. British Museum
Translation · reference
ExperimentalSource: Wikimedia Commons file: File:Clay tablet. The cuneiform text mentions the murder of Xerxes I (r. 485-465 BCE) by his son and a lunar eclipse (609-447 BCE). From Babylon, Iraq. British Museum.jpg. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AClay_tablet._The_cuneiform_text_mentions_the_murder_of_Xerxes_I_(r._485-465_BCE)_by_his_son_and_a_lunar_eclipse_(609-447_BCE)._From_Babylon%2C_Iraq._British_Museum.jpg. Description: Clay tablet. The cuneiform text mentions the murder of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (r. 485-465 BCE) by his son and a lunar eclipse (for at least 609-447 BCE). 4th century BCE. From Babylon, Iraq. British Museum, London.
Why it matters
Transliteration
Scholarly note
Tablet image sourced from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). No scholarly translation referenced in source metadata. Source description: Clay tablet. The cuneiform text mentions the murder of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (r. 485-465 BCE) by his son and a lunar eclipse (for at least 609-447 BCE). 4th century BCE. From Babylon, Iraq. Bri
Attribution
Image: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) — Wikimedia Commons. source
Translation excerpted from Wikimedia Commons file: File:Clay tablet. The cuneiform text mentions the murder of Xerxes I (r. 485-465 BCE) by his son and a lunar eclipse (609-447 BCE). From Babylon, Iraq. British Museum.jpg. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AClay_tablet._The_cuneiform_text_mentions_the_murder_of_Xerxes_I_(r._485-465_BCE)_by_his_son_and_a_lunar_eclipse_(609-447_BCE)._From_Babylon%2C_Iraq._British_Museum.jpg. Description: Clay tablet. The cuneiform text mentions the murder of the Achaemenid king Xerxes I (r. 485-465 BCE) by his son and a lunar eclipse (for at least 609-447 BCE). 4th century BCE. From Babylon, Iraq. British Museum, London..
Related tablets
Related sources
Whatever its purpose, this single tablet shows that Babylonian mathematicians, working in base-60, had an arithmetic understanding of right triangles a millennium before Pythagoras was born.