BOUNDARY STONES

BOUNDARY STONES: translation

(KUDURRU in babylonian)

   Inscribed stone monuments in the shape of roundly dressed blocks were set up in temples and perhaps in special chapels to publicize the donation of land by the king in order to reward loyal subjects. The earliest example dated from the time of Manishtusu (23rd century B.C.), but the word kudurru generally denotes boundary stones from the Kassite Dynasty to the Neo-Babylonian period (14th–7th centuries B.C.). The legal documentation was given added protection and validity by the carved emblems of deities at the top of the stone, as well as elaborate curses.